He looks up, sees me, and sudden panic flares in his eyes.

‘Where’s Tommy?’ he asks urgently.

‘Relax. He’s inside his playpen with a bottle of milk.’

I hear him exhale with relief.

‘And Little Miss Perfect?’

I bite back a smile. ‘Watching a cartoon.’

‘Is it normal for a three-year-old kid to talk like her?’

‘She is a bit precocious, but kids nowadays are more advanced than we were.’

‘Right,’ he mutters.

I smile at him.

‘Thank you,’ he says.

I start walking toward him. ‘Need some help?’

‘Nah, I think I’ve nearly got it all,’ he says, looking down at the mess.

I go over to the cupboard under the sink, and, opening it, find some cloths and a bottle of floor cleaner. I find a bowl and fill it from the hot water tap. I squirt a little cleaner into the bowl and walk over to him. I take the sponge out of his hand and replace it with a wet cloth. I toss the sponge across the room into the sink and squat beside him. I wink and begin to clean the floor. He copies my actions exactly.

‘So you got the diaper on, huh?’ he asks casually.

‘Yeah.’ I dip the cloth into the bowl of warm water and rinse it.

‘Any problems?’

‘Nope.’

‘Hmmm … Good.’

There is silence for a few minutes.

‘What do you think they feed that kid?’ he asks.

I hide my amusement as I wring milky water out of the cloth. ‘I don’t know. Maybe dead cats.’

‘I never imagined a baby could stink like that,’ he says in an awed voice. He actually shudders.

I push the bowl over to him. ‘I’ll have to be sure not to fart in bed, then.’

He stops swirling the cloth in the water. ‘Let’s make a deal. Any time you eat a dead cat for dinner, and you think you’re gonna fart in bed, just let me know, and I’ll put a sick bowl by my side,’ he says very seriously.

I laugh so hard at the thought of him puking his guts into a bowl that I fall over backwards. He sits on his heels looking down at me. ‘Have I ever told you, Ella Savage, you are one delicious woman?’

‘Is it because I’m covered in ice cream?’ I giggle.

He bends down and kisses my nose. ‘Even before that. Well before that,’ he growls.

We’re interrupted by an incoherent scream of rage coming from the living room. Dom freezes.

‘Go on,’ I say. ‘I’ll finish up here and join you.’

‘No, you go. I’ll finish up here and join you.’

I try not to chuckle. ‘Are you afraid of them, Dominic Eden?’

‘Terrified,’ he says.

I kiss his nose and go into the living room. Tommy is upset because Liliana has changed the channel.

‘Right,’ I say. ‘No more TV. How about we read a book?’

Both are happy with that, so I take Tommy out of the playpen, and together we choose a book and cuddle up on the sofa to read it. By the time Dom comes in, both kids are leaning on either side of me and we are more than halfway through the book.

He stops at the entrance and watches for a minute before he comes in and sits down with us. After reading the book, we play with the kids.

It’s a game where Dom has to say, ‘Fe fi fo fum, I smell the blood of a half-gypsy girl and the blood of a full-gypsy boy.’

Total panic ensues, with Dom taking on the persona of a zombie-like creature and chasing the kids, and them dodging his flailing arms while they squeal, scream, and laugh hysterically. As soon as their parents arrive, Liliana dashes to the door and lunges at her father.

‘Tommy broke a bowl, Daddy,’ Liliana says, as soon as she is high up in her father’s arms.

‘I smell ice cream,’ her father says with a straight face.

She covers her mouth. ‘Tommy ate ice cream.’

‘And you didn’t?’

She shakes her head vigorously.

Jake looks at me. ‘My daughter is such a liar.’

‘You can say that again,’ Dom mutters.

‘Why does my son smell of cat food, Uncle Dom?’ Layla asks.

Dom coughs.

‘Because Uncle Dom let Tommy eat cat food,’ Liliana says.

‘How much?’ Layla wonders.

‘Maybe one mouthful,’ Dom admits sheepishly.

Layla grins. ‘Actually, I think you coped brilliantly. Much better than I thought. What are you doing next Sunday?’

Dom actually takes a backward step, and everybody laughs. Even BJ joins in at the terror on Dom’s face.

After they’ve gone, Dom closes the door and turns to me. ‘Do you want to have sex in my brother’s flat?’

‘No, I don’t. But you can take me to dinner and then have sex with me at my place. You won’t believe what I’m wearing underneath these boring old clothes.’

His eyes brighten. ‘What are you wearing?’

‘It’s a surprise.’

‘Let’s go,’ he says, and bundles me quickly out of the apartment.

NINETEEN

‘I’ll go feed the parking meter,’ I offer, opening my bag and getting my coin purse out.

‘No, stay in the car. I’ll do it,’ Dom says.

I shake my head. ‘Dom, it’s just there across the road. I’ll do it,’ I insist, and, opening the passenger door, get out.

I cross the road, put enough coins into the machine for two hours of parking time, and get a receipt. When I look up, I see that he has got out of the car and has his forearms resting on the roof as he stands looking at me. A breeze blows at his hair and he smoothes it down. He is so gorgeous I still get butterflies in my tummy just looking at him.

I grin at him and step onto the road. There’s a loud blare from someone’s horn, and I wake up from my little dream world where only Dom and I exist. I turn my head and see a white van coming, so I quickly step back onto the pavement.

The van passes, and Dom comes back into my sight, no longer casually resting his forearms on the roof of his car, but standing with his hands at his sides and staring at me in disbelief. His face is white and his mouth is hanging open.

‘What?’ I mouth, shaking my head.

A car goes past. The road becomes empty and I run across it.

‘What?’ I ask again.

He shakes his head slowly, blankly. ‘Nothing.’

‘You’re as white as a sheet.’

He looks at me strangely. ‘Am I?’

‘Yes.’

‘I thought that car was going to hit you.’

I laugh. It’s not really a proper laugh. I’m disturbed by the sudden change in him. His expression and demeanor are so bizarre and out of character. We were laughing two minutes ago. ‘Well, it didn’t,’ I say.

‘I know. I saw that,’ he says robotically.

‘Dom, it wasn’t even a near miss. I had plenty of time.’

‘I know,’ he says again.

I take his hand, and I’m shocked to find it trembling.

‘What’s the matter, Dom?’ I ask urgently.

‘Nothing. Let’s go to dinner.’

I give him the parking receipt and he displays it on the dashboard and locks the car. Then we walk to the restaurant and sit opposite each other. I look at him and he looks away.

‘Dom, what the hell is going on?’

He turns to me. ‘Leave it alone. Please.’

Because I can see that he is so extremely affected, I drop it quietly.

The waitress comes and he orders a triple whiskey. My eyebrows rise involuntarily, but I say nothing. When the drinks come, he downs his in one go and calls for another.

We order our food. It comes and we eat. All the while, we talk in a wooden manner. He tells me Lily is pregnant. She just found out today. Shane has started dating a magician called Tanya. Jake is sending their mother on holiday to Spain. And I tell him my mother has invited us to dinner on Saturday. He nods. He smiles. But his face is a mask.

Dessert menus are flourished. He wants nothing. So I follow his lead. He refuses coffee. And then I know he doesn’t want to spend any more time with me.

He’s pushing me away.

And it hurts like mad. Why? What have I done? How can he just shut me out for no reason like this? I start to feel angry, but I’m unable to express my anger. Some part of me knows that whatever it is, it’s serious. It’s eating him up. The bill gets paid.