The Break Up: The perfect heartwarming romantic comedy

by Tilly Tennant

  Finding a parking space had been a challenge, but eventually they got one. It was outside the elderly care building and was a good twenty-minute walk to the maternity block, but they’d allowed themselves plenty of time to get to Betsy’s appointment. It was a fine, breezy day and the grounds were planted with beds of vibrant begonias, antirrhinum and fragrant lavender, so the walk was no hardship.

  As they passed the entrance of the building they’d parked in front of, Lara heard her name being called. She turned to see Selina coming out of the main doors, waving at her.

  ‘Oh, hi!’ Lara said, trailing back to meet her.

  ‘Fancy seeing you in these parts,’ Selina said, digging her hands into the pockets of her nurse’s tunic. ‘Not poorly, are you?’

  ‘Oh, no, I’m fine,’ Lara said.

  ‘Visiting then?’

  ‘No, we have an appointment at the maternity block. In fact…’ Lara glanced at the time on her phone. ‘We kind of have to go or we’ll be late.’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Selina said keenly. ‘It’s a bit of a walk, especially when you’re carrying an extra passenger.’ She smiled at Betsy and then turned back to Lara. ‘You take care, eh? I’ll pop round and see you. What number is your house again?’

  ‘Twenty,’ Lara said.

  ‘Ah, I’ll remember that – it’s just my age.’

  Selina grinned and suddenly pulled Lara into a hug. It was completely unexpected, filled with surprising affection and had never happened before. When she let go, Lara smiled uncertainly. ‘We’d better go. Pop in any time; you’ll always be welcome.’

  Lara and Betsy hurried away.

  ‘Who was that?’ Betsy asked.

  ‘Remember the nurse I told you about who lives a few streets away? She often tells me when she’s seen Fluffy roaming around so I can find him. That’s how we got chatting the first time actually. It’s funny how that cat brings all sorts of people into my life.’

  ‘Yes,’ Betsy said quietly. ‘Thank you for not telling her it was me who’s having the baby.’

  ‘It’s not my place to tell anyone,’ Lara said. ‘It’s for you to do when you’re ready. I would never just say it in front of anyone, even if they don’t know you.’

  ‘I know that, but it’s still good to hear. She seems nice,’ Betsy added. ‘Very friendly.’

  ‘Yes,’ Lara replied. ‘More friendly than usual if I’m honest.’

  Her brain chugged, turning it over and over. And then she realised… Selina must have heard about her and Theo. Perhaps she felt sorry for Lara. Had she been talking to Theo? What had he said? As far as Lara was concerned, she wasn’t even aware that Selina knew they’d been dating, though she realised Selina had guessed there was an attraction way before Lara even realised it. That had to be the reason for this sudden show of affection. She wanted to go back and ask her what Theo had been saying about her. Had he said he was sorry? Was he missing her? Had he been too scared, too proud, too anxious to come and talk to her about it? Or had he told Selina all the wrong things that he believed to be true about Lara? Had he told her about his suspicions around Lucien?

  ‘Maternity’s that way,’ Betsy said, pointing to a signpost. Lara shook away her thoughts. There was a time to worry about all that, but right now Betsy needed her.

  The waiting room was cheerful enough, painted a warm apricot with posters of cute babies all over the place bearing various bits of new parent advice and messages. In the corner there was a box of toys, currently being assaulted by a couple of toddlers who were playing happily, blissfully unaware of the baby siblings soon to turn their little worlds upside down. There were women with partners and some with older women, perhaps mothers or grandmothers.

  Lara couldn’t help but feel that Betsy ought to have been here with her own mother, or even with the baby’s father. She and Betsy were good friends, but this wasn’t a responsibility that sat well with Lara. However, Betsy had insisted that she come. Perhaps it was because she wanted to be with someone who wouldn’t judge or lecture – Betsy had said that her own mother would do that, though Lara suspected that, even if she did, it wouldn’t last long.

  After this visit, once everything was confirmed and care in place, Lara would talk to Betsy and persuade her that the best people to see her through things like this were her family. And besides, if Betsy’s dates were correct and she was twelve weeks gone, even Betsy wasn’t naive enough to think that her family weren’t going to notice the changes in her sooner rather than later. The boy’s parents would surely want to be involved too, and all that meant getting everything out into the open.

  Lara held in a sigh as she looked at Betsy, who was poring over an Instagram page full of baby clothes. Betsy swung from being totally terrified to resembling a little girl getting a new doll. It was hard to know how she would handle motherhood once it smacked her right between the eyes. Even more worrying was how Lara was going to handle having a pregnant apprentice. She barely knew anything about it herself, without having to worry about guiding Betsy through it. Then there were her obligations as an employer, which were about as clear to her as mud right now, even though she’d spent two hours that morning reading through a document about it. And there was the work too. How was Betsy going to keep up when she started to get tired towards the end of her pregnancy? What if she wanted to finish early? What if something happened to her or the baby while she was working?

  One thing was clear to Lara: once they got the double-booked weddings out of the way the following Saturday, she couldn’t send her assistant on any more jobs alone. It wasn’t fair to her or the clients, and Lara would worry constantly that Betsy was going to be taken ill. Betsy wouldn’t like it and she would argue that she was capable, but that had to be the final word. It was too late to do anything about the two they had booked for the weekend, of course, and so that would have to stay as it was. At least the wedding Betsy was covering was a day occasion only and would be finished by mid-afternoon. Although, Lara couldn’t help but wish that they could swap, because the wedding she was working at just happened to be the one Theo was playing at, and how many levels of awkward was that going to be?

  A lady sitting next to Lara nudged her.

  ‘Excuse me, I don’t want to pry and I don’t know if the receptionist told you, but you’re supposed to be drinking water.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It helps the sonographer to see the baby better. You have to drink until you want to go to the toilet. Didn’t they tell you?’

  Lara, of course, hadn’t spoken to the receptionist when they’d arrived. She’d left Betsy to register, choosing to look around the room and try not to seem as if she was listening in.

  ‘There’s a water fountain and cups over there,’ the woman added, pointing to a little water station.

  ‘Right, thanks.’

  Lara was about to nudge Betsy to tell her when the door to a side room opened.

  ‘Betsy Blake!’

  A woman in a grey tunic called and Lara leapt up. ‘That’s us,’ she said briskly, nudging Betsy, who jumped up too. She glanced at Lara.

  ‘Oh shit,’ she said under her breath.

  ‘Oh shit indeed,’ Lara replied. It was too late for water – too late for anything. Betsy was about to come face to face with her future.

  They’d been sent away the first time because Betsy hadn’t drunk enough water, but at least when they went back out to the waiting room, the woman who’d been quizzing Lara had gone. They went back in ten minutes later, Betsy now complaining that she was desperate for the toilet, to try again.

  ‘I can’t see anything,’ Betsy said from the bed as the sonographer rolled the scanner over her tummy. ‘It’s just grey. Does that mean I’m not pregnant after all?’

  Lara couldn’t help but remark that she looked almost disappointed by the idea. She was standing to one side, unable to see the screen properly but perfectly placed to see the back of the sonographer’s head and Betsy’s face. But then they heard a faint noise, lik
e someone was bashing a steady rhythm on a tiny sheet of metal.

  ‘There’s the heartbeat,’ the sonographer said. ‘You’re definitely pregnant.’

  ‘Oh!’ Betsy said faintly as the sonographer moved to get some different angles. ‘Oh…’ she said again, looking as if she was about to cry.

  ‘It’s hard to tell right now but you can just make out baby’s head there. Looks happy enough.’

  ‘Is it a boy or a girl?’ Betsy sniffed, wiping a hand across her eyes.

  ‘You can find that out at twenty weeks if you want to know,’ the sonographer said.

  She moved again and, suddenly, Lara could see the screen too. It looked grainy and unclear, and she could understand why Betsy might think there was nothing there. But then she spotted a faint fluttering at the centre of the picture, which seemed to be in time with the sound they were hearing, and she realised with a shock that it was the baby’s heart. She stared at it, the strangest, most profound mood sweeping over her. She was there, witness to the start of a new life, and she felt privileged and awed and somehow unworthy. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, and if she lived to be a hundred years old this moment would always stay crystal clear in her memories.

  Before she could comprehend it, she realised that she was crying too.

  ‘That’s your baby,’ she said, beaming at Betsy.

  ‘I know,’ Betsy said, looking back at the screen, tears streaming down her own face. ‘It’s in there right now.’

  ‘Are you OK?’ Lara asked, drying her eyes and doing her best not to look like an emotional mess. ‘It’s a lot to take in.’

  ‘I’m OK,’ Betsy said. She turned to the sonographer, her mood instantly buoyant again. Lara didn’t know if it was hormones or just the shock of the situation, but her mood swings were disconcerting and hard to keep up with. ‘Can I have a photo?’

  ‘You can pick up a copy of the scan at reception,’ she said. ‘You have to pay a small fee but—’

  ‘No, I mean a photo of me here having this done?’

  The woman stared at her. ‘I don’t know if that’s appropriate.’

  Betsy shrugged. ‘I just thought I could put it on Insta once everyone knows.’

  ‘Maybe you could just put your scan on there,’ Lara said, trying not to laugh. Betsy was Betsy, and it was nice to see that motherhood probably wouldn’t change her all that much.

  Lara was still laughing as they left the ultrasound room, Betsy looking happier and more content than Lara had seen her in some time. Perhaps the first and biggest hurdle had not been Betsy telling people but believing and accepting the pregnancy herself. Now that she had, she seemed at peace with the idea, ready to get on with it, excited for what lay ahead.

  They went to get a copy of her scan, and then they made their way out of the department. Betsy said she was starving and, as most of the afternoon was now gone, Lara wondered if there was any point in making her go back to work. She could just as easily let her go home and pick up anything she needed to do tomorrow. For that matter, Lara could probably do it herself later. And perhaps it would give Betsy the opportunity to speak to her parents too.

  She was just about to suggest this when the doors to the department opened and Lara looked up vaguely, only to stop dead.

  Siobhan had just walked in.

  It was hard to know who looked more shocked out of the two of them as they both stopped and stared at each other.

  ‘Hi,’ Lara said.

  ‘Hi.’

  Siobhan looked awkwardly from Lara to Betsy and back to Lara.

  ‘I’m sorry, but I’m late for my appointment…’ she said finally.

  ‘Of course,’ Lara said. ‘I hope…’

  What did she say? Did she acknowledge the likely reason Siobhan was here? Did she congratulate her, wish her well? Did she say she was happy for her and Lucien?

  ‘Thanks for the flowers,’ she said. ‘They meant a lot.’

  Siobhan gave a short nod and a pained smile. ‘I just wanted to say… well, you know.’

  ‘I know. Bye, Siobhan. I hope everything goes well.’

  ‘You too,’ Siobhan said, before hurrying away.

  ‘Is there anyone you don’t know?’ Betsy said as they left the department, Lara deep in thought.

  ‘Hmm?’

  ‘Everywhere we go you bump into someone you know.’

  ‘It doesn’t usually happen like this. It’s been a bit of a weird day.’

  ‘You can say that again.’

  ‘I can, can’t I?’

  Nineteen

  Later that evening, Lara was boiling pasta when the text came through.

  Can we talk?

  She gazed at the phone for a moment. She wanted to talk to him, more than anything, but after the way they’d left things she was afraid.

  What about?

  Us.

  Not sure.

  I know you didn’t go with Lucien. Please let me explain my stupidity. Please let me come and see you.

  OK. When?

  Now

  ?

  I’m outside.

  Lara took the pasta from the heat before rushing to the living-room window. Theo was standing on the street, a spray of carnations clutched in his hand. She threw open the front door and beckoned him in.

  ‘Thanks,’ he said as she closed the door and he stood awkwardly in her hallway. ‘I didn’t honestly think you’d see me.’

  ‘You were outside. It would have been really mean of me to turn you away if you were already here.’

  ‘I’ve missed you,’ he said.

  ‘I’ve missed you too,’ she said, her heart beating at a rate that couldn’t have been healthy.

  ‘I’m sorry. How have you been?’

  ‘I’ve been better, to be honest. Not that it matters.’

  ‘It does matter. I was an idiot. I know now you didn’t go with Lucien that night. I know now he went with Shane to another club. Not enough action in the Emerald Lounge, so Chas said.’

  At least he could be honest about some things, Lara thought to herself, but as Theo was clearly finding this apology hard enough, she didn’t see the point in making it worse by saying so.

  ‘I’m sorry for what I said to you,’ Theo continued, ‘but I saw you with him and I just saw red; I assumed the worst, which was ridiculous and so unfair. This is all new to me and I don’t know how to deal with it. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before and knowing your past with Lucien, I just thought…’

  ‘Hmm,’ Lara said. It was an apology of sorts, but he was still, in a roundabout way, turning the blame back onto her here. She wasn’t sure she was happy with it. He was digging a hole when a simple ‘Sorry, please forgive me’ would have sufficed. ‘So I’m supposed to fall into your arms now? Happy to be proven innocent after all and grateful that you’ve never felt like this and so it means you don’t know how to act?’

  ‘No, of course not.’ He thrust the flowers towards her.

  ‘I don’t want them.’

  ‘But they’re for you.’

  ‘Taking them means I’ve forgiven you and I haven’t.’

  ‘You said you missed me too.’

  ‘I have. But that doesn’t mean I can forgive what you did.’

  ‘But it was an honest mistake…’

  ‘You didn’t trust me. You let things you’d heard from other people colour your decisions.’

  He looked devastated and, if she was perfectly honest, he looked exactly the way she felt. Rejecting his peace offering was ultimately a rejection of him, but how could she take his flowers? That would mean everything was alright again and it wasn’t. She’d been excited to see him when she’d opened the door to him, but it was quickly becoming obvious that she should have tried to temper that excitement with the voice of reason. Was there really a future for them, no matter what either of them wanted, no matter how much they might miss each other? It was only a matter of time before the suspicion and accusations started again. All it would take
was one well-placed word from a so-called friend, one incident in a club, one late night home…

  ‘What do you want me to do?’ he asked helplessly.

  ‘Nothing. I need time.’

  ‘What for? What is there to think about?’

  ‘You being here doesn’t change the fact I’m still hurting about the things you said.’

  ‘I told you I know about Lucien—’

  ‘The other things,’ Lara said. ‘When I asked you to deny what I’d heard you’d said, you refused.’

  ‘I was angry.’

  ‘So was I, but you could see how much I needed to hear it from you. What you did was cruel. You could have set it all right, there and then, with just a word, but you chose not to. That’s the bit I can’t forgive. Tell me now – did you say those things?’

  ‘No! I would never say them! I thought we had… I was crazy about you!’

  Lara paused to let his words sink in before she allowed herself a small smile. He was crazy about her. She’d been pretty crazy about him too. Maybe she’d been too hasty after all…

  She held out her hands for the flowers.

  ‘They’re pretty,’ she said, putting her nose to them.

  ‘So we’re good?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘We can talk?’

  ‘We are talking, aren’t we?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said. He drew a deep breath. ‘So, time to lay the cards on the table.’

  ‘I thought we were doing that too.’

  ‘Lara,’ he said. ‘I know about the baby – I just need to know… is it mine?’