Now Simon was the one backing away, feeling a little poleaxed again. His recent revelation was too new, too raw to articulate. This whole day was taking on an unreal hue, as if he’d stepped into some mad time-warp. He was in a house in New York with a woman who’d stepped into his life and turned it upside down.

She’d just told him she was pregnant, and he was still there. He wasn’t running as fast as his legs could carry him away from her, which was how he’d always envisaged reacting ...