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He’d let Dylan into their lives, and it was down to hi to lose not only his club er, but also someone he’d come to think of as a kindred spirit and true friend
Chapter Thirty-Nine
It had not been an easy night aboard the Love Tug
Dylan didn’t even kno to hold a baby, let alone feed one or change its nappy Suzie had left him with two drums of formula milk powder, a packet of nappies, four sleep suits, a half used pack of wipes, an open shaker of baby powder… and the baby Surely the baby needed more than this to stay alive?
Feed him every few hours, she’d said On what? How much? How often? He had no clue, and his head was all kinds of screwed up He couldn’t think about Kara, because every thought of her hit him like a blow to the sto for the tiny hu withhe’d done during the night was anything to go by
Out of frustration, he’d considered e his mother at around three am, desperate to kno tonoise But then he’d thought it through, and he’d known she’d put herself on the first flight out, even though she had a pathological fear of flying, and he’d feel like a co on a freak show boat with a wild-haired baby, outcast and jobless to boot So he’d picked the baby up instead, and one whiff had told hi like a banshee
The amount of crap one small baby could produce had been a revelation that Dylan could really have done without in the s, when his life had just crashed down around his ears As it was, the baby was plastered, all up his back, down his legs… it was a full stripdown situation Dylan heaved his way through the process of peeling the baby’s clothes off and wiping hi him in the tiny kitchen sink, where he screahout his unceremonious bath
Was it normal for babies to turn purple when they were est towel he could find and held hiainst his shoulder while he tried to mix formula from the instructions on the side of the tin He’d taken hi deck-chairs to feed hi the start of a brand new day
His first day as a father, and his first day without Kara He closed his eyes a few seconds after his son did, equally exhausted and infinitely more terrified
Chapter Forty
Lucien stalked across the beach at Vadella, still deserted aside froa class in session on the sand outside a cafe He jogged past the impressive boats moored in the bay, all the way to the sh he knehere Dylan was staying, he hadn’t visited And likelike it before Lucien lifted his sunglasses to peeras he drew level, then dropped the colours that hit his eyeballs Trying to put aside his newly formed personal opinion on Dylan’s choice of abode, he stepped on board and peered inside through the open sliding door A can of formula milk sat on the counter, and the kitchen looked and smelled as if a bomb of baby powder had been detonated in there The presence of a pushchair in the small space confirmed it There was a baby on board
"I’m up here"
Dylan’s voice caned
Lucien backed out of the junked kitchen and stepped up onto the roof deck He surveyed the scene in silence Dylan’s tired, haggard face, and the tiny infant swaddled in a towel in his arms
"Seems the ruratulations? Offer you a cigar?" He enjoyed the flare of anguish that his words ignited in Dylan’s exhausted eyes "Where’s your wife? Still in bed after your fucking reunion?"
"Ex-wife," Dylan said, monotone "We aren’t lare hurting his eyes "Sit down, please ned He couldn’t blaone, for what it’s worth My ex-wife She came, duain with my fuckwit of a brother in tow as her escort"