‘No, problem. Do you need anything else? Nightwear? Toothbrush?’
She did but she didn’t want him looking through her stuff. ‘No, just the cat feeding would be great. Thanks.’
‘I won’t go snooping. Cross my heart.’ He gave her a butter-wouldn’t-melt look.
‘Okay. Toothbrush and there’s a washbag on the windowsill in the bathroom with most of my stuff. That’d be great. Thanks.’
Hudson was kicking himself as he left Sophie’s house. He had come with a clear mission for this evening and he had been derailed twice. Was it an omen? Was the universe trying to tell him something? He jogged round to Anna’s front door and let himself in. Maurice came to see him or more likely to point out that he hadn’t been fed.
‘Hey, Maurice. Sorry to hear about your balls, big guy.’ Hudson gave him a fuss and tried to encourage him to eat. Maurice sniffed the food and on deciding it wasn’t poisoned he began to eat. Hudson soon found the washbag and was double-checking the door was properly locked when he was aware someone was standing behind him.
He swung round and came face to face with Connor. ‘Hey, buddy, you gave me a start. You looking for Anna?’
‘Is she okay?’ Connor nodded at the floral washbag in Hudson’s hand.
‘Yeah, she’s fine. Sophie has gone into labour. Anna’s babysitting and she needed some stuff.’ He held up the washbag as evidence. ‘I’m taking it back now.’ Hudson checked the door again.
‘I’ll walk with you,’ said Connor, falling in step.
‘Did you and Anna have plans tonight?’ asked Hudson.
Connor puffed out his cheeks. ‘Look you seem like a decent bloke but just so we’re clear – me and Anna are in a relationship and things are going great. I’d be grateful if you’d respect that.’
Hudson’s eyebrows puckered. ‘Right. Of course.’
‘You don’t mind me mentioning it, do you?’
‘No. I mean …’ He wanted to say more but this wasn’t the right time and Connor certainly wasn’t the right person. ‘I’m pleased for you both.’ Hudson gave Connor a convivial pat on the shoulder.
‘Thanks. She’s something else, isn’t she?’
‘Yeah. You’ve got one of the best there.’ Hudson was relieved when they reached Sophie’s house. ‘You know, I don’t even need to come in. Here.’ He handed Connor the washbag and keys. ‘Tell her I’ll see at work. Night.’
‘Will do. Bye.’ Connor waited on the steps and watched Hudson leave before knocking.
Anna opened the door with a beaming smile, which faltered for the briefest of moments. She looked past Connor. ‘Have you seen …’
‘Hudson gave me this,’ he said, handing over the washbag. ‘He had to rush off somewhere.’ Connor shrugged.
‘Did he give you my keys?’
‘Oh, yeah. Here.’ He handed them over. ‘Can I come in?’
‘I’m actually in the middle of putting Arlo to bed and I can’t leave him for one second. Sorry. Can I call you?’
Connor’s expression was unreadable. ‘Sure. You do what you need to.’
‘Thanks.’ She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and shut the door.
‘Anna! Anna!’ called Arlo urgently from upstairs.
‘Yes, Arlo?’ replied Anna already heading in his direction.
‘I’ve done a huge poo! Come and see.’ There was a long pause. ‘Please!’
Anna was feeding a breakfast of mushed Weetabix to Petal whilst simultaneously discussing the career opportunities of being a Viking with Arlo when her mobile began vibrating along the worktop.
‘Hi, Dave,’ she said, before mouthing to Arlo. ‘It’s Daddy.’
‘Hello, Daddy,’ shouted Arlo.
‘Hi, son,’ replied Dave. Anna put him on speakerphone. ‘Any news?’
‘Okay. Yes, we have news. Hey, kids, you’ve got a brand-new … baby …’ there was a long pause ‘… brother.’
‘Yay!’ shouted Arlo.
‘Ay!’ shouted Petal and she backhanded her Weetabix bowl sending it flying in spectacular fashion across the kitchen, splattering both Anna and Arlo. Arlo started to laugh.
‘Congratulations,’ said Anna, wiping the worst of the Weetabix assault off her top.
Arlo was frowning. ‘Do I have to share my toys?’
Anna flopped onto the sofa at the end of the longest day of her life. She had been babysitting for twenty-four hours straight. She had no idea how Sophie did it. She was exhausted. She’d taken them both out to the soft play centre, which thankfully had taken up most of the day. Just getting out of the house with two small children needed a project plan.
The play centre was a big eye-opener for Anna. Whilst most of the other women seemed focused on talking animatedly with friends whilst mainlining lattes, their children were running riot like crazed banshees or, as she began to realise, like children at a soft play centre. She’d planned to set herself up with Petal in the baby area while Arlo burned off some of his overflowing energy supplies, but Anna found herself scooping Petal up every other minute as high-speed sweaty children hurdled her. It was incredibly stressful.
They had spent the remainder of the afternoon in the park kicking up the autumn leaves and looking for squirrels. Oddly enough, despite Arlo shouting ‘HERE, SQUIRRELS!’ at the top of his voice, they hadn’t even seen a whisker.
Anna found her eyes were closing when a key in the door made her come to. She crept into the hall.
‘Congratulations,’ she said, meeting Dave and Sophie at the door. ‘Kids are asleep,’ she added, as they slunk inside.
‘Thanks,’ said Sophie. They all cooed over the tiny baby in the overly large car seat. He was sound asleep, his rosebud lips pouting gently.
‘He’s beautiful,’ said Anna.
Sophie angled her head towards the baby. ‘Dave thinks he looks like Churchill.’
Dave chuckled. ‘All babies look like Churchill – it’s a well-known fact. He’s still beautiful though.’
Sophie mouthed, ‘At least he doesn’t look like the Kraken.’
Anna hid her laughter by pulling her into a hug. ‘How are you?’ she asked. Sophie was pale.
‘Okay,’ she said, but her expression told a different story. ‘It was probably the easiest of the births, certainly the quickest. But still, no walk in the park. Unfortunately, they had to cut my rings off.’ She waved her bare left hand sadly.
‘Drinks machine was better this time,’ chipped in Dave and he went to get the bags from the car. Sophie rolled her eyes.
‘He kept turning the radio up to drown me out,’ she said, although Anna could tell she wasn’t really cross about it.
‘Were you being a bit shouty?’
‘You would too if you’d almost delivered your child in a wheelbarrow.’ They both laughed.
Dave reappeared. ‘I’ll put this lot upstairs. You sit down,’ whispered Dave.
‘Not after what they’ve done to my undercarriage. I may never sit down again.’
‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ Anna cut in, keen not to hear about an episiotomy again.
‘Lovely, and you can update