Page 108 of B is for Beg

“This isn’t the way home,” Lexi says as I lead her left out of the school gates.

“Do you want to go and look at houses?”

“Yes!” Still holding my hand, she jumps up and down.

“I don’t mean going into houses,” I add. “We’ll need to wait for your dad to do that.”

“Oh.”

“But we can go to the estate agents and look at brochures to see if there’s any you really like and want to show your dad.”

“Yes, please.” She swings my arm back and forth as we walk towards the high street. “Spence is staying over tomorrow night.”

I raise my eyebrows. “He is?” It’s the first I’ve heard about it, but I haven’t seen Corey since yesterday evening.

“Yeah. Daddy asked me if I was okay with it before school.”

“Are you?”

She shrugs. “Spence is okay.”

“Just okay?”

“I didn’t like him at first. But now I think he’s okay.”

That’s probably high praise coming from a five-year-old whose dad is dating seriously for the first time she can remember.

“Daddy says Spence makes him happy.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so.”

I squeeze her hand. “Want to talk about it?”

“They said they love each other.”

I stop and crouch down so I can look into her eyes. “You know that doesn’t mean your dad loves you any less, right?”

She stares at me, not moving or speaking.

“He’s got plenty of room in his heart for youandSpence.”

“I know.”

“You must have seen how much happier your dad has been recently?”

She nods slowly.

“And when your dad is happy, he’s a lot more fun to be around, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

I brush her hair behind her ear. “Do you think you’ve got enough room inyourheart for Spence as well as your dad?”

She presses her lips together. “Maybe.”

“Do you know what I think?”