Growing Up Twice by Rowan Coleman Page A

long and use Selin’s hair irons to straighten it out. That was back in the days when one idle eye-linered glance would have my teenage heart in paroxysms of desire, my God, I loved him so! I’ll have to give teasing him a miss today though, as he looks quite presentable for a change, even bordering on sexy. He takes a seat at the table and watches us.
    Selin sits down again and drains her glass. She leans forward, resting her chin in the palm of her hand for a second, and looks at the bottom of her empty glass.
    ‘When did you find out?’ she asks me. Rosie has gone to sit on the sofa in the corner and is looking very interested in her new false nails.
    ‘Yesterday,’ I say. ‘We tried to call you, but you were out.’
    ‘Who’s the dad?’ She is still talking to me, and I can’t work out if she is cross or not. I know that I feel like a naughty schoolgirl, standing here alone in the middle of the room.
    ‘Chris,’ I say quietly. Selin says nothing for a moment and then goes to sit beside Rosie.
    ‘Rosie,’ she says gently. ‘Are you sure about keeping this baby? Have you thought it through?’
    ‘Yes,’ Rosie says, and now that she lifts her face I can see her cheeks are streaked with tears. ‘I think I really can do it. I really want to. It’s a person in here.’ She pats her stomach. ‘I want to give my baby a good happy life and I know I can. It’s not ideal that the father has the maturity of an undeveloped Teletubby or is about as likely to want to be involved with his own baby as he would to live in a monastery, I know. But I’m lucky I have the means and the support to make this work. A lot of people don’t have that. And I’ve got the best thing in the world. I’ve got you two, and if you’ll help me I know I can be a good mother. And even if you won’t I’m going to give it a damn good go.’
    All at once we are together in a big hug, each one of us in tears. Josh watches from the other side of the room and as I catch his eye he smiles at me and nods. The front door bangs shut and a moment later Mr Selin walks into the room.
    ‘My God, my house is full of crying women! Don’t tell me, don’t tell me, it’s hormones, right? I am a man who knows about hormones.’ He shakes his head indulgently and comes and hugs us and kisses the tops of our heads. His show of kindness makes us cry even more.

Chapter Thirteen
    Mrs Selin has made us some
dolma
because she knows we will complain if she doesn’t, but the main part of the meal is a lemon-roast chicken with roasted vegetables and it’s beautiful.
    ‘We can help you find a place round here,’ Mr Selin says. ‘Seli, what about Mr Carlton? He rents some properties, I believe?’ He smiles so that his many chins dimple and crease.
    ‘Yes, he does, I’ll call him tomorrow. Might be able to get you a good deal.’
    ‘And Adem of course, why not ask him?’ he says. I knew that they would be able to help us out.
    ‘Mmm, OK, I will. Good idea,’ Selin says, studying her plate before exchanging a glance with her mother, who then proceeds to tap Mr Selin on the back of the hand with her fork. Mr Selin shrugs and shakes his head and the whole bizarre pantomime ends, inconclusively in my opinion. This is one strange family. Selin smiles at Rosie and me in turn. I want to ask her about her pool nights, but I can’t find the right moment to bring it up, and anyway, judging by that performance, maybe we are not supposed to know about them, although goodness knows why not.
    ‘I think it’s well cool that you’re pregnant,’ Ayla says, sending her father’s eyebrows and blood pressure sky high. ‘God, don’t worry, Dad, I’m not going to get pregnant, I’m going to university, remember? But, you know, when you’re a bit older, Rosie’s age, it’s cool. It’s the twenty-first century, man. You don’t need men for anything these days.’ Josh leans back in his chair and laughs, tipping back his chin and closing his eyes.
    ‘You