that he’d failed to register Chloe’s approach until she’d spoken.
He made to deliver Amy into her arms, and the little girl started to cry, clinging on to him. Jon pulled an embarrassed face, which didn’t quite conceal his pleasure at Amy being so determined not to let him go, and Chloe motioned for him to stay as he was.
‘How are things?’ He took a moment out from Amy to ask the question.
‘We’re getting there. I think...’ Chloe took her jacket off and sat down. ‘James is taking Hannah back down to Cornwall with him, and I’m going to look after Amy for a while.’
His attention was suddenly all hers. ‘She doesn’t want to stay here?’
‘She’s...’ Chloe shrugged. ‘She’s got it into her head that I can look after Amy better than she can. Maybe that’s true for the moment. Hannah definitely needs a break so she can think things through.’
‘And when she has?’ Concern was etched deep into his face.
‘When she has, she’ll see that she’s a great mother and that James and I are both here for her to give her all the support she needs to make a good life for herself and for Amy.’
‘Sounds good to me.’
‘You don’t seem very convinced.’ He obviously knew as well as Chloe did that things probably weren’t going to be as easy as that.
He shrugged. ‘I’m...not really the one to ask about families.’
‘You mean the kids are a lot less complicated?’
‘Now you mention it...’ Amy grabbed at his nose and he gave her a look of exaggerated shock. Then he pinched her nose, putting his thumb between his fingers as he pulled his hand away and showing it to Amy.
‘Mine...!’ Amy reached for his hand.
‘That’s your nose, is it?’ Jon wiggled his thumb and Amy nodded.
It was almost painful to watch. All the support and love that anyone could want, and which Chloe couldn’t bring herself to trust in. But Jon had just said it himself. Something had persuaded him that families weren’t his strong point, and for him it was all about the children.
He was busy replacing Amy’s nose and threading an imaginary needle to stitch it back on again while Amy held it in place. ‘How’s that, then? Let Auntie Chloe have a look, see if I’ve got it straight.’
‘It’s straight...’ Suddenly the game seemed too good to end it here. Chloe clapped her hand theatrically over her mouth. ‘Call yourself a doctor? Amy...he’s put your nose back on upside down!’
Amy pulled at her nose, inspecting her empty hand, and Jon laughed.
‘Look, this is the way you do it... Perhaps Auntie Chloe can do a better job putting it back on again.’ A flash of his blue eyes, full of intoxicating fun. ‘She’s obviously the expert around here.’
The make-believe needle and thread was handed over to Chloe, and she pulled her chair a little closer. Amy held her nose on, giggling, while Chloe pretended to sew it back, her knees almost touching Jon’s. When he leaned over to gently untangle the drip attached to Amy’s arm, his fingers brushed hers, making her shiver.
‘Perfect.’ Jon inspected her handiwork, then dropped a kiss onto his finger, planting it on Amy’s nose then lifting the little girl onto Chloe’s lap.
‘Are you okay here?’ He pulled his chair back, as if he knew that suddenly he’d got altogether too close. ‘What about Amy’s things?’
‘James is dealing with that. He’s taking Hannah back to her place to pack and then he’ll drop Amy’s things back at my place and take Hannah on down to Cornwall.’
Jon nodded. ‘I guess Cornwall’s not so far. If Hannah needs to come back.’
‘Yes.’ Chloe sighed. ‘I hate them being apart but... Hannah seems to need some time at the moment. And some sleep as well.’
‘Yeah. I can identify with that.’ He rubbed one hand across his face, seeming suddenly drawn.
‘Why don’t you go home and get some rest? James and Hannah will be gone by now and I’ll give them a call and tell them not to wake you up when they get back with Amy’s things.’
‘You want anything before I go? Something to eat?’
‘No, I’ve eaten. Go.’
Amy seemed to have run out of energy too, and Chloe felt her snuggle against her, refusing to wake up and wave goodbye to Jon. He grinned, brushing Amy’s cheek with his finger, and Chloe watched his back as he walked away.
He turned for one final wave through the window from the lobby outside. Even distance, even the glass couldn’t dim the bright blue of his tired eyes and Chloe wished that he wasn’t leaving her behind.
It was the first step on a long and slippery slope. A look, a shared smile that would catapult her into neediness and leave her in a tangled heap on the floor when Jon went his own way. However much she liked his smile, it just wasn’t worth it.
Amy started to fret in her arms and Chloe leaned down to comfort her. ‘It’s going to be okay, Amy. Everything’s going to be okay, you’ll see.’
* * *
Jon hadn’t thought that a battered teddy bear and a bar of chocolate could possibly be such controversial items. He’d selected the teddy bear from the bag of toys that James had left in the hall while he’d slept, reckoning that the most worn was probably the most loved. And the chocolate was the same seventy per cent cocoa blend that he’d found stashed away at the back of one of the kitchen cabinets.
But when he’d gone to the children’s ward that evening, Chloe had looked at them both as if they were poisoned. She propped the teddy bear up in Amy’s cot, leaving the chocolate untouched on the locker.
‘Isn’t your shift about to start?’ It was a clear invitation for him to go, even if he’d only just arrived. He probably should go, but something stopped him. Maybe the fact that no one in their right mind refused a visitor when they were in hospital, and that Chloe’s attitude betrayed some other worry.
‘Not for another hour.’ He drew up a chair and sat down. He could probably find somewhere else to be, but sleep had rearranged his muddled thoughts, and on waking the decision had seemed obvious. Chloe needed help, and he was there to give it.
She hesitated. She looked different tonight, softer, dressed in a pair of casual trousers with a top that he reckoned was supposed to slide from one shoulder to reveal the strap of a cotton vest underneath. The warmth in here had touched her cheeks with pink, and her hair curled loosely around her face in what seemed like an invitation to touch.
Clearly that invitation wasn’t extended to him. And even if it had been, Jon had no intention of taking it up. The decision on that point had been clear, too. Help out, but don’t touch.
‘You don’t need to do this.’ She pressed her lips together, and they too became a little pinker. Jon wondered whether they tasted pink, and dismissed the thought with
