“I hate to leave Paula,” Joey said, worried.

“Uh,” grunted Jeff.

“I don’t like to leave Paula when she’s so close to the end,” Joey said.

“No. It’s difficult. But she’ll ring when she needs you,” Jeff replied.

“I guess,” said Joey, “ but what if she can’t get to her phone?”

“What?” Jeff said.

“What if she doesn’t make it to her phone?” Joey said.

“She’s got legs,” Jeff said bluntly as he looked up from the work on his desk with a quizzical look.

“You don’t want to work tonight, “Jeff said.

Jeff glared at Joey to intimidate him. Joey try to hide the guilt that was starting to show on his face.

 “I’m prepared to work,” Joey said.

“It’s only one night. She’ll manage. Don’t worry,” Jeff said.

“It’s all right, you’ve had children, you know what to expect,” Joey said.

Jeff rolled his eyes seeming to recall his own experience.

“It’s not a picnic, that’s for sure,” Jeff said.

The matter was not mentioned again and the two carried on with their work until Jeff took a phone call. He chatted for ages and seemed enthusiastic and waved his arms about in his sales mode. But Joey had to wait until he hung up to find out the reason for the call and excitement.

“They want us to go to Coventry,” Jeff said.

“No!” Joey replied.

Jeff nodded. “We need to meet them at a hotel where they want us to demonstrate the product,” Jeff said.

“When?” Joey asked.

“Next couple of days, they’ll confirm with us shortly,” Jeff said, as he flicked through his diary.

“I can’t leave Paula,” Joey said.

Jeff looked over to him.

“She’s not even nine months gone yet, “Jeff said.

“It’s only a week away,” Joey said.

“But the first is always late,” Jeff said.

Joey raised his eyebrows in surprise and the ill feeling in his stomach started to subside. Jeff heaved a sigh of relief and glanced over to Joey.

“Do us all a favour, chill out, make a coffee and break out the biscuits,”  Jeff said.

Then Jeff leaned back in his chair and stroked his stomach as Joey got up from his desk and walked over to the makeshift kitchen in the corner, with dirty kettle and biscuit tin.

Joey opened the tin and started to pull out the half packet of digestives. Then instinct overtook him and he slipped the biscuits into his trouser pocket and turned to Jeff.

“Looks like we’re out of biscuits, I’ll pop out and get some more,” Joey said.

Jeff looked up disappointed and his lips licked feeling the lack of nourishment.

Joey smiled as he left the office. It was his break for freedom.