Ollie’s feet had barely touched the pavement before he was racing towards Sarah to throw himself into her arms, his little face beaming and obviously excited to see her. Swooping him up, she squeezed him close, peppering his cheeks with sloppy kisses and nuzzling his neck, which had him in a fit of giggles in an instant. His fringe had been cut, she noticed, her tummy flipping. Had Steve done that? Or had Laura? Quashing her immediate agitation, she made herself smile, for her little boy’s sake. ‘Did you have a lovely time?’ she asked him.
‘Uh-huh.’ Ollie nodded enthusiastically. ‘Mr Whale did too.’ He waggled the new soft toy he was clutching, which Sarah had been sure would be a bone of contention between her and Laura. Now, after Joe had pointed out that she might have got things out of proportion, she was realising that she might be being overprotective simply because Ollie was her child. Everything he was, everything he thought and did had come from her. She knew she was struggling to share him, but she had no choice. Whoever Steve was with, she could never bring herself to alienate him from his child, to rob Ollie of his father. She hoped they’d think to consult her in future, though, before making major decisions such as changing his comfort toys. And cutting his hair – she couldn’t help feeling Laura was making a point, hinting that Sarah wasn’t taking proper care of him.
Pushing her irritation aside rather than creating more animosity between her and Steve, she concentrated on Ollie. ‘Ooh, he’s a lovely bright blue, isn’t he? Is he your new snuggle friend?’ she asked, wanting to gauge how he felt about losing Bunny.
‘Yes,’ Ollie said with a nod. ‘Because Bunny has a portant job to do.’
‘Does he?’ Sarah looked at him, surprised.
‘Uh-huh.’ Ollie gave her another firm nod. ‘He’s guarding my new toy box.’
‘Oh, well, that is an important job.’ Dismissing the pang of sadness she felt at the thought of Bunny being in a strange house – which was a bit silly, even if it was the first toy her little boy had loved – she injected some cheeriness into her voice.
‘Laura’s going to feed him pizza faces if he gets hungry,’ Ollie informed her assuredly.
‘Yummy. They sound delicious.’ Sarah supposed they must have been if Ollie had remembered them.
‘Can I go inside and play, Mummy?’ he asked, now wearing his best beguiling eyes – and knowing full well Sarah couldn’t resist.
‘Go on then,’ she said indulgently. ‘You can have twenty minutes before bath time, but that’s all.’ Lowering her wriggling son to the ground – he was obviously keen to bolt off and no doubt upend his toy box – she made sure he was through the front door before turning back to Steve, who was retrieving Ollie’s bag from the boot of his car. Placing it on the pavement, he stayed where he was – a safe distance off, it appeared – and looked her over warily.
He had every right to be peeved. Sarah’s concerns had been for Ollie, but the truth was, she had judged Laura before even meeting her, which must have communicated to Steve that she was going to make his life difficult whoever he was with. She hadn’t meant to do that. She hadn’t meant to communicate what she must have to Joe either. He hadn’t said anything, but she’d seen the uncertainty in his eyes, the obvious hurt as he’d undoubtedly considered whether, like his wife, she was still stuck on her ex.
‘How did it go?’ she asked, walking towards the car.
‘Fine.’ Steve’s expression was guarded. ‘I’d have let you know if there were any problems, not that there would be any I couldn’t handle. I have been part of Ollie’s life since he was born, after all.’
‘I know.’ Sarah felt contrite. ‘Look, Steve—’
‘We went out for lunch today,’ Steve said, fetching Ollie’s coat from the boot. ‘He had mini chicken nuggets and vanilla ice cream. He didn’t eat a massive amount, so Laura made him some toast with peanut butter and cream cheese for tea. He had a home-made kiwi fruit lolly too. He wolfed that down. He’s obviously keen on those.’
‘Oh, right.’ Sarah was surprised. She’d tried him with kiwi fruit once. He hadn’t been that enamoured. She hadn’t thought of making lollies. Laura was plainly making a huge effort to ensure he ate properly. ‘That’s brilliant,’ she said, now feeling even more guilty. ‘I was wondering whether to give him a bedtime snack, but he obviously won’t need one.’
‘No.’ Steve smiled shortly. ‘Laura’s been great with him.’
‘I gathered.’ Sarah paused, and then braced herself to broach the subject of Ollie’s hair, which she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t noticed. ‘I see you’ve cut his fringe,’ she said carefully.
‘Laura did.’ Steve studied her cautiously. ‘It was tickling his eyelashes. It’s not a problem, is it?’
‘No,’ Sarah said quickly, thinking better of pointing out that it might have been nice to check with her first. ‘It’s just … I had him an appointment booked, but I can easily cancel it. It will save me some money.’
‘Great.’ Steve nodded and walked to the driver’s-side door.
‘Steve …’ She stopped him as he pulled it open. ‘About the argument we had, the way you said I made Laura feel. I didn’t mean to. I really was thinking about Ollie’s welfare, but … Anyway, if I did make her feel uncomfortable, I’m sorry.’ She waited, hoping he would accept her apology and they could get back to being friends, as they’d promised they would be.
He appeared to debate with himself, then, ‘It’s okay, no harm done,’ he said with a shrug. ‘Laura said you got along all right in the end.’
Sarah felt a huge surge of relief. Joe had been right. She should have listened to him, been less defensive. She would have to apologise to him too, and try to reassure him. She hoped he wasn’t regretting getting involved with her.
‘I don’t think it’s me you should be apologising to, though,’ Steve suggested, smiling more easily, which was at least something. ‘I’ll call you about having Ollie the weekend after next,’ he said. ‘Meanwhile, try not to worry so much, hey? We’ll work things out. I’m one hundred per cent with you in regard to what’s best for Ollie.’
Nodding, Sarah gave him an appreciative smile in return, then waved him off and hurried into the house to check on Ollie. Finding him whirling Mr Whale around, Spider-Man hitching an undulating ride on the creature’s back, she smiled and went to run his bath.
Half an hour later, she encouraged a still far too excited little boy into bed. ‘So did you like Laura, sweetheart?’ she asked. It was obvious he had got along with her, but still, she just wanted to check.
‘Yes.’ Ollie nodded happily. ‘She told me a story,’ he said as Sarah reluctantly tucked Mr Whale in with him. He did seem to love the cuddly toy.
‘I gathered.’ She reached to smooth her fingers through his fringe, which wasn’t too bad, she supposed, if a little bit lopsided. ‘About dragons, I bet.’ She smiled, assuming Laura had read to him from his bedtime story book.
