a first baby. Means I won’t even be allowed in the room with her though.’
‘That’s tough. I guess you’ll be cheering on from the sidelines then. Can you use Zoom or something?’
‘Hardly, it’s probably against health and safety or something. To be honest with you I don’t really mind; I just wanted to be there for Tina. I was going to stay up the top end anyway.’
‘Coward!’
‘Says you. You’d run a mile.’
‘To be fair, it’s scary stuff. But life-changing.’ I’m silent for a moment. ‘I envy you though. You’ve already got Tina and now you’re going to have a little one to keep you company.’
‘I bet you’re finding things quiet there still. No calls from the solicitor?’
‘No, and yeah it is a bit. For me to have to tidy up – it’s pretty desperate. I feel like I’m copping out somehow. Useless. I watch the news and people are all out there helping and I’m stuck in here hiding away.’
‘For good reason.’
‘I know, but it doesn’t help. It’s so boring. Dan’s got himself a job as a delivery driver as he was made redundant and Matt is still working to get stuff packaged. It feels like everyone’s busy except me.’
‘Why don’t you get out your guitar again? You must have it there with you.’
‘Haven’t played for ages.’
‘All the more reason to get it out now.’
‘I guess. Still me, myself and I though.’
‘It’s the way it’s gonna be for a while. But you’ve got us and we can Zoom when the little one’s born.’
‘Yeah that’ll be nice.’ There’s a silence. ‘I did speak to someone downstairs last night.’
‘I hope you didn’t get near. You’ve got to keep yourself safe – you know what the specialist said.’
‘I know.’ I love Sam, but he gets overstressed. ‘I didn’t even see her.’
‘Her?’ he asks.
‘I heard someone crying when I was out on the balcony last night, after the NHS clap, which was really cool by the way.’
‘I know, I thought hardly anyone would be doing it, but you could hear it all round our street. It was great.’
‘Afterwards there was this sobbing, so I called to the person down below and we got talking.’
‘Trust you, Jack.’ Sam raises his eyebrows and gives me one of his big-brotherly looks. Bizarrely I’ve missed them. ‘There’s no keeping you away from the chicks, is there?’
‘No, it wasn’t like that; it was simply nice to hear someone’s voice. To actually have a conversation, other than on the phone, with another human being.’
That was the point; it had somehow made me feel less alone, talking to someone here in the building, so nearby, even if we couldn’t see each other. I find myself wondering if she’ll be out there again later. Perhaps I’ll have my last packet of crisps on the balcony at the same time tonight, just in case.
Chapter 3
Sophia
‘I’m sorry about the change of plan, but chocolate crispy cakes are really yummy too,’ I say apologetically to the six pairs of hopeful eyes staring at me and my bag of goodies.
‘Chocolate crispy cakes yessss!!!’ shouts Milo. I smile affectionately at his cheeky face under the mop of fair hair; I can always rely on him to be enthusiastic.
‘What about the fairy cakes?’ Freya asks.
‘The thing is, I can’t get flour anywhere because the shops have run out,’ I explain. ‘So fairy cakes will have to wait for another day.’
‘But then we can’t put sprinkles on them.’ Freya looks miserable. ‘I wanted to surprise Mum with something pretty.’
‘Well,’ I say thinking on my feet, ‘I think you’ll find that, first of all, chocolate is full of magnesium and other good things that will help your mum be an even better nurse than she is already, and secondly, we have some other little goodies in here we can use to decorate them.’ I tip the bag up and out fall some decorative paste butterflies, silver balls and pink edible flowers.
Freya and her friend Lola shriek. ‘Please can I use the butterflies?’ asks Freya.
‘I like the flowers,’ calls Lola.
‘I’m just going to do mine plain with lots and lots of chocolate,’ says Milo decisively. ‘My mum needs extra chocolate ’cause she was really grumpy this morning.’
‘You can all do them as you like,’ I say with a smile. ‘What about you, Alfie?’ It’s always hard to get eleven-year-old Alfie to say much.
‘Am I allowed to do cakes?’ he asks. ‘I thought they’d just be for the younger kids.’
‘Of course not,’ I say. ‘They’re for everyone. In any case, I expect