Page 113 of Je T'aime, Actually

“And in the meantime, we’ll have this,” Monroe said softly. “Every night. Time together, face to face.”

“Every night,” Chloé echoed. “And fall asleep together.”

Monroe's smile deepened. “Let’s do that.”

ninety-six

When Monroe picked up Benji and Kitty from school the following Wednesday, she didn’t drive towards the hospital.

“Where are we going?” Benji asked, frowning as he noticed they were heading in the opposite direction.

Monroe grinned. “We have a mission.”

“A mission?” Kitty perked up immediately.

Glancing at them in the rearview mirror, Monroe said, “Mummy needs us to go to Pollards on Bath Street.”

“What for?” Benji asked, suspicious. “I want to see Dad.”

“Well, our mission is to decorate the house.”

They both blinked at her, clearly not following.

“We need ‘Welcome Home’ banners and balloons,” Monroe said, watching as realisation dawned across their faces.

“He’s coming home?” Benji gasped, scrambling forwards to lean over the back of the front seat. “When?”

“If everything goes to plan, tonight or tomorrow. It’s all down to getting the hospital transport organised. His bed was delivered this morning.”

“Okay, I guess we can do that instead.” Benji grinned.

They parked in one of the mother-and-child spaces near the entrance to the store. Benji dashed off to find a trolley while Kitty bounced from foot to foot.

“Can we get a big balloon that makes you speak funny?” she asked, eyes wide with hope.

Monroe chuckled at her antics. “If they have one, I don’t see why not.”

“Yes!” Kitty threw a triumphant fist into the air.

“Come on then, let’s see what we can find.” Monroe reached out for her hand and they headed towards Benji, who stood by the trolley, looking thoroughly impatient.

The store wasn’t too busy—not like a Saturday afternoon. Monroe took control of the trolley once they were inside, and, predictably, Benji took off running, challenging Kitty to a race up the aisle.

“Kids, slow down, please,” Monroe called after them. “We don’t need another arm in plaster, do we?”

It was pointless, of course. They were too excited, and there hadn’t been many moments like this in the past couple of weeks.

Before long, they’d filled the trolley with enough balloons and banners to welcome home an entire battalion. They’d even picked up a few buffet platters. It wasn’t quite a party amount, but more than enough for a proper little celebration.

“Daddy’s going to be so happy to be home,” Kitty said, settling back into her car seat.

“I think so too. But we need to get a wriggle on if we’re going to put everything up in time.”

The four helium balloons bobbed cheerfully in the back seat, as if in total agreement.

Rushing in through the door, Monroe called, “Right, upstairs, out of uniforms, and then back down to help with this.” She dropped the bag and the four balloons in the hallway.

Kitty grabbed the balloons and tried to dart into the lounge.