‘Look—those people over there are standing very still, and the butterflies are landing on them,’ Emmy exclaimed, looking enchanted.
She tried it herself, and her face was suffused with wonder when a butterfly landed on her. Dylan wished for a second that he had a camera to capture that expression.
They wandered through the different sections of the enormous greenhouse, looking at the butterflies and the flowers; Dylan was surprised by how much it made him relax.
‘Thank you for bringing me here. I was getting a bit scratchy. Sorry, I haven’t been very nice to live with.’
She patted his arm, and the feel of her skin against his made him tingle. ‘That’s OK. I was the same when I was waiting. And you did the same for me, when you took me to the sea,’ she said. ‘I just thought this might be something different.’
‘I would never have thought to go to a butterfly house.’
‘To be fair, it hasn’t been open for that long, so you probably wouldn’t have known about it.’ She smiled at him. ‘Do you mind if I take a few photos?’
‘Sure, go ahead. I’ll take Ty.’
He took over the pushchair, and she took various photographs with her phone. Including, to his surprise, the roof of the greenhouse. He’d expected her to concentrate on the butterflies. Then again, Emmy seemed to see things in a different way from most people.
In the next section, there was a terrarium full of chrysalises, and they could actually see some of the pupae emerging from their cocoons.
‘That’s amazing. I never saw anything like that when I was a kid,’ Dylan said.
‘Did you have a garden?’
He nodded. ‘My grandparents had a huge garden, and my gran loved butterflies and bees—she had shrubs to attract them. My grandfather preferred the more practical stuff, growing fruit and vegetables. And I used to have to help weed the garden whenever I was there.’
‘Sounds as if you weren’t keen.’
‘I was a child,’ he said. ‘But I’ve never had a garden since.’
And they’d neglected Pete and Ally’s garden, just mowing the lawn.
In the section after, there was a waterfall and a pond with huge red and white goldfish. Emmy unbuckled Tyler from his pushchair and held him up so he had a good view of the pond. ‘See the red fish, Ty?’
‘Fiiih,’ said the little boy.
He saw the shock on Emmy’s face and the way she suddenly held Tyler that little bit tighter, as if she’d been near to dropping him. ‘Did you hear that, Dylan? He said “fish”!’
‘I heard.’ And it was crazy to feel so proud of him. Then again, Tyler was the nearest he’d ever get to having a son. Something he’d always thought he didn’t want, but now he knew he did.
Tyler clapped his hands with delight, and Emmy beamed at him. ‘Clever boy.’
* * *
This, Emmy thought, was the perfect day. Tyler learning a new word. Sharing this amazing spectacle with him and with Dylan. And the butterfly house definitely seemed to have taken Dylan’s mind off the wait to hear from Ted Burroughs.
In the next section, Dylan found a giant stripy caterpillar and pointed it out to the baby. ‘Hey, Tyler, what pillar doesn’t need holding up? A caterpillar!’
He chuckled, and the baby laughed back. And Emmy was enchanted. The joke was terrible, but Stuffy Dylan would never have done something like that. He was definitely changing and she really liked the man he was becoming.
‘We’ll have to take him to the zoo. I’ve noticed he really likes that tiger story you bought him,’ she said.
‘Maybe we could go next weekend?’ he suggested. ‘Though it’s your weekend off.’
‘No, that’d be good. I’d like that.’
‘And maybe we can look at planting things in the garden,’ he said, ‘flowers that butterflies really like. Then, next summer, when Tyler plays in the garden he might get to see a few butterflies.’
And maybe it would also bring back nice memories of his grandmother, Emmy thought. Dylan had mentioned her before; and she had the strongest feeling that he’d been closer to his grandmother than he was to his mother. He certainly missed her, from what he’d let slip.
‘That’s a great idea,’ she said. ‘Though I had a flat so I’m afraid I’m not much of a gardener. I tended to have cut flowers rather than houseplants. Ally bought me a couple and...well, let’s just say I don’t have green fingers.’
‘We’ll learn,’ he said. ‘Looking after a garden can’t be any harder than bringing up a baby, and we’re managing fine with Tyler.’
Emmy felt warm inside that not only were they working together as a team, he was also acknowledging that. And this was beginning to feel like being part of a real family. It was taking time, but they were finally bonding.
She was fascinated by the terrarium with the dragonflies in the next section. ‘Just look at the colours,’ she said, pointing them out to Tyler. ‘Blue and green dragonflies.’
‘Fiiih,’ the baby said again.
She laughed and rubbed the tip of her nose against his. ‘Fly, sweetie, not fish. But I guess they both sort of have scales.’
When they stopped in the café, she mashed a banana for Tyler and leaned down to feed him in his pushchair while Dylan went to get the coffee. When Tyler had finished, she scooped him onto her lap and cuddled him with one arm while she made a couple of quick sketches in the notebook she always carried in her handbag.
Dylan put the coffees on the table, out of Tyler’s reach. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘Just noting down a couple of ideas for jewellery.’
He looked intrigued. ‘So this sort of thing is where you get your inspiration?’
‘Sort of,’ she hedged.
‘Sorry, is this a creative thing? You don’t like to talk about work in progress?’
‘No, it’s fine.’ She felt relaxed enough with him to know that he wasn’t like her exes—he was asking because he was interested, not because he wanted her to stop or thought he had better ideas that she ought to go along with. She pushed her notebook across the table to him. ‘Have a look through if you want to. Sometimes I take pictures, sometimes I sketch.’
He flicked through the pages. ‘That spiderweb reminds me a bit of that necklace you made.’
‘With the heart in the middle rather than the spider?’ She smiled. ‘You’re right, that was the inspiration. It was a frosty morning and the cobwebs were really visible. They looked incredibly pretty, delicate yet strong at the same time.’
He reached the page where she’d sketched a couple of pictures of Tyler asleep. ‘I had no idea you could draw. I mean, I knew you designed stuff, but that’s not the same as a portrait. These are really good.’
‘Thank you. I was working while he was napping and I just thought he looked so cute and peaceful. I couldn’t resist it.’
He handed the book back to her. ‘Very cute. So you carry a notebook all the time?’
‘Yes. Because you never know when you’re going to see something that sets off an idea,’ she explained. ‘Though I guess it’s not quite like that with your job.’
He smiled. ‘No, it’s talking to the client that does that.’ He indicated the slice of chocolate cake he’d bought. ‘Would you like some of this?’
‘Thanks, but I’m fine.’ Mr Stuffy had