Page 31 of The Baby Plan

“Fine!” Sophie cried, her self-constraint broken. “I’ll have dinner with you.”

“Have you got work stuff you need to catch up on?”

“I’ve got a couple of emails I should reply to.”

“Do you want to come to the supermarket with Alana and me anyway? We could walk, it’s a nice evening. Maybe you could show me the park you take her to? I’d love to see her on the swings.”

“Sure.” Sophie smiled, so relieved to have things back on an even keel between them. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to spend a relaxing few hours with Samson and Alana.

* * *

Samson began cooking while Sophie finished putting Alana to bed. Sophie then went into her room to brush her hair and reapply the little bit of make-up she had on. She wanted to put on some mascara as well, and ideally change her outfit. She realised she wanted Samson to think she looked nice and chastised herself: the poor guy had only just broken up with his girlfriend. She should be commiserating with him, not thinking about making herself more attractive to get his attention. And more importantly, she and Samson were still very much finding their way when it came to working together to bring up Alana. Helena had thrown a major spanner in the works of that, but, hopefully, with her no longer around, they could get back on track. Their relationship was already more than complicated enough without adding romance into the equation. And was it weird of her to be attracted to Natasha’s ex, even if the two of them hadn’t been together very long? How would she compare to her beautiful, fun and up-for-anything older sister, who’d always been the life and soul of the party? Did Samson see her as ugly and boring by comparison?

What was the point in pondering these things, she asked herself firmly. It wouldn’t be sensible for her and Samson to rock the boat of their newly re-established friendship, too much was at stake. And anyway, the likelihood of Samson being attracted to her after being with Natasha and Helena was minuscule — they were in a completely different league to her. She should focus on enjoying the evening and rejoice that that awful Helena was now well and truly out of the picture.

The food was already smelling mouthwatering as she came downstairs to join Samson. She grinned, remembering how excited Samson was to see Alana on the swings, and how he’d filmed it and then showed the video to the checkout lady at the supermarket.

He’d insisted on carrying the shopping home, and it had been nice to feel looked after, Sophie realised. It had been a very long time since she had been. And was it her imagination, or did they all, not only her, seem more relaxed now Helena was out of the picture?

A glass of wine was poured ready for her.

“Yum,” Sophie said, taking a sip.

Samson passed her a terracotta bowl filled with herby olives.

“I could get used to this,” she said happily, helping herself to one.

“Alana settled quickly for you,” Samson commented.

“I think we must have worn her out.”

Sophie drank another sip of wine before asking, “So, how are you really doing about Helena?”

“I’m good I think,” he said, to Sophie’s relief. “I could never be with someone who wasn’t prepared to fully take on Alana as well as me. She’s the most important thing in my life now.”

“In fairness to Helena, she didn’t know she’d be taking on Alana when she started dating you.”

“Yeah, I get that. I was a very different person when I met Helena, but Alana’s here now, and she’s not going anywhere.”

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you guys.”

“No, you’re not,” Samson said, with a knowing smile.

“Fair enough.” Sophie pulled a face. “I’m not. She was horrible.”

“Turns out she was,” admitted Samson.

Samson served pan-fried salmon with sauté potatoes and steamed tenderstem broccoli and mange tout. It was completely delicious. As was the apple crumble and custard he produced for pudding.

The combination of the relief of having Helena gone and the alcohol, made Sophie feel more relaxed with Samson than she ever had before.

“So...” began Samson awkwardly, as they cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. “My mum and dad are pretty desperate to meet Alana...”

“Of course they are! Are you going to take her to visit them? Where do they live?”

“Yeah, I was hoping to this weekend. Their house is near Oxford, so not too far. My sisters are going to be there as well.”

“How many sisters have you got?”

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