space and the booze and the cute kid. None of you has one of those, and they’re expensive to hire.’
‘Well, we can’t be sure Liam’s not got a few dotted around the city. The way he gets around,’ Mila tutted.
Lee and Noah swapped amused looks. It appeared to be evident to all but Mila that she was wildly in love with their raffish friend.
‘He is coming tonight, right?’ Lee asked, having another sip of her drink. ‘I’ve not heard otherwise.’
‘Yeah, he’s on his way. He said he was stopping in at some drinks thing first, on the way over,’ Noah replied.
‘Well, so long as we’re not cramping his style,’ Mila said, sipping her drink too.
‘And where is my handsome god-thing?’ Noah asked, looking around the huge space.
Noah was her son’s second favourite person in the world and Lee smiled, watching and waiting for his joyous welcome. Sure enough, a second later, his cheeky face appeared around the back of the sofa. ‘Here I am!’
‘Jazz King!’
Lee watched as her son raced across the floor and into Noah’s outstretched arms. He was a bear of a man even to her; she could only imagine how gigantic he seemed to Jasper. Noah swung him around, his little feet flying high through the air (this was another valid reason why not too much stuff was a good option for them – less to knock over).
‘How’s my main man?’
‘I knocked a cyclist into the canal.’
‘No way?’ Noah exclaimed, bursting out laughing and holding up his hand for a high five. ‘Ten points!’
‘Not helpful!’ Lee groaned, chuckling too.
‘You’ve grown again. Let me see how tall you’re getting.’
Jasper went and stood beside Noah, stretching himself as tall as he could. The top of his head came to Noah’s thigh. ‘Very good. You were down here last time,’ Noah said solemnly, dropping his hand an inch, even though they’d seen each other only last week. ‘Sinterklaas will be pleased with you. You’re obviously eating your dinners and going to sleep on time. Have you had any visits from Zwarte Piet?’
‘Yes. He’s brought me pepernoten and chocolate letters,’ Jasper said, pointing to the tiny clog left out by the fire. It already had tonight’s offering of a carrot and a handwritten poem in it.
‘Huh. I think I know someone who can go one better on pepernoten and chocolate letters . . .’ Noah arched an eyebrow as Jasper began jumping up and down excitedly. Slowly he reached into his coat pocket and drew out a slim package.
‘A lightsaber!’ the child cried as he tore off the packaging. Noah shrugged off his coat and sank onto one of the bar stools, watching on with a pleased smile.
‘You are spoiling him,’ Lee said sternly, getting up and planting a kiss on his forehead. He was the best father surrogate she could have hoped for in her son’s life and every day she was more glad she’d had the foresight to ask him to play this role. They had first met when she had just arrived in the country with her newborn, knowing no one but Mila. While she was escaping the rain one day, on one of her endless long walks trying to get Jasper to sleep, Noah – as a driver on one of the city’s hop-on/hop-off canal-boat tours – had let her stay on his boat for seven full circuits of the city. The gentle movement of the boat had helped Jasper settle, so she had gone back the next day too, as eager for adult conversation as for the baby to nap. Within two days, she knew Noah’s patter to the tourists off by heart and within the week, his life story. He was one of the dearest people in her life; the brother she had never had. ‘You’re undoing all my hard work.’
‘That’s precisely the point of godfathers.’
‘You won’t say that when he becomes a teenager and I send him to go and live with you.’ She walked over to the bar area – a small console set up with various spirits and mixers. ‘We thought we’d try gin and Dubonnet tonight. Good for you?’
‘God yeah.’ He sank deeper into the stool. ‘Make mine a double.’
‘Tough day?’
‘Oh man.’ He dropped his head, looking worn out. He’d been made a manager in the summer, a job far more perilous than it ought to have been. ‘We had a stag party from Berlin booked in for a private cruise today. Three got so drunk they jumped into the Herengracht