CHAPTER FIVE
IN A WORLD full of imperfect relationships, Jon had bucked the trend and got himself something perfect. And it had broken and then descended into a chaos of hard feelings and lies. No wonder he didn’t want to go back there again.
And that suited Chloe. Promises to stay for ever hadn’t meant much when her parents had died, and even less when Jake had left. Even Hannah couldn’t stay with Amy right now. But Jon had made it clear that there was a limit to what he could promise, and that was oddly reassuring.
But the silence in the house when she opened the front door wasn’t. Amy had been released from hospital on Monday, and when Jon had got home from work on Tuesday morning, Chloe had left her niece in his care. She’d resisted the temptation to phone him any more than a couple of times during the day to ask if everything was all right, and left work at five-thirty on the dot.
She closed the front door. Maybe he’d taken Amy out for a while. But the car seat was still in the hall. Chloe walked into the sitting room and found Jon sprawled on the sofa, with Amy lying fast asleep on his chest.
It was odd, but every time she saw him he seemed a little more deliciously handsome. Perhaps it was Amy’s tiny hands, clutching at his shirt as she slept, his own arms providing a safe enclosure for her. Who could resist that?
Amy stirred and he opened his eyes immediately, his hand moving to spread protectively across her back. Then he caught sight of Chloe and she stepped back instinctively, aware that she’d been caught watching him.
‘Hi...’ She smiled foolishly as he sat up, bringing Amy with him. ‘Good day?’
‘Yeah.’ He surveyed the toys, scattered across the floor. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t get much time to tidy up, though...’
‘Amy’s okay?’
‘Yes, she’s been fine.’
Chloe grinned. ‘That’s your mission for the day sorted, then.’ She picked up a few of the toys, piling them up in the corner of the room, and then sat down next to him.
‘How was your day?’
‘Good.’ She leaned over towards Amy, who was waking up in his arms. ‘I missed you, Amy.’
Amy wriggled round, reaching for Chloe. ‘Beautiful Auntie Chloe...’
Amy enunciated the words perfectly. Something she’d heard, maybe, and was mimicking...?
No. They were just words. Probably jumbled together without any particular meaning. Amy was beginning to do that, mixing the baby talk with the odd word that sounded as if it had some thought behind it, but generally didn’t.
Jon looked as startled as she was. ‘I...wonder where she picked that up from.’
‘So I’m not beautiful?’ Teasing him wasn’t a bad way to cover her own discomfiture.
Jon narrowed his eyes. ‘I’m a little too tired to come up with an answer that’s not going to incriminate me.’
So maybe Amy had heard it from him. If so, it was probably best not to enquire. She took Amy from him, hugging her. ‘So what did you get up to today?’
‘We went to the park. There’s a great playground...’ He grinned. ‘Amy enjoyed it too.’
‘She didn’t give you a chance to sleep?’ Jon had reassembled Amy’s cot, and it stood next to the sofa.
‘She slept. I reckoned I might sleep, but...’ He shrugged. ‘I ended up watching her.’
‘Just to make sure her dreams were good ones.’ Chloe had done exactly the same when she’d been with Amy at the hospital. Hours when she could have been sleeping had somehow turned into hours watching Amy sleep.
‘Yeah. I’ll get an early night tonight. If I drop off before about nine o’clock perhaps you’ll give me a good shake and wake me up.’
A good shake or just the flutter of a child, sleeping on his chest. It seemed that either would be equally as effective. ‘How does the smell of coffee work?’
Jon nodded. ‘Every time.’
* * *
She’d brought him coffee and then disappeared upstairs, taking Amy with her. The transformation between work, the plain blouse and skirt, which weren’t plain at all when draped around Chloe’s curves, and the casual trousers and tops she wore at home took place out of sight, but that didn’t mean that Jon was unaware of it. Just thinking about it woke him up more effectively than if she’d flattened him with a steamroller.