Read Online Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 2 by Various Authors - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Various Authors
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passport. Then he flew back to England with her.
****
Mark met him at Heathrow. Jules had taken the airport bus on the way out, but with Nicole that was just not possible. It wasn't the baby that was the problem— she was neatly packed into a sling, nestling against Jules's chest— it was everything that came with her.
"She has more stuff than a supermodel," he complained as they loaded a cart to push to Mark's car. "You wouldn't believe someone so tiny could need so much luggage."
He was happy to see Mark's warm, welcoming face and even happier to find that his car was already fitted with a baby seat. Mark took Nicole to put her into the seat and Jules was impressed by the way he held her. He seemed to know how to talk to her, too. Of course, he had a niece and nephew of his own. He would be a big help, Jules was sure.
And he needed help. From the moment they arrived back at the restaurant, his life changed completely. Mark had found an agency that supplied live-in nannies but that didn't mean that Jules had any free time. There was no more heading for the city on Sunday and Monday nights when the restaurant was closed. He had to stay with Nicole so that the nanny could have an evening out. Nor could he arrange for one of his internet dates to come over for quick and dirty sex the way they used to, not with Nicole and the nanny there. He would have had to go to the other guy's place, which wasn't easy when he finished work after eleven and had no car and the nanny was expecting him home.
One evening Mark said something about Jules's life and Jules said, "Life? What life? I don't have a life, I have a baby."
After a few weeks, the first nanny, Lucy, left to go backpacking around Asia. The agency sent a replacement but she was a slow, clumsy girl who resigned in tears when Jules yelled at her for breaking his coffee grinder. Mark told him that he couldn't yell at nannies as if they were kitchen staff. They weren't trained to accept it. Jules said in that case he would look after Nicole by himself. He didn't have much choice: the agency said there was nobody else available.
He'd learnt a lot from Lucy and from the midwife who had been assigned to check up on him when he registered Nicole with a doctor. Theoretically, he was sure he could cope. It was true that he got twice as much sleep with a nanny there, but who needed sleep?
He bought a second cot for Nicole so that she could stay in the office while he was working in the kitchen. He set up a baby monitor so that he could hear her crying and one corner of the kitchen was reserved for her bottles and formula. At the same time, he learnt to delegate so that customers' meals wouldn't be delayed while he went off to feed the baby.
Of course, if Mark was in the office with her, he fed her. None of the other staff were allowed to have any responsibility for her care, but Mark was different. Without ever discussing it, they both took it for granted that he would help. Sometimes, before the restaurant opened, Jules would leave Nicole with Mark, give instructions to Carrie and go upstairs to grab a couple of hours' sleep.
When Jules was working, everything seemed straightforward. If Nicole wasn't sleeping or attached to a bottle, she would lie contentedly in her cot, watching the mobile that Mark had fixed above it. She squealed and chirped as if she was trying to sing to herself but didn't know how to make a tune. Mark said it was like having a canary in the office. They called her Baby Bird.
She was happy in the restaurant. She seemed to like the noise and the bustle, the clatter of pans, the voices, the staff coming in and out of the office. Of course she would cry if she was hungry, but in the restaurant she didn't wail and grizzle for no reason as she often did alone with Jules upstairs, driving him crazy with exhaustion.
Jules was happier in the restaurant too. There, he never had time to worry. It was when he was home alone with her that his fears caught up with
****
Mark met him at Heathrow. Jules had taken the airport bus on the way out, but with Nicole that was just not possible. It wasn't the baby that was the problem— she was neatly packed into a sling, nestling against Jules's chest— it was everything that came with her.
"She has more stuff than a supermodel," he complained as they loaded a cart to push to Mark's car. "You wouldn't believe someone so tiny could need so much luggage."
He was happy to see Mark's warm, welcoming face and even happier to find that his car was already fitted with a baby seat. Mark took Nicole to put her into the seat and Jules was impressed by the way he held her. He seemed to know how to talk to her, too. Of course, he had a niece and nephew of his own. He would be a big help, Jules was sure.
And he needed help. From the moment they arrived back at the restaurant, his life changed completely. Mark had found an agency that supplied live-in nannies but that didn't mean that Jules had any free time. There was no more heading for the city on Sunday and Monday nights when the restaurant was closed. He had to stay with Nicole so that the nanny could have an evening out. Nor could he arrange for one of his internet dates to come over for quick and dirty sex the way they used to, not with Nicole and the nanny there. He would have had to go to the other guy's place, which wasn't easy when he finished work after eleven and had no car and the nanny was expecting him home.
One evening Mark said something about Jules's life and Jules said, "Life? What life? I don't have a life, I have a baby."
After a few weeks, the first nanny, Lucy, left to go backpacking around Asia. The agency sent a replacement but she was a slow, clumsy girl who resigned in tears when Jules yelled at her for breaking his coffee grinder. Mark told him that he couldn't yell at nannies as if they were kitchen staff. They weren't trained to accept it. Jules said in that case he would look after Nicole by himself. He didn't have much choice: the agency said there was nobody else available.
He'd learnt a lot from Lucy and from the midwife who had been assigned to check up on him when he registered Nicole with a doctor. Theoretically, he was sure he could cope. It was true that he got twice as much sleep with a nanny there, but who needed sleep?
He bought a second cot for Nicole so that she could stay in the office while he was working in the kitchen. He set up a baby monitor so that he could hear her crying and one corner of the kitchen was reserved for her bottles and formula. At the same time, he learnt to delegate so that customers' meals wouldn't be delayed while he went off to feed the baby.
Of course, if Mark was in the office with her, he fed her. None of the other staff were allowed to have any responsibility for her care, but Mark was different. Without ever discussing it, they both took it for granted that he would help. Sometimes, before the restaurant opened, Jules would leave Nicole with Mark, give instructions to Carrie and go upstairs to grab a couple of hours' sleep.
When Jules was working, everything seemed straightforward. If Nicole wasn't sleeping or attached to a bottle, she would lie contentedly in her cot, watching the mobile that Mark had fixed above it. She squealed and chirped as if she was trying to sing to herself but didn't know how to make a tune. Mark said it was like having a canary in the office. They called her Baby Bird.
She was happy in the restaurant. She seemed to like the noise and the bustle, the clatter of pans, the voices, the staff coming in and out of the office. Of course she would cry if she was hungry, but in the restaurant she didn't wail and grizzle for no reason as she often did alone with Jules upstairs, driving him crazy with exhaustion.
Jules was happier in the restaurant too. There, he never had time to worry. It was when he was home alone with her that his fears caught up with
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