“Oh Jesus, please just leave, Jasper.”
He laughed and bent down, kissing the top of my head. “Call me if you need anything, okay? I’ll be fifteen minutes, tops.”
“Thank you.”
Chapter Thirty-six
Jasper
I stared at a long row of sanitary products. How many different types did women bloody need? How the hell was I supposed to choose between them? Taking a quick look either side of me to make sure no one was around, I stepped closer for a better look.
Brands were bunched together, organised by ‘flow’. What kind of flow was post-birth? Why didn’t she tell me? I didn’t want to call her in case she was sleeping. I could ask someone, but I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t know what the mother of my baby needed; I’d look like an arsehole for not knowing.
Why so much bloody choice?
I picked up one box with ‘wings’. Christ did women want them to fucking fly or something? Next to the wings was night-time ultra; I picked it up. And there were also extra long ones. Did it matter what size underwear you had? She was quite petite so would she want smaller ones, right? But did the flow matter?
Oh this is just fucking ridiculous!
How much choice did you need for that type of thing? Jesus!
“Jasper?”
No! I spun around, holding a box of wings and night-time ultra. My mouth dropped. I hadn’t expected to run into Abby, especially not down the Feminine Hygiene aisle.
She was gripping onto a small trolley with her baby. The little boy was tucked up in his car seat. The baby that I thought, for a little while, was mine. He was cute. I thought it would hurt when I saw him, but it didn’t. Seeing Abby and her son did nothing to me but make me wish I was back at Holly’s parents’ with her and Sophia.
I was over Abby. Looking at her now, I felt nothing. It didn’t hurt and although the memory of how our marriage ended hurt it didn’t bother me the way it used to.
I smiled. “Abby, how are you?”
She looked at the items in my hands and then laughed quietly.
“I’m doing really good, thanks. You?”
“I’m great. How’s…”
I trailed off, realising I didn’t even know her baby’s name. Not that I particularly should. We hadn’t spoken in months, and the only communication was through our lawyers, which was soon to end as our divorce was in the final stages.
“Jacob. He’s doing well. He’s ten days old now. What about you?”
“Everything’s good. Sophia is perfect.”
She smiled. “That’s great. I knew Holly was due soon, but I wasn’t sure when.”
I didn’t like the way she said Holly as if she hated her. I knew she wasn’t a fan before, but Holly had done nothing wrong. If it wasn’t for Abby cheating, I would have never been with Holly in the first place.
I was suddenly very grateful to Abby.
“Soph was due on the 9th of April, but she was early, born three days ago,” I said proudly. “Anyway, I really need to get back to my girls so I’ll see you around. Take care of yourself, Abby.”
I threw the two boxes in the trolley and Abby walked off. I still wasn’t sure if I was getting the right type, so I picked up a few others, chucking them in. I had ones with wings, short ones, long ones, ultra absorbent ones, night-time ones.... One of them had to be right, surely?
Holly burst out laughing at the full shopping bags I clung to. “Did you buy the whole shop?
“Hey, they give you too much choice! There can’t possibly be a need to for so many variations!” I ranted.
“I’m sorry. Thank you for getting them for me.” She took the bags off me and tipped them out on the sofa. The boxes covered two seats. Stifling a laugh, she searched through them.
“So which ones do you have?” I asked when she didn’t pick anything up.
“All of these are fine. It was very sweet of you,” she replied, dodging my question.
There was literally no other type left on the shelf that I didn’t pick up so what was wrong?
“What? It’s none of them, isn’t it? Jesus, I picked one of everything, how could I still get it wrong.”
“Hey, no, you did nothing wrong.”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better. Tell me, Holly.”
“Well, I’ve been using the maternity ones. They’re down the baby aisle, but these are fine, they all work the same.”
What the fuck! Why would they put them somewhere else? How the hell were you supposed to know they did maternity ones if they weren’t with the others?
“I can go back.”
“No, don’t be silly. These are honestly okay. All these night-time ones will be fine now and the others in a couple of days.”
“I told you I’d get whatever you need.”
“And you have.”