Page 21 of The Baby Plan

He’d promised to look after Alana the next day and lend Sophie his truck so she could drive to London, pack up her own stuff and meet some estate agents. She wanted to get her flat rented out as soon as possible so she’d have some income coming in. She’d need to clean the whole place thoroughly, and she had guys coming to perform gas and electric safety checks and a handyman to sort out a couple of jobs which needed doing. It was going to be a long day.

She was surprised at herself for not being more concerned about leaving Alana with Samson for so long, especially with Mutt around, though even Sophie had to admit the dog and her niece made a cute pair. But Samson had promised to call if there was a problem and had even allowed her to write out Alana’s schedule for him to abide by. He’d then stuck it in prime position on the fridge.

She’d have to make sure Samson got some proper time to himself the day after or he’d be regretting ever asking the pair of them to move in!

Sophie decided to take the opportunity of having the kitchen table to herself to check again through the box she’d brought back from Natasha’s flat.

She emptied it all onto the table and began sorting it into piles. Finally, as she was nearing the very end of her search, she found what she’d been searching for: a single selfie of Natasha and Alana together. Natasha was kissing her daughter on the cheek, and Alana was giggling like crazy.

She was smiling at it when Samson came in. “I fancied a cup of tea, would you like one?” he asked, then seeing her face, “What have you got?”

Sophie held the photo out to him to see. “That’s lovely,” he said.

“Isn’t it? I’m so pleased I found it.”

Samson switched on the kettle, and indicated to it, reminding Sophie of his earlier question. “Oh, no thanks, not for me,” said Sophie, noticing the time. She wanted to be off early the next morning so should be getting to bed.

She tidied up the table, deciding to keep everything in the container she’d found it in, as that was where Natasha had chosen to store her treasures. Pausing before returning the photo of Natasha and Alana to the box, she decided to leave it on the side. She’d have a think about what best to do with it.

Chapter 7

When Sophie got back the following evening it was after ten. She was tired but very pleased with what she’d managed to get done. She’d handed keys to her flat over to the estate agents so they could take care of their side of things. It would be available for potential tenants to view in a week or so apparently. Everything was packed and sorted, it would only need one more, very laden, journey back to Samson’s house she thought and she’d be done. She’d been ruthless with her culling and the furniture was staying in place, so everything was practically ready to go. The income from the let would comfortably cover her mortgage payments with quite a bit left over. She’d even remembered to call the number Yvonne the social worker had given her and left a message giving Samson’s house as Alana and her new address.

It would be good to have more of her things around her again, even if she wasn’t living in her own home. She had a load of stuff in the cab of the pick-up truck outside, but it would have to wait until the morning to be brought in; she didn’t want to wake Alana by banging around dragging stuff up the stairs. She was sure the boxes under the tarp on the truck bed would be fine where they were: the weather was dry and it was a nice neighbourhood.

The downstairs was in darkness when she opened the front door, presumably Samson had gone to bed already. She dumped her bag on the floor of the hallway, exhausted after her long day and from dealing with the aftermath of her emotions from the day before, but sighed, turned back around and picked it up again: this was Samson’s hallway, she couldn’t leave her stuff lying around everywhere. She crept up the stairs as quietly as she could so as not to wake Samson or Alana. As she snuck past her niece’s room though, she couldn’t resist opening the door to take a peek at the sleeping little girl. She’d missed her and was sad to have lost out on her bedtime routine.

Sophie couldn’t help herself and slipped in, tiptoeing over to the cot. Alana was fast asleep, clutching her toy rabbit. Sophie tentatively pulled the blanket up a little and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. As she turned to leave, she noticed an unfamiliar shape on the top of the chest of drawers and went closer to investigate. By the light from the hallway, she could see it was a pretty silver frame holding the selfie photo of Natasha and Alana she’d left out. She smiled at Samson’s thoughtful gesture.

Walking back out into the hallway, she bumped into the man himself. Sophie gave a little jump of surprise. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I was in my bedroom and heard a noise from Alana’s room so I came to investigate.”

“I saw what you did with the photo...”

“Was it all right?” Samson asked quickly, clearly afraid he’d offended Sophie.

“It’s lovely,” reassured Sophie. “Really kind.”

“I put it so Alana could see it from her cot.”

“That was sweet of you.”

Samson looked embarrassed. “How did it go today? Did you get everything done you wanted to?”

“It was good, and, amazingly, it all got done. Well, pretty much — it’s piled in a corner ready, but I’ll need to slip back for another load with the Toyota if that’s OK? I’m renting the flat out furnished so I didn’t have to remove the furniture. Everything else is sorted! Hopefully, I’ll have tenants soon.”

“That’s brilliant!”

“There’s a load of boxes in the van. I’ll bring them in tomorrow.”

“Are you sure? I can give you a hand with it now?”

“Nah, it’ll be safe enough out there until morning.”

“OK, as long as you’re sure . . .”

They stood awkwardly. Sophie longed to ask Samson if he’d like to join her for a cup of tea; she’d love to sit, chat, and then fill him in on the finer details of her day. She was nervous, but curiously excited about the life-changing moves she was making, though felt terribly guilty that it was all due to her sister’s accident. It would be helpful to have someone to talk things through with, and she was learning to respect Samson and valued his advice hugely. She was trying to get up the courage to ask him, to work out the right words with the right level of nonchalance when Samson said, “Well, good night then. I left you some spaghetti Bolognese if you want it, it’s in the fridge.”

---