Aleksey felt slightly chastened himself. It was quite novel not to be the one suffering under that rare, but extremely effective anger. Ben returned to the room empty-handed, ignored him except for chucking his sweaty top at him, and slammed furiously into the shower. He was standing in the middle of the steamy room with his head bowed under the powerful jets of water when Aleksey enfolded him in his arms. Ben put a hand to his eyes and murmured, ‘She could have walked in on us, Nik. For fuck’s sake, picture that! What we were doing last night! She just does what she wants, when she wants. She’s entirely out of control. I’m a crap father! I’m crap at this!’
‘Hey, don’t, you’re—’
‘—don’t try to make me feel better about this! It’s because of you! Don’t you get it?’ Ben seized his shoulders and shook him a little. ‘I keep hedging around it, saying we have to do something, asking what we’re going to do, because I already know! I already know that I’m not going to do anything that affects us. You and me…’ He trailed off, his anger dissipating in the steam. ‘I don’t want to do anything that changesus.’
Aleksey reached for the shampoo and began to rhythmically massage it into Ben’s hair, encouraging him to twist and turn under the heat. ‘Good. The decision is made then.’
Ben opened his eyes, blinking away the foam. ‘What?’
He shrugged. ‘Molly does not come to live here with us. We replace Sarah—with someone more qualified and better suited to manage her. A real, qualified nanny. She will be at school during the day. She will have her special night here with us. And holidays at Guillemot. All will be well, Ben. Your daughter and I did not choose this for you ironically.’ He squeezed Ben’s Best Daddy in the World bracelet and gave his arm a little shake. ‘She is not naughty, by the way. And she is not out of control. She is just very special.’
Ben narrowed his eyes a little, pondering this. ‘You just think she’s funny because she reminds you of you at that age.’
‘I wasn’t finding her all that amusing this morning, Ben. Trust me.’
Ben snorted and began to rinse. ‘You were clutching that sheet like an elderly virgin having her boudoir invaded.’
‘It’s been a very long time since any part of my body was virginal.’ Ben began to reach for a towel. Aleksey snagged him back. ‘And it’s been too many hours since it was invaded.’
* * *
Chapter Six
Decision made there was no time like the present. They sat together at the kitchen table and started to make a list of attributes they needed in a new nanny. Ben made a heading and underlined it neatly.
‘Live in.’
‘What?’
Aleksey pointed to the blank sheet. ‘Put live in, or they may think it’s a daily job.’
Ben dutifully wrote it down then sat chewing the end of the pencil. ‘Must speak English?’
Aleksey frowned. He’d rather taken that for granted, but agreed. Ben added it and then also wrotemust drive.
He was clearly very pleased with himself at such a comprehensive list, but Aleksey felt there ought to be more, only he couldn’t think of anything. Ben got up to make some breakfast, and so he swivelled the piece of paper around, hoping it might give him some inspiration. ‘Qualified?’
Ben, idly watching the toaster as he cracked eggs, frowned. ‘Huh?’
‘Well, some kind of childcare qualification?’
‘Okay, good one, add it.’
After a while, he brought a couple of plates of eggs and bacon and toast to the table with mugs of tea. The list had not progressed much. Suddenly, around a mouthful, Ben pointed out with real animation, ‘Hey, we’ve got someone we can ask—oh, I guess not.’ He saw the reception this about-face got and swallowed audibly. ‘Phillipa. I was gonna say Phillipa. Like I did with the party—asking her. But not now, I guess.’ He took another huge bite. ‘Pity.’
Ben’s eyes widened ashishand crept mischievously towards his phone. He even stopped chewing when a quick-dial number was stabbed. But then Aleksey reckoned Ben’s horror was justified: it wasn’t just anyone who felt they could speed-dial the Queen of England on a whim whenever they felt like it.
‘Oh for God’s sake. Will you never go away?’
Aleksey snorted at the voice he’d put on speaker. ‘Charming. How are you? Are you enjoying yourself? Lots of beheadings and putting people on the rack?’
There was a long pause whilst they could hear various doors being shut and voices being muffled by her obvious move to find some privacy.
‘Chance would be a fine thing, but apparently they don’t make racks for men six foot four—I did enquire. But I do have a state dinner tonight to look forward to. We are hosting the president of a country I have never heard of who apparently stuffs his cushions with the hair of his murdered political rivals. I have to wear heels for six hours and make small talk. Do you know what the definition of small talk is?—polite conversation that means nothing, about things that are entirely uninteresting. So, yes, thank you; I’m having a lovely time and wish you were here.’
‘Huh. That’s the first time you’ve ever said that. I’m touched.’
‘I was being sarcastic. I still don’t mean it—although I do seem to recall some of your occasional inputs to the dinner-table conversation were amusing. What do you want?’
