I licked it off, which made her giggle and made the baby give a massive kick.
“Do you think about moving out when the baby’s easier?”
I could tell by the look on her face she hadn’t expected me to ask that.
“Amber, you’re not my captive. You’re free to go at any time. I’d rather you didn’t though.” I stole some of her cake. This time she smacked my hand with her spoon.
“What do the girls think? Do they think I’m there permanently?”
I shrugged. “They knew you moved in with us because we wanted to look after you and the baby. I think they’ve just accepted you’re there. They like you.” They liked her a lot. Zara had asked her if the baby, when he was born, would call her mummy, and then she’d asked me if she could call Amber that too. I’d managed to answer the question without answering it, and I hadn’t mentioned it to Amber – I wasn’t sure how she’d handle it without stressing.
“I like them. Although they don’t like me when I tell them off.”
I grinned. I’d had to tell her that she was okay to tell them off, because if she didn’t they’d think she was a soft touch. I wasn’t one of those parents who took the funnies if another adult rightly enforced boundaries. This had opened up a big conversation about our childhoods, and that of her nieces and nephews. We’d tried debating with each other about what boundaries there should be, then realised we had nothing to debate on, as we were just agreeing with each other.
That shut us both up.
The conversation had come up again, discussions about what would’ve been different and whether we’d changed anything, if we could turn back time to when I got those condoms out of my wallet. The answer had ended up being no, which led to us attempting a different position in bed other than spooning, then realising there was no chance of that happening until Amber’s belly wasn’t full of baby.
She’d also told me she’d stopped looking for houses for her. That was post-orgasm, so I’d checked again after she’d come down from that high.
“You’ve done the groundwork,” Jesse put down the menu. “So what’s the plan?”
“Are the girls involved?” Ryan sipped his soda water. He was the only one not enjoying a beer. Jez was picking me and Jesse up – her being his chauffeur was actually quite useful – and Dee was collecting Rowan, although she’d refused to confirm what time it would be.
We didn’t have training tomorrow. It was fitness testing time for some of the new signings and a couple of the youth team who were moving up to the main squad, so being in every day wasn’t always required.
“No. If she says no, they’d be too disappointed. So, I’m going to ask her first and if she says yes, Jez is going to tell them and bring them outside.” I had thought about the girls helping out with the proposal, but that put Amber under too much pressure to say yes.
“Do you think she will say yes?” Ryan folded his arms. “I suppose you wouldn’t be asking if you didn’t.”
I nodded. “I think she will. We haven’t talked about it, as such, but she isn’t planning on moving out now.” She’d asked if she could use her money from selling her house towards my mortgage, which had made me laugh, but we’d come to a compromise of her paying for a summer house in the garden that she could have as a reading room where no one was allowed.
Ryan gave a nod, then looked at Jude. “You’ve gone quiet since you nearly dropped yourself in it about who you were with last night. Want to tell us now?”
And that was how the afternoon led to Jude stealing a rowing boat on the river and sailing off to try and get away from us.
CHAPTER20
Amber
THIRTY-FOUR WEEKS
Nate was up to something.
I was in the kitchen, working on a jigsaw with Libbie, who apparently had the task of keeping me occupied, because for a kid who was rarely needy, she was being needy.
“Do you think this goes here?” She deliberately tried to put a piece in the wrong area.
I pointed back to the picture on the front. It was a jigsaw for ages ten plus, and she was now six, so this was meant to be hard. As it was, Libbie was keen on the finer detail, and had already completed a jigsaw this difficult by herself.
Something was going on.
“No, look at the colours. That’s part of the sky. See, there’s a bit of cloud.”
She looked up at me and gave me a huge smile. “Thank you. I’m glad you live here with us now.”
It was the first time she’d mentioned me being here. Out of the two girls, Zara had been the most forthcoming with her affection, cuddles and home-made pictures and gifts from her were commonplace; Libbie was reticent. I’d wondered if she was jealous that I took some of her daddy’s time away from her, but I’d never got the impression that she resented me. Her hugs came more often now, always considered rather than impulsive, but that seemed to be her nature when it came to being affectionate.
