Page 24 of The Baby Plan

Sophie nodded as knowledgeably as she could, trying to give the impression she’d been parenting for more than three weeks.

“How old’s your daughter?” asked the woman.

“Eight months,” replied Sophie, deciding not to go into the whole story of her actual relationship with Alana with a complete stranger. Was she really having her first ‘baby’ conversation with a mum?

“Olly’s nearly ten months. He’s so busy now he’s crawling everywhere, it’s exhausting! I can’t believe how fast he can move.”

“Alana’s not crawling yet, but she has started trying to pull herself up onto her hands and knees.”

“Make the most of it before she starts! I’m Julia. I haven’t seen you around. Have you recently moved to the area?”

“Yeah, from London. I’m Sophie.”

“Well it’s pretty good here for baby stuff. Some of the groups can be a bit cliquey though. There’s a fab one in the church hall on West Street this afternoon. Have you heard of it? Olly loves it because he gets to do all sorts of messy stuff, and I love it because I don’t have to clean the paint off my own kitchen walls!”

“I haven’t had a chance to check out any baby groups yet,” confessed Sophie.

“Come along later if you’re free?”

“I will, thanks,” said Sophie, thrilled she may very well have made her first ‘Mummy Friend’.

* * *

By the time Sophie put Alana in her highchair for her tea, she thought she could definitely say she’d made a pal in Julia. She’d been brave and gone to the baby group, but she needn’t have worried about not fitting in; everyone had been so nice and friendly. It was really good to chat with other women and it made her miss her friends from London. Her life now felt so removed from theirs but she resolved to do better about keeping in touch with them.

She’d also loved seeing Alana with the other babies; she’d been so interested! Especially in Olly, who seemed determined to bring her as many toy cars as possible, showing off his impressive crawling skills. Developing his courting technique early? she mused.

Alana had had a little nap in her buggy afterwards when she and Julia walked back to Julia’s for a coffee.

Julia’s home was a large flat she shared with her husband in a converted Edwardian house. “We’re hoping to move next year,” she explained. “It would be lovely to live somewhere with a garden.”

The babies were popped on a brightly coloured playmat with plenty of toys in the centre of the large sitting room to keep them amused, while the grown-ups drank their drinks and made short work of a plate of custard creams.

“So,” said Julia, taking a sip from her coffee, “what made you move to Brighton?”

Sophie considered fobbing Julia off, but she may as well get used to telling people about her situation, and it would be good to get someone else’s views on it, and so, taking a deep breath first, Sophie explained about Natasha, Alana and Samson. “That does sound complicated.”

“It’s not the easiest of situations,” Sophie admitted, “but we seem to be muddling through. I’m still very much finding my feet with the whole baby business.”

Julia stood up and came over to Sophie to hug her. “You’re doing an amazing job,” she said. “Alana is so lucky to have you.”

Sophie bit her lip. She hadn’t quite realised how much she needed to hear she was doing OK. Most days she still felt she had no idea what she was doing with her niece.

She left her new friend’s home a little while later feeling a lot lighter, and glad she’d filled up her day without Samson, and even spent some of it not thinking about him and his model girlfriend.

Chapter 8

Alana was finishing her tea when Samson arrived home. He came straight into the kitchen to find them and gave his daughter an affectionate kiss on the head.

“Hiya,” he said. “Have you two had a good day?”

“Yes, thanks,” replied Sophie. “Is Helena not with you?”

“Nah, she’s gone back to her own place. She wanted to unpack properly I think...”

“Right . . .”

“Um...” He looked at her awkwardly. “I’m sorry she wasn’t very friendly this morning.”

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