‘Yep.’ He added milk to their coffee and set it on the table, gesturing to his guests to sit on the ‘glass’ chairs, some slobber-marked because Maria enjoyed squashing her face against them to peer through. He took Maria on his knee. Josie chose the seat next to his. She’d quietened now, drinking her juice and sending Nico questioning glances. He smiled reassuringly and patted her shoulder.
‘Redfern’s cheering up,’ Vivvi volunteered, as if Nico had asked after the health of his ex-father-in-law.
‘It’s good you feel comfortable to leave him,’ Nico commented.
‘Only because he’s gone to his brother’s house for the day.’ Vivvi answered so hastily she almost ran the entire sentence into one word.
Nico nodded.
Loren added her mite about how worried they’d been after her dad’s heart operation then Josie interrupted. ‘I’m starting a new school after Christmas. The sweatshirt’s burgundy.’
‘What was wrong with the old school?’ Loren asked in the tone she might have used if Josie had spent her pocket money on a new pen when she already had twenty in her pencil case.
Josie frowned, glancing at Nico uncertainly. He said gently, ‘It’s OK to tell Mum how you feel.’
The explanation Josie poured out about Mrs Calcashaw, the ‘wrong’ class and playground politics was rushed but no less than heartfelt.
Nico slid his arm around her but looked at Loren. ‘You’ll remember we discussed this. Part of the reason I moved to Middledip was its small and friendly village school. I’ve sent you updates on visiting the school and that Josie liked it. I also forwarded the email offering Josie a place.’ Nico knew she’d only had access to her phone at certain times in rehab – but she wasn’t in rehab. She was here, after only twelve days of the projected twenty-eight.
‘Of course.’ Loren smiled vaguely.
Josie’s smiles had completely vanished and her voice might even have held a note of challenge when she said, ‘We’re going to have Christmas here with Hannah and Nan Heather. Dad’s ordered lots of nice food from Tesco.’
‘Who are Hannah and Nan Heather?’ Vivvi asked. ‘New friends?’
Josie nodded emphatically. ‘Nan Heather’s very, very old. Dad knew her when he was young here with his friend Rob. And Farfar used to work near here, didn’t he, Dad?’
He smiled at her. ‘That’s right.’ He had a bad feeling. It wasn’t that Hannah’s name had come up – he and Loren were divorced and the evidence as to why was currently sitting on his lap and slurping juice. But Loren’s unscheduled visit must have an agenda and it was tricky dealing with someone who had a different view of reality to yourself, especially when they were in stealth mode.
‘Hannah’s Rob’s sister, and me and Maria like her a lot,’ Josie added. Then, picking perhaps not the best moment for a candid question, she peeped at him. ‘Is Hannah your girlfriend now, Dad? I saw you cuddling at Farmor’s house.’
‘Yes,’ he said gently. Ideally, he would have checked with Josie that his relationship was OK with her and he hadn’t agreed terms of reference with Hannah either but at least the casual question indicated a willingness for Josie to absorb Hannah’s presence in her life.
Both Loren and Vivvi greeted the news in silence.
Josie had never met a silence she couldn’t fill. ‘Hannah went to Sweden with us and she can whoosh along on ice skates, like Dad does! And we made a snowman family of us in Farfar’s garden.’
Nico could have changed the slant by explaining that Hannah joined their winter trip to help with the girls after Lars was rushed into hospital with a heart attack. He didn’t. Everything had changed last week and Loren was entitled to know who was playing a part in Josie’s life and how better than from Josie’s own lips?
It was another half hour before coffee was drunk and Maria had got over her shyness sufficiently to accept a hug from her mother. Nico wanted to get to the bottom of Loren’s visit. ‘I bet Grandma would love to see yours and Maria’s bedroom,’ he said to Josie.
Vivvi must have been in accord with his wish to speak to Loren alone because she jumped at his plan. ‘That would be great!’
‘Yeah!’ Josie leaped to her feet. Maria, her faithful shadow, cooed, ‘Yeah!’ too and leaped to hers. Their voices travelled through the sitting room and faded up the stairs.
When footfall told him they had reached the room over his head, Nico propped his elbows