remembering his empty stomach and wondering if Emelie’s comment meant he was looking too thin again. He retreated to the relative privacy of his bedroom to make the call.
‘Why so early?’ Vivvi demanded, when the phone had rung several times, her voice wavering between irritation and uncertainty.
‘I’ve come from Loren’s.’ Economically, he tried to convey the gravity of the situation without inducing panic.
Vivvi groaned. ‘Oh, no. She wouldn’t speak on the phone yesterday but she texted to say she was OK.’
‘Well, she’s not,’ Nico said bluntly.
Vivvi drew in an audible breath. ‘I’ll drive straight there. Be in touch with you later.’
Treading slowly downstairs, Nico entered the kitchen. The girls were absorbed with something on Josie’s iPad, used cereal bowls abandoned. Emelie was emptying the dishwasher, her phone jammed between shoulder and ear. ‘I haven’t told Nico yet,’ she was saying, ponytail swinging in time with her rhythmic movement between cupboards and dishwasher. ‘It’s not a good time. We’ve got an extra child again.’ Pause to listen. ‘I know, right?’ Another pause. ‘But it’s not a good time!’ Pause. ‘Yes, you know I want to but I can’t be a cow.’ There was both longing and exasperation in her voice.
Nico, realising he was eavesdropping and suspecting he wasn’t going to like knowing what was going on, said from the doorway. ‘Finished breakfast girls?’
Josie flung herself off her stool and into his arms. ‘Daddy! I’ve downloaded a free balloon game for Maria.’
Emelie swung round, blushing to the roots of her hair. ‘Um,’ she said into the phone, drawing out the syllable significantly, ‘I’ll call you back.’
Nico took the seat in front of a bowl of granola he assumed was for him and poured milk over it, listening to Josie chatter as if words had a shelf life if not delivered at top speed. Maria got the odd word in when Josie had to take a breath.
Emelie finished emptying the dishwasher in silence and then hovered. Nico felt better when he’d eaten and equal to hearing whatever she had to tell him. ‘Josie, can you take Maria up and start running her a bath? I’ll be a couple of minutes.’ He waited till he could hear them clumping up the stairs, Josie making a lot of noise and Maria giggling.
‘Something to tell me?’ He smiled at Emelie. He loved his young cousin and hated to see her looking cornered and uncomfortable.
Emelie’s fair skin went scarlet. ‘Bruno wants me to move in with him,’ she admitted. ‘I’ve explained how things are here and that you rely on me and you’ve been great and everything …’
Heart sinking, Nico managed not to lose his smile. ‘But you want to live with him?’ How would the Josie rota survive without Emelie?
Emelie shuffled. ‘Well … yeah.’
He fought to stay relaxed, noting the sparkle in Emelie’s eyes despite her discomfiture. She was just twenty and her Italian boyfriend had asked her to share his life. If she wanted it, she should be free to grab it. ‘What do your parents say?’
She shrugged. ‘They’re worried about me leaving you in the lurch. And,’ she added honestly, ‘they think Bruno and me are very young to settle down. I told them moving in doesn’t have to mean settling down. We’re students,’ she added, as if that explained everything … which it probably did.
Crossing the kitchen, he gave her a hug. ‘If you want to move in with Bruno then do it. I’m not your responsibility, sweetie.’
She looked torn. ‘I could still help with some babysitting.’ There was a slight emphasis on ‘some’.
‘That would be great,’ he answered reassuringly. Then while she got jubilantly back on the phone to Bruno he went upstairs on leaden feet to check the bath water, though he reminded himself he could probably still ask Emelie if she could take Josie to school on Monday while he had his meeting with Anders. Damn Tilly for bailing on him. Though what would happen if he still had Maria by Monday morning …
Nico put his Dad face on as Maria slithered into the bath to play with the lid of the shampoo bottle, trying to avoid Josie’s attempt to wash her hair. Between them they spilled at least half the shampoo, the sweet-shop smell of vanilla filling the room. Exchanging chitchat with them both, Nico hid the sinking dismay with which Emelie’s news had filled him, answering cheerfully when, from downstairs, she shouted, ‘Going out! See you!’ before the front door slammed.