Baby Be Mine

the piss?’
    He frowns.
    ‘You were the one who wanted us to come here, Johnny. If you’re going to keep buggering off—’
    ‘For fuck’s sake, I’ve only been away for a few days.’
    ‘Almost a week! And you want to go away again.’
    ‘Aren’t you happy here? I’ve done what I can to make it as nice for you as possible . . .’
    ‘I appreciate that. But it’s not why we came.’ I take a deep breath. ‘We came so you could spend some quality time with your son, not so you could go off on little holidays with your girlfriend.’
    ‘That’s what the issue is, here, isn’t it?’ He gives me a look. ‘That I’m going away with her?’
    ‘What are you implying?’ I ask crossly. ‘Because if you think I’m still in any way interested in you, you’re out of your mind.’
    ‘Fine.’ He puts his hands up to stop me talking. ‘So you’ll be happy as long as I spend time with Barney?’
    I sigh and turn my back on him, facing the bed. ‘Yes. I guess so.’ I don’t want to look at him, even though I feel his eyes on me. ‘I’d better get him.’ I start towards the door.
    ‘Lena has him.’
    ‘I know that, but she’ll have work to do.’
    ‘Just chill out for a minute, would you?’ he says with irritation. ‘You look knackered.’ I hesitate and then nod, defeated. He leans against the wall and folds his arms. ‘So he hasn’t been well?’
    I shake my head. ‘No. He had an ear infection. He got it on my birthday,’ I add miserably.
    ‘Shit! Your birthday.’
    ‘Yep.’ My bottom lip goes out.
    ‘I forgot.’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘Anyway,’ I continue, ‘he’s been in a lot of pain and has barely slept so I’ve had a tough time of it with no one to help me.’
    He stares at me and I wonder if he knows I’m missing Christian. ‘You need a nanny,’ he says at last.
    ‘I don’t want a frigging nanny!’ I say crossly.
    ‘You said you needed help.’
    ‘Not hired help. I don’t want to hand over my son to someone who’s paid to look after him. I want people to want to look after him – friends, family . . .’
    ‘Damn, you’re difficult.’
    ‘I don’t think that’s me being difficult.’
    ‘It is. What about using an agency just so you can go out for a night? Celebrate your birthday? I’ve got tickets to the premiere of that new martial-arts flick and the after-show. You and that PA – what’s her name? Kerry?’
    ‘Kitty.’
    ‘You and Kitty could go.’
    I narrow my eyes at him. ‘When?’ I’m not massively keen on martial-arts movies, but a premiere’s a premiere.
    ‘Thursday night.’
    ‘Because I can’t go out tonight. I can’t leave him so soon after he’s been ill.’
    ‘Like I said, Thursday night.’
    I nod. ‘I’ll think about it.’
    He rolls his eyes at me.
    ‘I said, I’ll think about it!’ I exclaim.
    ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever.’
    He walks out of the room, leaving me – annoyingly – feeling foolish.
    I wait a minute before following him out. He’s nowhere to be seen. I go downstairs and out through the sliding doors to find Lena playing with Barney under the shade of a large white umbrella.
    ‘Sorry about that,’ I say. ‘Thanks for looking after him.’
    ‘No problem,’ she replies. ‘We’re having fun.’
    Barney beams up at her as if to accentuate that point.
    ‘You want to talk about it?’ she asks tentatively.
    I shrug. ‘Not really.’ She nods, but I continue anyway, ‘He thinks I should get a nanny. But I’m not having one,’ I add defiantly. ‘He said I should at least use an agency so I can go out. He’s got premiere tickets to some new martial-arts film on Thursday night.’
    ‘We’ll look after Barney!’ she bursts out. ‘Katya and I!’
    I regard her for a moment before shaking my head. ‘No, you’ve got enough on. I’ll use an agency. I’m sure it’ll be alright.’
    ‘Meg,’ she says firmly. ‘I would love to look after Barney. We’ll stay in the house so he’s in familiar surroundings, and he knows me. Plus, as I’ve already told you, Katya is dying to meet him.’
    I pause. ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘I’m sure.’
    My face breaks into a smile. ‘Thank you. Thank you. I’d better go and call Kitty!’

 
  Chapter 33  
    Davey, Johnny’s driver, picks Kitty up from Rod Freemantle’s mansion and we travel to the premiere together.
    ‘Champers?’ I offer when she climbs into the back of the limo wearing black jeans and a frilly red top.
    ‘You look stunning!’ she exclaims