"You didn't bring Anna?" Jill asked, stepping aside to let Rose in.
"No," Rose sighed, dropping her bag by the door "she's colic-y, so I left her with Marko."
"Hi Rose," Michael said, looking up from his book as the two women walked through to the living room.
"Hi, Michael," Rose replied, sitting at the kitchen table with a sigh. "Everything good?" she asked.
"Everything except this book," Michael chuckled.
"What is it?" Rose asked. "Oh, water for me, thanks," she said, turning to Jill who was making coffee.
Michael held up his book and Rose screwed up her face.
"God, you should've asked me first, I read that last year, it's fucking awful." She laughed. "Jesus shitbags it feels good to curse again," she grinned.
"You've been refraining?" Michael asked, cocking a quizzical eyebrow.
"
Not round the baby
," she said in a whiny voice, "Marko's rules, sorry, I shouldn't bitch, he's probably right, although I dare say calling her
the baby
is likely to fuck up her development a lot more than a varied and colourful vocabulary ever will. Holy crap it feels good to converse with an adult I don't hate."
"You
hate
him?" Jill asked, sitting beside her friend at the table.
"Right now? Yes, I want to see him hung, drawn and quartered," Rose replied.
"Hanged," Michael corrected from his place on the couch.
"Michael!" Jill snapped.
"People are hanged, Michael," Rose smirked, toying the tip of her tongue against her left canine, "animals are hung."
The pair chuckled and Jill rolled her eyes.
"Oh come on Jilly," Rose sighed, "can't I bitch and have a bit of fun. I'm not being serious."
"So how are things really than?" Jill asked.
"I have a four-month-old baby," Rose replied, "how d'you think things are?"
"Tell me," Jill said impatiently.
Rose looked sideways at Michael and then gave Jill a definite look.
"Oh, right," Jill said, catching her drift. "Michael, haven't you got something to be getting on with in your study or outside or something?"
"Yeah, maybe later," Michael replied, not looking up from his book.
"She means we're going to talk about the horror of childbirth and what a wreck it's made of my body," Rose said loudly.
"Lovely seeing you again, Rose," Michael said as he hurried past on his way upstairs.
He slouched on the armchair in his study and continued to read. Below he could hear his wife and her best friend continue to talk, just about. He had no desire to listen to the details of their conversation though, so he reached over and switched on his stereo, relaxing as classical music came on. He didn't even particularly like it, but it was enough to mask the conversation downstairs.
After half an hour he lifted his coffee cup to his lips and winced as the cold liquid assaulted his sense. He got up and headed back downstairs, carefully. In the kitchen, Jill was leaning out the back door talking to one of their neighbours and Rose sat at the table flipping through a magazine.
"Can I get you anything?" Michael asked.
"I'm fine, thanks," she replied, then, glancing quickly across at Jill she took the cup of cold coffee from his hand and tipped it back, draining half of it.
"Holy fuck that's good," she groaned, "not a word to anyone though," she said severely.
Michael chuckled quietly while he refilled his cup and headed back up to his study.
A while later he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. His bedroom door opened and closed and then Jill pushed open the door to his study.
"The Barkers want me to have a quick look at their hydrangeas," she said, "Rose's pumping milk in our bedroom. OK?"
"No problem," he nodded, and sipped his coffee.
Ten minutes later he could hear his wife out in the garden talking to their neighbours, and then the odd soft whirring noise from his bedroom stopped and was replaced by Rose's curses.
Michael got to his feet and walked quietly to the door of his study, wondering what the etiquette was when dealing with new mothers.
On the landing he crept closer to his bedroom door, listening to the constant stream of muttered curses and profanity issuing from Rose's mouth.
"Fucking stupid thing," she grunted to the sound of plastic pieces tapping together, "I'm going to fucking kill him, good for nothing dick bag."
The floorboard under Michael's feet creaked and the door swung slowly open to reveal Rose sitting on the edge of his bed, her t-shirt lifted and the cups of her bra twisted down and out the way as she fumbled with her pump.
She looked up and stared back.
"Shit, sorry," Michael muttered, "I just, I wanted to see if I - if you, needed help."
"By all means," Rose said, exasperated, holding out the piece of the pump.