Free Don't Want To Miss A Thing by Jill Mansell Page B

paused and massaged his aching temples. ‘So then it started to get me mad and I asked them why I obviously couldn’t do it, and they came out with all these reasons . . . excuses . . . and it was everything I’d been telling myself for the last week, plus it made sense, but there’s one thing I can’t stop thinking about.’ He was on a roll now, all the thoughts that had been churning around in his brain tumbling out. ‘She chose me, Henry. Laura chose me to be Delphi’s guardian. If I don’t do it, I’ll be letting her down. So I said this to her friends after the funeral and you should have seen the looks on their faces. When I said maybe I could take Delphi on, they were justhumouring me. It was like I was a kid announcing that I was going to play football for England when I grow up.’
    ‘So basically they’re right,’ said Henry, ‘and you know they’re right. But you don’t like hearing other people say it.’
    And now Henry was joining in, taking their side. For fuck’s sake. Dex said, ‘If I want to do this thing, I can.’
    ‘Hey, don’t get mad with me. I’m just being honest.’ Henry raised his hands. ‘You wouldn’t be able to cope.’
    ‘I could if I had to.’
    ‘It just isn’t you.’
    ‘So you’re basically telling me I’m too selfish and shallow.’
    ‘I’m not,’ Henry said mildly. ‘But as someone with a psychology A level, I can tell you that what you’re actually doing there is describing the way you view yourself.’
    ‘Henry, fuck off.’ It was exactly how he’d described himself last week when he’d been talking to that girl down in Briarwood .
    ‘I’m trying to help,’ said Henry. ‘The thing is, you don’t have to feel guilty and beat yourself up about it. Some people are cut out for this sort of thing, and some aren’t.’
    ‘And I’m not.’
    ‘Exactly. Apart from anything else, you work sixty hours a week.’
    ‘I’d get a nanny.’
    ‘You’d need two nannies. One for when you’re working, one for when you’re out on the town.’
    ‘Fine, I’ll do that.’
    ‘And then you’d start sleeping with one of the nannies and the other one would get jealous. Then after a huge fight they’d both walk out and you’d have to turn up at work with Delphi strapped to your chest in one of those sling things . . .’
    ‘They sent you over here to find out when I’d be back,’ Dexter interrupted. ‘Didn’t they?’
    Henry nodded. ‘Yes.’
    ‘They don’t give a stuff about me, do they?’
    ‘Well, they do . . .’
    ‘Because they need me there to put deals together, schmooze the clients, work like fuck and make shedloads of money for them.’
    ‘You make plenty for yourself too,’ Henry pointed out reasonably.
    Dexter, who wasn’t in the mood for being reasonable, made up his mind in that split second. He took a bottle of Perrier out of the fridge and drank some. When he’d finished he said steadily, ‘Tell them I’m not coming back. I quit. As of now.’
    Henry sighed. ‘You don’t mean that.’
    ‘Oh yes I do. There are more important things in life.’ All the guilt and indecision slid away as he said the words. This feels fantastic .
    ‘OK, now listen. This isn’t like deciding to pick up a takeaway,’ said Henry. ‘You can’t just turn up and announce to these fostering people that you’re going to be taking Delphi home with you.’
    ‘I know that.’ Dex’s neck prickled with panic. He hadn’t known that.
    ‘They don’t give out other people’s children to just anyone,’ Henry went on. ‘You have to prove you’re up to the job.’
    ‘Shit. How?’ And why was Henry choosing today of all days to give him such a hard time?
    A glimmer of a smile appeared around Henry’s mouth. ‘Well, probably by not swearing so bloody much for a start.’
    ‘I think you’ve got yourself a fan,’ said Molly.
    ‘What?’ Amber, who helped out in the café on Saturdays when it was busier, was energetically wiping down the next