Cassie pulled a very quick short sprint out of the bag and picked him up just before he reached the first of the steps. He was so soft and chubby and just adorable.
And wriggly.
‘Head,’ he said and hit her – remarkably hard for someone so young – on the side of her face.
‘Ow.’
‘Head.’ Bang.
He got three more massive hits in before she got him into his playpen. She’d always thought they seemed a little mean, in an animal-in-a-zoo way, but, yep, less than five minutes into an evening’s babysitting and she could totally see that as a full-time carer to a baby you’d need some significant breaks from being smacked round the face and constantly having to run after them while they crawled into danger.
‘Hey, Cassie.’ It was Real Jennifer, not Scary Dream Jennifer who’d been yelling in Cassie’s dream that Cassie should not move back to Maine. Cassie had just been asleep on the sofa in Jennifer and Angela’s kitchen. Really quite sound asleep. It was hard work looking after a baby. He hadn’t gone to sleep until about ten. ‘How was he?’
‘A delight,’ Cassie said. He’d been gorgeous. Also, way more tiring than she’d expected. ‘I have to tell you that I messed up his first nappy change and put the nappy on back-to-front. It was alotmore complicated than I’d thought. Anyway, he weed out of the side all over his sheets. I found clean sheets in the wardrobe and put the wet ones through the washing machine. I wasn’t sure whether to tumble dry them so I hung them up.’ He’d actually neededfournappy changes, and three of them had been messy – what had he beeneating? And thankgoodnessthe one when the nappy had been on the wrong way had only been wee.
‘Thank you so much,’ Angela said.
‘My pleasure. He’s lovely. How was the show?’
‘OMG. Sensational. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s a genius.’
‘It was brilliant,’ Angela agreed. ‘Thank you again.’
‘Honestly, it was a lot of fun. I should thankyou.’
A little snuffle came over the baby monitor. Cute. The snuffle turned into a little cry, which was no surprise to Cassie; Sammy was clearly not a good sleeper.
‘I’ll go,’ Angela said. ‘We must have disturbed him when we came in.’
‘I’m going to get going,’ Cassie said. ‘Great to see all three of you and I’m so glad that you enjoyed the show.’
‘I have a bottle of wine for you for now and I have another something coming for you, which should arrive in a couple days’ time.’
‘Honestly, there was no need. But thank you. I love the label.’
‘Hey. I’d be taking advantage otherwise.’ Hilarious, given that Jennifer wasveryready to take advantage of a lot of people in a professional environment.
The cab arrived quickly. Cassie sat down in the back and took a lovely deep breath. She was genuinely worn out. Every time she’d relaxed, Sammy had woken up. The evening had been a strange mix of her heart cracking at the gorgeousness of him, loving the cuddles, clapping with him and laughing with him as they played together, and worry that he ought to be asleep. And all the nappy changes, of course. She hadn’t totallyloveddealing with Sammy’s dirty nappies but he’d laughed so much at the faces she’d pulled and the nursery rhymes she’d sung while he was on his changing mat that she’d ended up in stitches too. There weren’t many sounds better than a baby giggling away.
She looked out of the window at the trees on Barnes Common. Such a wonderful place to bring a child up.
Not as good as the island, though. Nowthatwould be a great place to bring a child up.
She nodded to herself. Yep. There was no question. Even if she was hopeless at getting him to sleep, she had loved every minute with Sammy. She now knew more than ever that she wanted to try again at least once more to have a baby of her own. Not in London again, though. Yes, it would be really awkward having to book a hotel room and go down to Boston at the drop of a hat, and London with the hospital on her doorstep had been way more convenient, but if it all went wrong again, she’d rather be at home. She wanted her friends nearby.
Why did James pop into her head when she thought about friends?
Nineteen
James
James was going to have to phone Cassie. Hopefully she wouldn’t be in bed yet.
‘Hi, James.’ She sounded pleased to hear from him.
‘Hello. You sound wide awake so I’m hoping that this isn’t too late to call.’
‘Nope, all good, not in bed yet. I’ve just got home after babysitting my agent’s baby.’
