Robert was sitting the portacabin, having his ear chewed off by Rebecca. All she wanted to talk about were some stupid baby names, for a baby he didn't even want and felt no connection to.
They were interrupted by a text. It was Liv.
Meet me at the Mill at 4pm. Family conference at Dingles so won't get any peace.
He looked at his watch and it was just after 3.30pm. "Look Bex, I need to go."
"What could be more important than baby names?"
"Liv needs help with maths revision and I promised her." He was annoyed that he needed to explain himself.
"Why are you helping her? It's not like she's family anymore."
He snapped. "Thanks for reminding me of that Bex. If I had a choice, I'd still be with Aaron and Liv would still be part of my life."
She retaliated immediately. "This baby is yours too."
"So you keep reminding me although I do get confused why you didn't use protection."
Rebecca was taken aback by his questioning. "That was your responsibility too."
"Was it? I was paralytic, in fact I'm surprised I even managed to father a child the state I was in. Like Liv said, are you sure Ross isn't the dad?"
Bex reacted in her usual way when she was confronted with any accusations about the paternity of her child, she started to high-tail out of the situation. "We've been through this so I'm not going to waste my breath."
"Bex, I want a DNA test."
That made her stop in her tracks. "Why… Is my word not good enough for you?"
"Be honest, even you don't know I'm 100% the dad. This Pete and Cain stuff made me think and I want one. I won't go on the birth certificate until I know and you can get non-invasive tests now during pregnancy so you won't mind if I arranged for one. In fact I can arrange for someone to come and collect the samples tomorrow morning. Say Home Farm at 11am."
"Ok, if that's what you want."
"Bex, I'll step up for this baby 100% but I need confirmation it's mine and Ross deserves to know if it does turn out to be his."
She didn't answer and just left.
Robert grabbed his coat and headed to the Mill.
He felt weird being back, the last time he'd been inside, Aaron had given him short shrift.
Liv smiled as she let him in. "I know it's a tip but I've been hanging out here with Gabby. Mind you, you should've seen it when I came back from Dublin… what a tip. You couldn't move without stepping on a pizza box or Adam." She laughed.
"How is your mum now?"
"She's not doing bad. She'll be back on her feet soon so Chas can come home. Although Chas is seeing this really fit bloke at the minute so she might stay back awhile."
"Well he has to be better looking than Paddy." Robert laughed.
"Yeah but Paddy is really nice, well most of the time." She defended him.
"Listen, talking about boys or men. I heard about you and Gerry. He's a bit old for you.. not that it's any of my business now."
"Nothing happened. He was really nice and looked after me. I can see why Lisa and Zak jumped to conclusions but we're just friends."
"Not your type then?"
She looked sad for a moment and then just vented. "To be honest, I don't think I'll ever have a type."
"What do you mean?" He asked softly.
"I don't fancy anyone, Robert."
"You mean there's no one at school you like."
"No, I mean I'm not interested in anyone or anything. I don't have those type of feelings if you know what I mean." She was bright red.
"You mean, like asexual…" He asked.
"What would you know?"
"I know more than you think. I moved to Manchester years ago just after I left the village and I had this friend, Michelle. She was asexual. But that didn't change her as a person, in fact it was great to have such a close friend without the added complication of it being more. She moved to Australia ages ago. I miss her. Maybe your feelings will develop as you get older but hers never did. No one thought any differently about her… she was still Michelle… just like you'll always be Liv."
She walked up to him and hugged. "Thank you!"
"No need to thank me. Just make me a nice latte with that fancy coffee machine and we can get started. I can put you in touch with Michelle if you want someone to talk to. She's on Facebook, I'll message her for you… if that's what you want of course."
Liv nodded. "That would be great."
They were soon hard at work with maths. This was the last chance Liv would have to pass her test. After two hours, they ordered in takeaway pizza and pushed on for another hour.
Liv slammed the book shut. "I can't take any more in. I'm totally brain dead."
"I know how you feel. Just concentrate on the questions you can do easily before going back and having a go at the others. I think you'll be fine." He smiled as he picked up the last slice of pizza.
Liv's phone buzzed. "It's Aaron. Just stay out of view."
"Hey." Her brother's voice boomed out of her mobile. "Missing you."
"What are you after, Aaron? I'm suspicious when you're nice. Wait don't tell me you're drunk."
Aaron nodded. "You got it, sis. We've been trying out some schnapps. I've only had about five and it's gone straight to my head."
"Where are you?"
"Vienna!"
"Sounds very upmarket for a Dingle." She joked.
"Yeah it is a bit arty-farty but the schnapps is worth it." He giggled, making Robert smile to himself. He remembered what Aaron was like when drunk with the best part being how openly flirty he became.
"We've managed to get tickets to Hofbrauhaus at the Oktoberfest in Munich tomorrow afternoon. How good is that?"
"You might as well be speaking a foreign language, Aaron. What is it?"
"It's basically a big tent where they serve endless amounts of beer. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon and evening. So how are things there? Why are you at home? What about the Dingles?"
"The Dingles are having a family meeting about baby Isaac. I'm revising so needed peace and quiet. I've got that big maths test I told you about last week."
"How's it going? I feel guilty about not being there for you."
"Well we all know maths isn't your strong point so I think I can cope without you." She decided to test the water. "I've had help."
"what from a Dingle?" He was puzzled.
"No, Robert's been helping me revise." She waited for the annoyed reaction.
"That's nice of him. He's good at maths. How is he?" He asked not realising Robert was listening into every word.
"He's here actually if you want to speak to him." Liv didn't give them a choice as she got up and handed her phone to Robert. "Look, why don't you chat to him for a while and I'll speak to you tomorrow. I'll be upstairs."
Robert didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry about this. I didn't put her up to this."
Aaron Smiled. "Hey, I know that, she does things like this. Thanks for helping her. As you know maths and me don't mix well."
"It's ok. So you're having fun by the sound of it."
"yeah the best time ever. I'm going to regret the schnapps later." He smirked.
"No doubt!"
"Look, I need to go. Maybe we could catch up once I'm back in the village. We can compare notes on schnapps and I can buy you a drink to say thanks for helping Liv."
Robert tried not to get too hopeful, he knew Aaron was tipsy so it could turn out to be nothing. "Ok, deal. Have a great time."
"I will. Bye." The call ended…
