at Josh. ‘So you two are sort of living together this week?’
‘As friends,’ Josh said swiftly. ‘It makes sense, because otherwise we’d have to keep transferring the baby between flats and it’d unsettle her.’
Amy reminded herself that they weren’t a couple. Even if they had slept on the sofa together last night and fallen asleep holding hands, and when he’d put his arm round her it had simply been comfort for both of them after their worry about the baby’s health.
‘It’s really nice of you to look after her,’ Alison said.
‘What else could we do?’ Amy asked. ‘She’s a baby. She didn’t ask to be left here. The social worker couldn’t get a placement because it was Christmas Eve and nobody was about, and Josh said the hospital’s on black alert so the baby couldn’t stay there.’
‘The winter vomiting virus is everywhere,’ Alison confirmed, ‘and the children’s ward is full of babies with bronchiolitis, something you definitely don’t want a newborn to get.’ She smiled at them, then handed the baby back to Amy. ‘Here you go, cutie. Back to your Aunty Amy. Thanks for the coffee and biscuits. I’m heading home to bed now because I’m working the night shift again tonight and I need some sleep before I face the fractures and the ones who gave themselves food poisoning with the leftovers.’
‘Thanks for bringing all this,’ Josh said, ‘and I owe your sister flowers and some decent chocolate. And you, too.’
Alison waved away the thanks. ‘It’s good to be able to do something nice for someone at Christmas. It feels as if it’s putting the balance back a bit, after all the greed and rampant consumerism.’
When she’d gone, Josh turned to Amy. ‘The only time you’ve been out of the flat since Christmas Eve morning is our middle-of-the-night trip to hospital. Do you want to go and get some fresh air?’
‘That’d be good. And I could probably do with picking up something for dinner,’ she said. ‘I forgot to get something out of the freezer earlier.’
‘I ought to be the one buying dinner,’ he said. ‘You’ve fed me two days running as it is.’
‘It really doesn’t matter.’ Unable to resist teasing him, she added, ‘But if you really want to cook for me...’
‘Then you get a choice of spaghetti Bolognese or a cheese toastie,’ he said promptly.
‘Or maybe I should teach you how to cook something else.’ She grabbed her coat and her handbag. ‘I’ll see you in a bit. I’ve got my phone with me in case you need me.’
‘Great.’
* * *
It felt odd, being alone in Amy’s flat, Josh thought when she’d gone. Weirdly, it felt like home; yet, at the same time, it wasn’t. Everything was neat and tidy and she’d done the washing up while he was seeing Alison out of the flat, so he couldn’t do anything practical to help; all he could really do was watch the baby.
He’d texted his parents and his siblings during his break at work on Christmas Day, and hadn’t corrected their assumption that he was working today. Not that he really wanted to speak to any of them. If he told them how his Christmas had panned out, he knew they’d try to manage it—which drove him crazy. He was perfectly capable of managing his own life, even if he was the baby of the family and had messed up, in their eyes.
He held the baby and looked at the framed photographs on Amy’s mantelpiece. The older couple were clearly her parents, and the man in one of the younger couples looked enough like her to be her brother in Canada. The other couple, he assumed, must be the friends she’d talked about staying with in Edinburgh.
‘She really loves her family,’ he said to the baby, ‘and they clearly love her to bits, too.’ He sighed. ‘Maybe I should make more of an effort with mine.’
The baby gurgled, as if agreeing.
‘They’re not bad people. Just they have set views on what I ought to be doing with my life, and right now they feel I’m letting them down. I’m the only one in our family to get divorced. But Kelly didn’t love me any more, and I couldn’t expect her to stay with me just to keep my family happy. It would have made both of us really miserable, and that’s not fair.’
The baby gurgled again.
‘Tell you a secret,’ he said. ‘I think I could like Amy. More than like her.’
The baby cooed, as if to say that she liked Amy, too.
‘And I would never have got to know her like this if it wasn’t for you, Munchkin. We’d still just be doing the nod-and-smile thing if we saw each other in the corridor or the lobby. But this last couple of days, I’ve spent more time with her than I have with anyone else in a long, long time.’ He paused. ‘The question is, what does she think about me?’
The baby was silent.
‘I’m not going to risk making things awkward while we’re looking after you,’ he said. ‘But in the New Year I’m going to ask her out properly. Because I’m ready to move on, and I think she might be, too.’
* * *
It felt odd being out of the flat, Amy thought. It was nice to get some fresh air, but at the same time she found she couldn’t stop thinking about Hope.
Or about Josh.
But what did she have to offer him?
If he wanted to settle down and have a family, then it couldn’t be with her. She knew that there were other ways of having a child as well as biologically, but Michael had refused flat-out even to consider fostering or adoption. She wondered how he would’ve reacted to Hope; she had a nasty feeling that he would’ve decided it wasn’t his problem and would’ve left it to the authorities.
Josh, on the other hand, had real compassion. He’d been instantly supportive. Even though he didn’t know her well, he’d offered help when it was needed most.
She shook herself. She and Josh were neighbours, making their way towards becoming good friends. Their relationship couldn’t be any more than that, so she would have to be sensible about this and damp down her burgeoning feelings towards him.
The supermarket was crowded with people looking for post-Christmas bargains. Amy avoided the clearance shelves and headed for the chiller cabinet. A few minutes later, she paid for her groceries at the checkout, and went back to the flat.
‘You’re back early,’ he said.
‘The shops were heaving.’ And it hadn’t felt right to go to the park without the baby. Which she knew was crazy, because Hope wasn’t hers and would only be here for a couple more days. ‘I thought we’d have French bread, cheese and chutney for lunch.’
‘Sounds perfect. I’ll prepare it, if you like, while you give our girl a cuddle.’
Her gaze met his and her heart felt as if it had just done a somersault.
‘Temporary girl,’ he corrected himself swiftly.
‘I know what you meant.’ Being with Josh and Hope felt like being part of a new family. It was so tempting, but she mustn’t let herself forget that it was only temporary. Clearly Josh felt the same way. If only things were a little different. If only she’d never met Gavin, or had at least been a bit less clueless, so she’d been able to get the chlamydia treated in time...
But things were as they were, and she’d have to make the best of it instead of whining for something she knew wasn’t going to happen.
‘Did Jane reply to your text?’ he asked.
‘Not yet. And it wasn’t an emergency, so I’m not expecting her to pick it up until at least tomorrow.’
‘You’re probably right,’ he said. ‘Hope’s temperature has come down a lot, but it’s probably too