Tilly might not look like a typical party animal with untrendy hair and a dislike of make-up but, according to her, she packed a lot into her weekends.
It was late before he went to bed and then he slept fitfully, surfacing from dreams about Josie under some nameless threat or Maria vanishing from his temporary care. Even Loren flitted into his dreams long enough to jerk him awake with a heavily beating heart. Murky water might have flowed beneath their bridge but he cared what happened to her. Had leaving her alone been irresponsible? But bringing her here had felt impossible. He closed his eyes and willed his body to relax.
A few hours later he jerked awake to hear Josie and Maria giggling. The events of yesterday rushed back at him. The clock told him it was before seven. After checking the girls were OK he watched them navigate the stairs together – Josie running lightly and Maria going down backwards on hands and feet. Nico made a fast circuit of the house to check for hazards. After putting bleach out of reach and the knife block in a high cupboard he saw the girls were watching TV. ‘I’m going to run on the treadmill,’ he said. ‘Will you be OK with Maria, Josie?’
Josie nodded without looking round so he headed for the treadmill in his bedroom, leaving the doors open and the music off so he could listen for problems over the thumping of his feet on the rolling road.
When he’d run eight kilometres he went down to look in on the girls again, now playing with small chunky dolls that must belong to Maria while the TV still blared. Josie glanced up. ‘Are we having eggs for breakfast?’
Nico took a look into the kitchen, seeing almost-empty cereal bowls and splashes of milk that suggested Josie had helped them both to sustenance already. He winked at her. ‘Cereal isn’t breakfast?’
‘No,’ she said with certainty, shaking her head so that her hair danced. ‘Cereal’s a snack.’
‘Eggs, Mydad,’ echoed Maria in her tiny-girl coo as if trying to encourage him to get cooking. Her hazel eyes were on him, one foot hidden by her pyjamas. She wrinkled her nose and lifted her top lip like a tiny horse whinnying.
He enjoyed seeing the sisters playing together. He supposed Loren was right and a lot of men would look at Maria and see ‘problem!’ flashing over her head but he saw a toddler who deserved being looked after. Right this second, he seemed to be the person with that responsibility. ‘Eggs first and shower later? Or shower first and—’
‘Eggs first!’ Josie leaped to her feet.
‘Eggs!’ Maria clambered to hers.
Nico got Josie to help Maria onto a bar stool as he had no high chair. She drank diluted orange juice from a plastic beaker, eyes swivelling between Josie and Nico.
He made scrambled eggs. Josie liked her toast so lightly done that it was little more than hot bread so he did the same for Maria and she ate it contentedly. He sat down with them at the breakfast bar and slowly ate one slice of toast with scrambled egg himself. The undemanding company of the two girls soothed the tight sensation of being under pressure.
A text arrived from Vivvi. Spoke to Loren last night. She seems in a state. I’ll visit her today. Will contact you when I know more.
As he might as well be on good terms with his ex-mother-in-law if possible, he thanked her.
It was while he was supervising the girls dressing – Maria looking on trustingly while Josie selected her day’s clothes from what Loren had sent with her – that Rob rang, his cheerful, booming voice full of bonhomie. ‘So you think my stupid sister’s OK?’
Drained in comparison, Nico settled himself on the bedroom floor, watching Josie try to coax pink ribbed tights up Maria’s chubby legs while Maria pulled at the eyelashes of a doll. ‘She seemed OK to me. Absorbed in her shop.’ He thought about Hannah and the satisfaction he’d gained from merchandising her shop. And, if he was honest, the glow it gave him to see the pleasure in her eyes as she’d gazed at his handiwork. He tucked the phone beneath an ear so he could swizzle the foot of Maria’s tights so the heel wasn’t on top. He decided not to say anything to Rob about exactly how much time he’d spent with Hannah. If Rob’s concern was, as Hannah said, that she had