Peter Marks gazed at his reflection in the mirror while he straightened his tie. He always took a little more care with his appearance on days he would be seeing her and he couldn’t help feeling that little buzz of excitement. On days he was feeling less positive he would find himself wondering what Sue saw in him. Today, his beard was neatly trimmed and his dark hair with its greying flecks made him look slightly distinguished and he liked what he saw. He hummed a little tune while he rummaged in the wardrobe for his jacket.

His peaceful contemplation was shattered as he strolled down the stairs. He heard raised voices in the kitchen – it sounded like one of his daughters, Michelle, and his wife, Shirley, were having a row of some kind.

“… Mum, I’m perfectly capable of deciding these things for myself!”

There was a muffled reply that he didn’t catch. He smiled; Shirley was always so good at remaining calm and unruffled while dealing with their two teenagers. He was so proud of her.

“But how on EARTH do you think I’m easily influenced when YOU can’t even influence me?! Come on, I’m not a kid anym…”

The voices stopped as he opened the door to the kitchen.

“Morning Ladies! Is there a problem?”

Michelle rolled her eyes and said “No, Dad, no problem.”

Shirley just smiled and queried “Toast?”

“Please.” While Shirley bustled about with the bread, he busied himself finding a clean bowl and filling it with cornflakes. “I’ll probably be a bit late this evening, darling. I’ve got a late afternoon meeting and an important report that needs to be finished by tomorrow morning. So don’t worry about food, I’ll grab something at my desk.”

Shirley laughed, “or more likely you’ll have your meeting in the pub and end up eating there! Sure, no problem. I’ll freeze a portion of the casserole anyway so if you do end up peckish when you get in you can always just reheat it in the microwave.” The toast popped and she rescued the two pieces and dropped them swiftly onto the plate, blowing on her fingers immediately afterwards. She carried the plate over to Peter. “Anyway, don’t work too hard. They don’t pay you enough to be that much of a slave to deadlines.”

Peter gave her a wry smile as if to say “you know how these things are” and carried on eating.

Thirty minutes later he was striding along the tube platform.

As it was a nice day even though there was a chill in the air, he decided to disembark at Victoria and walk through St. James’ Park to get to his office in Pall Mall. He liked to stroll through the park whenever he got the opportunity. It allowed him to clear his head a bit after the claustrophobic tube journey and also he might bump into his brother, Philip, who did a bit of gardening work there from time to time. Not that he was checking up on him, but as the older brother he liked to check that Philip was doing okay and didn’t need anything. One day he would persuade his brother to get himself a proper job but until that day it was normal for family to worry, wasn’t it?

Anyway, Philip wasn’t within sight this morning and as Peter strolled through he found himself reflecting on his family and his relationship with Sue. He knew he was lucky; he had two beautiful and bright daughters and a caring wife. It wasn’t that he didn’t love them it was just that he wanted, no … NEEDED, something extra in his life. He supposed some men managed to immerse themselves in their career and pour their energies into that, but despite effort and ambition he’d never been the rising star in the company so his energies gradually found a new focus. He would never intentionally hurt his family, would do his utmost to shield them from any distress, but at the same time he would never give Sue up. She was too good to let go.

He arrived in the office, said good morning to his colleagues and hung up his coat. Pretty soon he was immersed in the huge pile of paperwork on his desk. He knew that he’d have to work very hard today if he was going to be able to leave early to see Sue.

It wasn’t until around lunchtime that he was able to lift his head again. Most of the other underwriters went out for lunch, but he munched through a sandwich he’d picked up at Victoria on the way through and kept ploughing through the quotes, renewals and surveyors reports. A little way through lunchtime he looked up and noticed he was more or less alone in the office and he decided to take the opportunity to call Sue.

Picking up the phone receiver on his desk he dialled her mobile number, absentmindedly twisting the handset cord with his fingers like a teenage girl as he did so.

“Hi Sue, it’s me. I was thinking of you and wanted to check we’re still okay for tonight?… Yep, six o’clock okay?… I’ve got until around nine o’clock before I’ll have to leave… See you then… Love you.”

He frowned as he replaced the receiver on its cradle. She had seemed a bit down when they spoke. Perhaps she was having a tough day at work. He brightened suddenly, he would stop by her favourite Chinese on the way there, get some food and perhaps a bunch of flowers to cheer her up. That would save her having to cook and they would get more quality time together. Perhaps get her some roses and that white fluffy stuff that he could never remember the name of… gyp… gyp something? She liked those he seemed to recollect. Smiling to himself at his plan he got back to work with renewed vigour. The paperwork suddenly seeming a lot less overwhelming and onerous.

It was nearing late afternoon when Peter’s boss, Brian sauntered over to his desk with a large file in his hand.

“Hi, Peter, how’s it going?”

“Fine, fine… getting through it all. You?”

“Actually, I was hoping for a favour. We’ve had this sent over from one of our largest brokers. It’s a chain of warehouses and they’re hoping for the sale to go through first thing in the morning. They’re unhappy with the quote they’ve got from our competitor and it could mean a lot of extra business our way.” He indicated the file. “All the surveyor reports are in there. I’m a little concerned at how quickly they’re trying to push this through so I want us to make absolutely sure that we’re not taking an unacceptable risk. I’m still working on the Bryant Development file, so I need you to take ownership – it could mean a bit of a late night.”

“Um, well… Shirley and I had plans…” For some reason, Peter felt more uncomfortable lying to his boss than he did his own wife. “She’s going to be pretty mad…”

“I know how it is, Peter, but this is really important to the company. It’ll look good higher up, if you know what I mean.”

Peter sighed. “Sure.” He moved the other files he was working on back onto the in tray and took the file from Brian. “I’ll phone Shirley to let her know what’s going on.”

“Thanks Peter.” Brian moved back to his office leaving Peter fuming at the irony.

He dialled Sue’s mobile again. “Hi sweetheart, it’s me again. Something’s come up at work… I know, I know, look I’m still going to try and make it but I could be a lot later than expected. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Would you like me to pick up something from the takeaway on my way?… Okay, I’ll see you as soon as I can… love you.”

He opened up the file Brian had given him and started to leaf through the contents. At a nearby desk, on of his female colleagues who had overheard his telephone conversation smiled indulgently. It was so sweet how much he obviously still loved his wife. You wouldn’t find her husband calling her sweetheart and telling her he loved her much these days…

It was gone 8 o’clock in the evening when he stood clutching a bunch of roses and his briefcase under one arm in the Chinese takeaway while he scanned down the menu. Why had he never really paid much attention to what Sue generally liked to eat? Not that their relationship ever focussed on food much. She usually cooked for him or had some sort of take out meal delivered – they’d never been out to a restaurant in case he bumped into anyone he knew. He wracked his brains trying to remember the last thing he ate there when she’d ordered Chinese.

“Are you ready to order, sir?” The girl behind the counter looked impatient.

“Um, no not yet.” He waved the couple behind him to go in front while he tried to come to a decision. He sighed and decided to opt for one of the larger set menus – okay, so it was a ridiculously large amount of food for the two of them, but at least then there would be plenty of choice if she didn’t like a particular dish. Next time, he would have to remember to ask her what she would like.

He paid for the food and carefully balanced the flowers, the large carrier bag of food and his briefcase and offered up a plea to the heavens that he wouldn’t drop anything between here and Sue’s apartment. He ended up buzzing the intercom button with his nose.

“Hi, come on up.”

He pushed open the door and climbed the stairs to the second floor. She was standing in the doorway waiting for him. He noticed that she was looking a little pale and tired which reminded him how distant she’d been during their telephone calls today. He gave her a quick kiss and indicated what he was carrying. “Where would you like these?”

“Oh, I’ll take the flowers and put them in some water. Thank you, they’re beautiful. While I’m doing that would you like to put the cartons in the centre of the table and get some plates and cutlery out from the kitchen?”

Peter noticed that the atmosphere was strained and idly wondered if she was going down with something. She was probably cross at how late he was and how (as a result) they’d have such little time together tonight. He couldn’t blame her really, he’d been looking forward to seeing her all day – they got such precious little time together. Perhaps he could arrange a “work training weekend” and take her away somewhere they weren’t known. Sue deserved a break; she’d obviously been working hard. She deserved to be wined and dined at the best restaurants not stuck up away from sight in her apartment.

They didn’t get an opportunity to talk again until they were both sat at the table. He noticed she was only picking at her food. Damn, he must have chosen the wrong dishes. He was so busy mentally berating himself for this that he didn’t catch the first half of what she was saying.

“… not expecting you to take any responsibility or asking for anything from you. I’ll sort everything out and make an appointment as soon as possible. I just thought you ought to know.” Sue squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.

Peter blinked. What was she on about? “Sorry love, I was miles away, what were you saying?”

Sue looked him straight in the eye, exasperated that her long prepared speech had gone completely to waste. She opted for the simple statement instead: “Peter, I’m pregnant.”

They both fell silent.