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I thought Daisy would cry when he took her, but she didn’t.

Alex held her against his chest and stroked her downy little head.

Daisy gave him an unexpected gummy half-tooth smile – something she hardly ever does for strangers.

I was a bit worried that Mum might come running out in her see-through dressing gown and offer to help unload. But luckily she didn’t.

Alex lowered Daisy into the pram and strapped her in.

He stood for a moment, watching her. Then he said, ‘She’s a beautiful baby. Goodbye Juliette. Take care.’

And then he was gone.

Thursday August 20th

Gorgeous blue sky today.

Lovely big yellow sun.

I love my mum and dad. But they’re so LOUD.

‘Bob. BOB! I’m going into town. One or TWO PACKETS OF SAUSAGE ROLLS?’

‘SHIRLEY! WILL YOU KEEP YOUR VOICEDOWN!’

Mum only has to walk past my bedroom and Daisy wakes up.

Dad tries a bit harder to be quiet. But in a way, he’s louder when he’s trying to be quiet. He does all this exaggerated, ‘SHHHUUUSSH! DAISY’S SLEEPING!’

Of course, Daisy isn’t the easiest sleeper.

It takes half an hour of shushing and rocking and patting to get her dozing off. Then I gently lay her down in the cot. Take a few careful steps back like she’s a bomb that could go off. Careful … careful … don’t creak the floorboards …

And Mum’s voice will come bellowing up the stairs, ‘I’ve got TWO FROZEN PIZZAS! Bob? Shall I cook both of them?’

Still. It’s nice being home.

It’s especially nice not having Helen walk in at any moment.

But I do need a place of my own.

I just don’t want to live alone?. Daisy doesn’t really count as other people. I mean, she’s lovely. But she can’t tell the difference between carpet fluff and food. It’s not like we have long conversations.

She does make me laugh though. ?

Friday August 21st

Went running today and did four miles!

Amazing!

Even though I haven’t trained for ages.

I can’t believe it.

I mean, fair enough, it took nearly an hour to run those four miles. But I didn’t stop or anything. I just kept running and running.

Saturday August 22nd