‘Do we need to buy you a teddy bear?’ he asks slowly.
‘No, you’re all right,’ I reply.
‘You ready for this?’ He picks up one of the paper cups.
‘Yes, please.’ I hold my hands out as he passes it over. ‘What is it?’
‘A latte. Hope that’s okay.’
‘Perfect. What a treat.’
He throws me the paper bag. ‘Pain au chocolat,’ he says.
‘Oh, my God, I think I love you. Can you stay over every night?’
He laughs again and kisses the top of April’s head. ‘So I was thinking...’ He takes a sip of his own coffee.
I wait for him to continue.
‘How about we do Heligan today? It’ll be really busy tomorrow, with it being a Saturday.’
‘I should write up my notes from yesterday,’ I reply, uncertainly.
‘Could you do them tomorrow instead? You could still work from mine if you wanted to.’
‘Would you want me at your house on the weekend?’ I sound dubious. ‘Don’t you need your own space?’
He frowns. ‘No. You know I like having you around. You make us laugh.’ He pulls a funny face at April and a flame flickers on inside me.
‘Okay,’ I say with a grin. ‘Let’s do it.’
‘Cool. I’ll nip home for a shower in a bit and get April’s things together. Shall I come back for you around nine?’
‘It’s a plan.’
After they’ve gone, I get ready as quickly as possible so I have time to call Elliot. I don’t want to waste even five minutes doing my hair, so I leave it to dry naturally, grabbing my phone and traipsing up the hill at eight thirty. That gives me half an hour to chat to him before Charlie returns.
‘I’ve just left work,’ Elliot tells me, smiling upon answering. He’s walking through the city streets and I can just make out his charcoal suit and silver-and-blue checked tie at the bottom of the frame. He always looks smart when he goes to work. He’s a civil engineer at a big consultancy firm and he’s quite senior. ‘Let me find somewhere to stop and talk to you.’ He looks around for a suitable place.
We try to have our longer conversations on weekends so we don’t have this problem, but sometimes, with the time difference, we have to make do.
He comes across a deserted doorway. ‘I’ll perch here for a bit.’
‘Hey,’ I say warmly, when I have his full attention. ‘Long time no speak.’
‘Yeah, you’ve been a bit busy this week, have you?’ He raises one dark eyebrow.
‘A bit, yeah,’ I reply. ‘What about you?’
‘Still pretty crazy.’ He sighs and scratches his chin – he has more of a beard than stubble at the moment. ‘Think I’m going to have to go in tomorrow. I’d had it up to my eyeballs with it tonight, though. Had to call it quits.’
‘Are you going out?’ I ask.
‘Yeah, meeting a few of the boys at a bar in the harbour.’
‘Nice. Have one for me.’
‘I’ll have several. Heard today that we’re on for finishing this job in early November. There’s actually talk about some of us getting a week off before the next project starts.’
