bed of kikuyu and daisies felt softer and springier than he expected when he put Piper down to crawl. Because of the sloping sides of the bowl Piper tended to end up back in the lowest point in the middle even when she climbed the sides and he could feel his mouth twitching as she furrowed her brows and tried to work out what was happening.
He pulled a bright saucer-sized ball from her backpack and tossed it in the centre of the glade while Catrina set their picnic bag on the table and spread the cloth. Piper crawled to the ball and batted it. Of course it rolled back down the side to her again. She pushed it again and crowed when it rolled back again.
‘Clever girl,’ he said to his daughter, and ‘Clever girl,’ to Catrina, who grinned at him as she finished laying out their treats and came to sit next to him on the side of the grass hill. ‘I can’t remember when I last had a picnic,’ he said as he passed an arrowroot biscuit to Piper and took one of the apples for himself.
‘I know. Me either.’ She handed him the can of drink and took a sip of her own. Then he heard her sigh blissfully.
‘We couldn’t have had more beautiful weather this afternoon.’
‘A bit different to this morning.’
‘That’s the beauty of Lighthouse Bay. We’re temperate. Not too hot for long or too cold for long. Always leaning towards perfect weather.’
‘Always?’
Catrina laughed. ‘Well, no. We do have wild storms sometimes. That’s why I have shutters on my windows and doors. But not often.’
The afternoon passed in a desultory fashion and once, when Piper dozed off in his arms, he and Catrina lay side by side watching the clouds pass overhead in companionable silence. He’d never met anyone as restful as she was. It would have been so simple to slide closer and take her hand but the man who could have done that had broken a year ago.
An hour later, on the way home from their walk, he asked again about the exact location of the day care mum.
‘I could come with you to knock on the door? Maybe meeting the family would help?’
‘Just drop in?’ Despite his initial reluctance, he could see that an impromptu visit could be less orchestrated than one when they expected him. And he had Catrina to come with him to break the ice.
It made sense. Not fair perhaps, but this was his baby he was considering leaving in their care, and he wanted a true representation of the feeling of the household.
When the door opened to answer his knock, a smiling red-haired man answered. Past him they could hear the sound of a child squealing and the smell of a roast dinner drifted out to tantalise his nose. He hadn’t had an old-fashioned roast for years. His mouth watered.
‘Can I help you?’ Then the man saw Catrina and smiled beatifically. ‘Trina!’
‘Hello, Bob. How are you?’ The man stepped forward and hugged her and Finn was surprised.
When they stepped back from each other she said, ‘Something smells divine. Lucky you—Sunday roast.’
‘You’re welcome any time, Trina.’ He grinned and looked at her companion.
‘This is Finn Foley. He’s a friend and I told him about Marni offering childcare and—’ she indicated Piper ‘—he and Piper have just started looking.’ Finn glanced at Catrina. Took a second to savour that she’d claimed friendship. She really was his only friend here.
She still spoke to Bob. ‘I wondered if he could have a chat with Marni?’
‘Absolutely. Any friend of yours and all that.’ Bob grinned at Finn. ‘Come in. Marni? There’s a dad here looking for information about childcare.’
Finn liked the way he said that. To his wife, with deference, and that he wasn’t committing to anything. Just asking. His nerves settled a fraction as he followed Catrina, with Piper on his back, in the door.
The room had been divided into two, with a kitchen and lounge on one side and a wall with doors on the other. Bedrooms, he guessed, unlike his one-room cottage. An extension had been built out the back with a big play room that overlooked the tiny fenced garden. Everything sparkled; even the toys strewn on the floor in the play room caught the sunlight and looked new and well cared for. The family warmth in the little abode made the tension drop from his shoulders and his eyes met Trina’s in acknowledgement.
A young woman crossed to them, drying her hands on a tea towel. She too hugged Catrina, and her shy smile eased the tension in Finn’s stomach like magic. ‘Trina. Great to see you.’
‘This is Finn, Marni.’ She turned to help Finn extricate Piper from the backpack—which he was pretty darn good at, but he had to admit it was quicker with help. And he liked her touching him.
‘Nice to meet you, Finn. You live a few doors down, don’t you?’ she said as she held out her hand. They shook briefly and he liked that her fingers were cool and dry, her grip confident.
‘Welcome.’ She smiled at Piper, who now sat on his hip, then turned around and pointed to two boys as if introducing her to them not Finn. ‘The one on the left is Olly, and the cheekier one is Mikey.’ She looked at Piper. ‘And what is your name, beautiful?’
Previously fascinated by the smaller humans, Piper looked back at the lady’s face, realised everyone was looking at her and then she clutched at his neck and buried her face.
Finn rubbed her back. ‘Piper can be shy.’
‘Of course she can.’ Marni indicated the rear of the cottage. ‘Come and sit out on the deck at the back and we’ll show you the play area and I can answer your questions.
‘So Catrina told you I’ve started doing childcare?’ The smile Marni gave Catrina lit up her face. ‘The midwives are my cheer squad. They’re all champions up there. If it wasn’t for them and the younger Dr Southwell, we wouldn’t have our gorgeous boys.’
Finn looked at the two chubby-faced little boys, one sitting in a blue tub of a chair kicking his feet and the other lying on his back on the patterned play carpet with a red spiral rattle. The little boy—Finn thought it was Olly—began to screw his face up, dropped the rattle and began to rock until he rolled over and lay on his stomach. The mischievous chortle he let out at the feat made Finn smile.
‘Clever boy, Mikey,’ his dad said. So he’d got that wrong, Finn thought. And then Bob gestured to his wife. ‘I’ll finish the potatoes. You take our guests and Piper out and have a chat.’
Finn liked that too. He could see they were a team and, despite having two babies, the air of serenity as Marni smiled made his trepidations settle. This sort of calm atmosphere looked perfect for Piper to learn about other babies and new adults.
A heck of a lot different to the busy, efficient childcare he’d had her in before. But Piper still clung to him like one of the stripy shells on the side of a rock pool and he remembered the hard times at the big kindergarten when he’d tried to leave.
Marni pointed to a scrubbed wooden table and four sturdy chairs. Two highchairs took up the other spaces. They all sat down and Marni put a soft-sided squeaky farm book on the table in front of Piper without making a fuss of it.
‘I
