Page 36 of Amazing Grace

‘That’s good, beauty and brains. You’ll be a lucky boy if you win her heart.’

‘Do you like my mum?’

‘I do, I like her very much.’

‘Do you like Becks?’

‘I do, I think he’s really cool.’

‘Do you ever get drunk?’

‘No, mate, I like a glass of wine from time to time but I’m not a big drinker at all. How about you?’

Archie giggled again. ‘I don’t think I’m ever going to drink alcohol. My dad and his girlfriend drink lots of red wine and I don’t like it because they get really loud and shout at each other and it scares me.’

‘Oh, mate, I’m sorry to hear that. I did get quite drunk once when I was really young but I didn’t like it so I’ve never done it again.’

‘Are you very rich?’

‘I do alright. How about you?’

‘I have about ninety pounds in my piggy bank right now. Do you have more than that?’

‘A little bit more than that.’

‘Ah, OK! Who is your favourite football team?’

‘Aston Villa of course! Who else?’

‘Oh fab! They’re my favourite team too. I’d love to go and see them one day.’

‘Well perhaps we could go together one day, mate?’

‘Sick! I like the sound of that! Do you have any children?’

‘I don’t. I wish I had but I don’t.’

‘Do you like children?’

‘I do. I’m an uncle to two brilliant girls and a boy. Bella is twelve, going on twenty-one, Rebecca is the same age as you and George is six. I adore them and spend as much time as I can with them when I’m not working.’

‘But you’d like a child of your own one day?’

‘It would be really cool, but if I don’t, that would be fine too. I have lots of lovely children in my life. And now I’ve met you too so if you don’t mind, I could add you to my pretty-cool-children buddies too.’

‘I think I’d like that, Vinnie, thanks. On a scale of one to ten, how pretty do you think my mum is?’

‘Wow! What a question. I think she’s off the scale, to be honest. She’sverypretty so I’d say around three million four hundred and seventy-one.’

‘Good answer! And do you think that one day you might love my mum?’

Grace, listening at the door, exhaled a big breath that she didn’t realise she’d been holding in, then tuned in again to hear Vinnie’s voice. ‘I like your mum. I really like your mum a lot. And I hope that your mum quite likes me too. I’d like to spend more time with her, and perhaps one day that like could turn into love. I think I’d like that very much. But only if that was OK with your mum and you, of course. I’d never want to do anything that might upset her and certainly not you either. I know that you are the most important person in her life.’

Archie pondered on this for a few seconds then said, ‘I love my mumsomuch. Do you think you’d love her more than I do?’

‘Do you know what, buddy? I think that the love that a mother and her son have between them is extremely special and no one could ever love their mother in the way that a child can. And no one could ever come between that love. And I don’t know your mum very well yet, but I can tell that she loves you more than she probably would ever love anyone. But love can come in different shapes and sizes. I think love is about looking after someone and making sure you do things that make them happy as much as you can. I’d like to make your mum happy, but in a different way to the way that she feels about you. Does that make any sense at all?’

‘So you wouldn’t love her more than me, just different to me?’

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