‘What?’
‘Promise me you’ll drop this? It’s enough having the school vampire being my foster brother. You implying there’s something else is grim and makes it even harder to try being friendly.’
‘Message received and understood.’ She gave a mock salute then disappeared.
After an evening meal where I managed to avoid even looking at Jonah, I spent the rest of the evening doodling song lyrics in my journal. The following day, I left a note in his blazer pocket:
When there’s a storm outside but you get to stay in all day reading a brilliant book under a blanket, with a hot chocolate and a massive piece of cranberry tiffin, a dog asleep on your feet.
A couple of days later, Jonah’s car playlist had a new song, by Bob Dylan. It was called ‘Shelter from the Storm’.
20
NOW
I came back from the barbecue in the early evening and found my living room empty of both Toby, and all Toby and Hazel’s things. He wasn’t in the kitchen, or anywhere else in the house.
Leaving a sleepy Finn and Isla watching a film in their pyjamas, I carried Hazel over to the cabin to fetch the baby bath we used to practise bathing with dolls. Opening the door into the back room, I discovered what had happened to Toby.
‘Wow.’
‘Not bad, is it?’ He grinned, placing a stuffed toy on the wooden cot now positioned in one corner of the room.
I took in the fold-out bed, all made up with Spider-Man bedding. Shelving units that had previously been a chaotic, jumbled mess were now organised rows of equipment, books and handouts. The new order had left a whole shelf now full of clothes for Toby and Hazel. A desk that was supposed to be for Nicky but in reality had been a dumping ground for yet more mess was now a changing station. Toby pulled open the drawers to reveal neat stacks of nappies and wipes. Underneath it was more baby stuff, including a plastic bath.
It looked crowded, but I had to admit it was cosy.
‘Toby, this is an amazing job, but you can’t live in my office.’
‘Yeah. Not for long, anyway. But I was wondering about this?’
He led me to the old walk-in storeroom next to the bathroom.
‘What if we cleaned this out, tidied it and I put in some shelving here.’ He pointed to one wall. ‘And then a desk here. Get one of those proper racks for the gym balls. My mate Baz could easily fit a sink in this corner, with a little unit for your kettle, fridge here, shelves up there. A new blind, lamp, coat of paint. It’d be a nice space with a bit of time and effort.’
‘While I have to agree this could be a good space, you and Hazel can’t live in the cabin.’
‘Why not?’ His brow wrinkled up; he looked genuinely confused.
‘How’s it going to work when I’m teaching? I’ll be working through the summer when there’s no college.’
‘Then me and Hazel can help out with Finn and Isla in the cottage, can’t we?’ He winked. ‘It’ll probably take me the best part of the summer to get all the jobs sorted. I thought I could decorate while I’m at it. Sort of instead of paying rent.’
‘If you work on my house as speedily as you’ve done this, it’ll be showroom ready by the time school breaks up.’
‘Then I’ll start on the garden.’ Toby’s smile disappeared. ‘Seriously, Libby. We’re that grateful you’ve said Hazel and I can move in. I can’t keep sleeping on your sofa, can I?’
Um, wasn’t the agreement that you’d stay until we found somewhere more suitable?
We agreed that he could stay for the summer, providing it had no impact on my classes. Rent would be in the form of DIY, gardening and childcare.
‘Your pregnant mums and dads won’t know we’re here. Especially the posh ones. We’re not only going to be no trouble, before long you’ll be wondering how you managed without us.’
I had to admit that I already sort of was.
Monday morning, Isla was not happy. That deadly combination of tired and wired after a weekend visiting her dad’s house for the first time, adjusting to fun new housemates and a full-on day with family – she was more fretful and grouchy than usual. We were so late I’d given up on checking the clock by the time I finally wrestled her into shoes that ‘felt wrong’ and grabbed the lunchbox of food that she of course now hated, despite having demanded it in the supermarket a few days earlier.
Finn was a coiled spring of frustration. ‘It’s PE this morning!’ he whined, standing in the doorway, kicking the doorframe while Isla and I underwent the pantomime of me putting on her second shoe while she took off the first one. ‘I’m missing my favourite lesson because of my stupid sister! It’s not fair! You should make her go to school with no shoes on, then she’ll learn.’
