Dorcas felt Jason’s lips pressed against hers. But then something terrible happened. He pulled away from her.

“Dorcas, there’s something I need to tell you.”

This couldn’t be happening. She was so sure he wanted her. And then he told her that he had been having an affair and how he didn’t want to hurt her but…

“I know. I’ve known for a while now…” she whispered. He was going to tell her that he was sorry and that the affair was all over. He had made a huge mistake. But those weren’t the words that came out.

“Dorcas, Penny is pregnant.”

Dorcas felt like a knife was piercing her heart. It was a physical pain.

“It’s not the fact that you can’t bear a child,” he said. “But I feel I have to do the right thing by her. I can’t desert her now. Not when she’s pregnant. Don’t get me wrong, tonight was wonderful, I want you to know that…”

Still Dorcas said nothing.

“Dorcas, say something. How can I make this easier?”

And then she said something that she would replay again and again for months after that night. She couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. And months after, she still hadn’t got an answer for herself as to why she had asked him.

* * * * *

“You did what?!” Bonyo screeched down the phone to Dorcas the following morning. “Now let me get this straight: when Jason asked you if there was anything he could do to soften the blow of his leaving, you asked him to have sex with you for old time’s sake? Have you gone mad?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Dorcas laughed. All she knew was that she felt good. She was surprisingly calm and deep inside she felt avenged. Maybe it had been because Jason thought he was now cheating with his ex-girlfriend – but they had the best sex ever.

They were both relaxed and happy. Once they started kissing they couldn’t get enough of one another. Dorcas laughed out loud as she thought of the antics they’d got up to until the early hours of the morning. She put her hand on her mouth where Jason had kissed her. His mouth had been warm and lovely.

It was like the first time with him, all over again.

Part of Dorcas wished that it would always be like that with them, but she knew she was fooling herself. No, she would walk out now, she told herself.

“Are you crazy?” Bonyo had said. Maybe she was.

She’d had plenty of reasons to think so during the weeks that followed. Jason had left and she found herself staying at the office later and later rather than facing their huge, empty flat. She must have been mad to sleep with him. That morning after the New Year’s celebration she was just high on the sex, and secretly happy that Jason had cheated on Penny. But now he was with her, supporting her in her pregnancy, their pregnancy. It was his child. The child Dorcas couldn’t give him.

“Now let me get this straight,” Bonyo demanded, the third time she’d been woken in the early hours of the morning by Dorcas, miserable and tearful on the other end of the phone.

“You gave that so-called rat of a boyfriend of yours permission to move out and shack up with that person he dares to call a decent woman, and when he went ahead you decided to fall to pieces. Come on, Dorcas. You’re made of much sterner stuff than that! And you’re going to love this: it turns out Penny wasn’t pregnant after all. My word that woman will stoop at nothing to get what she wants. But it serves Jason right. They deserve each other!”

“Say that again.” Dorcas was stunned.

“Penny isn’t pregnant. She pulled the oldest trick in the book.”

Dorcas couldn’t help it, she felt victorious suddenly. Penny wasn’t pregnant, Jason would soon be sponging off her, and Dorcas was free! She didn’t feel one bit sorry for him.

“Yes girlfriend – and from what I’ve heard, he’s miserable. I hope you changed your locks because it wouldn’t surprise me if he turned up on your doorstep one day.”

* * *

Tell us: What do you think about what Penny did? Why do you think she did it? What will happen now between Penny and Jason?