‘I want you to come for a sleepover.’ Archie hurried across to the boat and touched the hull carefully. ‘But Mum thinks you’d be too big to fit in my sleepover bag.’
Josh dragged the shirt over his head. ‘A sleepover?’
Archie gave an impatient sigh. ‘You know—you spend the night at our house! It’s what friends do. And if you talk in really soft voices you can get to stay up really late.’ He glanced over his shoulder, checking that no one was listening. ‘The trick is to know how to act asleep when Mum puts her head round the door.’
Josh looked at him, intrigued. ‘So how do you act asleep?’
‘You move a bit,’ Archie confided, lowering his voice. ‘People who are really asleep don’t always lie still. I know that because once I lay like a stone and Mum said, “I know you’re awake, Archie,” in that voice of hers.’
Josh gave a wry smile. He suspected he’d been on the receiving end of ‘that voice’.
‘Anyway…’ Archie gave a little shrug ‘…I’m going to have Marcus for a sleepover the next time Mum has a day off. But you could come any time. It’s not as if Mum has to give you a lift home or anything.’
At a loss for words, Josh ran a hand over his rough jaw and decided that a conversation with a child was every bit as challenging as a conversation with a woman.
‘Does your mum want me to come for a sleepover?’
Archie was studying the boat again. ‘She doesn’t think you’ll fit in the bag. Can I help you paint this again?’
‘Does your mum even know you’re here?’
Archie shook his head and wriggled under the boat. ‘She’s asleep. I’m supposed to be watching television.’
‘Hold it!’ Josh raised his hands and took several steps backwards. ‘If she doesn’t know you’re here, then you’re going straight home, right now this minute.’
Archie gaped at him. ‘You’re sending me home?’
‘That’s right,’ Josh said hastily, grabbing his arm and leading him back towards the path. ‘The last time you came here without telling her, your mum yelled at me. She used that voice. You know the one!’
‘So?’ Archie rolled his eyes. ‘She yells at me all the time, and I’m smaller than you! Are you telling me you’re scared of my mum?’
Josh hid the smile. ‘Terrified.’ Terrified that if he did the wrong thing she wouldn’t have any more to do with him. ‘And you’re going home right now.’ He dropped the cloth he’d been using to clean his hands. ‘And what’s more, I’m taking you myself just to be sure that you don’t get into mischief on the way.’
Archie turned his head to look at the cottage then looked back at Josh. ‘It’s so close you can practically touch it. I can go on my own.’
‘I don’t care. I’m still walking you back to the door.’
But before Josh could move, a car pulled into his drive and Louisa climbed out.
‘Hopeful!’ With a shriek of delight Archie dashed over to hug the dog and was soon rolling around on Josh’s lawn, in danger of being licked to death.
Josh looked at his sister-in-law and then at the car. ‘I can’t believe you can still fit into that car—can you even reach the steering-wheel?’
‘Don’t be rude.’ She stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. ‘I’ve been baking and I thought you might like some. Then I’m off to the baby shop to pick up a couple of things. Can you unload my boot for me?’
Josh took the keys from her and unlocked the boot, lifting out several bags and a cake tin.
‘I wish this backache would go away. I’ve had it for days.’ She rubbed a hand over her back and tilted her head to one side as she watched the dog and the boy playing together. ‘What’s Archie doing here?’
‘Giving me a headache as usual.’ Josh slammed the boot shut. ‘I’m just taking him back over to Kat. Wait here and then I’ll ma
ke us some coffee.’
He strode through to put the bags in his kitchen and Louisa followed.
‘You know, Josh, you really ought—’ She broke off and gasped, her pretty face suddenly contorted in pain. ‘Oh, Josh.’ She grasped the back of a chair and put a hand on her bump.
‘What?’ Josh dropped the bags and strode to her side. ‘What, Louisa?’