Page 101 of Playing the Game

“Take my car. And my credit card.”

“Adam,” Jen said. “Guilt money isn’t what I want from you.”

“I know that. Jen, I am so sorry that things didn’t work out between us.”

She sighed sadly. “Yeah, me too. It’s nice to share her with you.”

Olive kicked her legs in the air.

“Right, I’d better go and get provisions,” Jen said. “Don’t worry. I’ll go in disguise.”

She grabbed his baseball cap and shades.

“I wasn’t worried. We have nothing to answer for.”

“Will you be okay flying solo? It’s a major performance taking this one anywhere.”

Adam got up and grabbed Olive from the floor. He was fast becoming very used to having this bundle of joy in his arms.

“We’ll be fine.”

Jen got to her feet. Adam drew her into a hug. He and Jen were bonded forever. It made sense to navigate this as friends rather than enemies.

“Do you need anything?” Jen asked.

Adam shook his head. “Nah.”

She grabbed his car keys from the sideboard and left them to it. Olive stared up at him. She had wide blue eyes which seemed to bore into his very soul.

“I hope you’re not judging me, little one,” he said. “How about we have a play? Would you like that?”

Before he had a chance, the intercom went.

“What has Mummy forgotten?”

He clicked Answer.

“What’s up?”

“I can’t work this stupid gate,” Jen replied.

“Wait a second.”

Carefully he laid Olive in her day crib. There was no sense in her getting a chill on top of everything. He had no intention of really getting sick.

Adam threw on his coat and ran down the drive to find Jen hitting the top of the keycode machine.

“Hey,” Adam said. “Careful. We’ll be trapped if you bust it.”

Her eyes were full and she was pale. Adam input the code and pressed Enter. The gates swung slowly open.

“I can’t do anything right,” she said.

“None of that,” Adam replied, putting his arms around her. “You have a thriving daughter up there. I think that’s something right.”

She looked up at him. “When did you get so wise?”

“I’ll tell you later. Go and spend some money.”