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He was searching for his car keys and Charlotte pointed to the hook under the kitchen cabinet, where they were supposed to be.
‘Right. Thanks. I’ll be back shortly.’
‘Shortly’ could mean practically anything with Edward, and generally did. Charlotte opened her mouth to ask whether he’d be home for lunch, but he was already gone.
He returned an hour later, and appeared in the doorway between the hall and the living room carrying a long, thin parcel. He dumped it on the coffee table and sat down next to Charlotte on the sofa with an air of anticipation.
‘What’s that you’re reading?’ He craned over her shoulder, and Charlotte hugged the library book to her chest.
‘Nothing... What’s that you’ve got there?’
‘Hmm...nothing.’
Another moment of quiet, and Charlotte returned to her book.
‘Looks interesting. I haven’t been there for ages.’
He was reading over her shoulder again, and Charlotte snapped the book shut.
‘It’s the summer holidays soon, and I thought I’d take Isaac out on a few daytrips. This book’s got some really great ideas.’ It seemed that—for the moment anyway—the plan that they should just get on with their lives without disturbing each other too much had gone by the board.
He grinned. ‘The Natural History Museum’s great for kids.’
‘And for adults.’ Charlotte had been looking for places which would interest her and Isaac—something that they could share—as well as a few fun places where he could work off his energy.
‘And the Science Museum’s just down the road, of course. There are some wonderful things there.’
‘Yes.’ He was going to be volunteering to come along any minute now, and the thought of Edward and Isaac together in the Science Museum sounded far too much like hard work. ‘So what’s in the parcel, then?’
‘Ah! Thought you’d never ask.’
‘So did I. Looks as if you’ve worn me down.’ She grinned at him and he was suddenly seized with motion, grasping the parcel and tearing the wrappings from it.
‘What do you think?’
‘It’s a...’ Isaac had run in from the garden and nosed his way in between them. ‘What is it?’
‘Here—see?’ Edward pointed to the picture on the label. ‘It’s a kite.’
It wasn’t just any old kite, but then Charlotte doubted that Edward would be much interested in anything that didn’t have a complex structure of cords and an unlikely shape. He began to unwrap the collection of disassembled struts and sails, fishing out a small booklet.
Isaac watched open-mouthed and confused, looking to his mother for an explanation. ‘Edward has to put all of those pieces together, sweetie, before it’ll fly.’
‘Yeah, shouldn’t take long.’ Edward was already laying the pieces out on the coffee table. ‘Then we can go and fly it, eh, buddy?’
Charlotte left them to it and went to make drinks for them both. When she returned, Edward had already snapped into the fearsome concentration with which he approached almost any task, leaving Isaac shifting restlessly from one foot to the other. Charlotte placed his coffee on the table and he nodded absently.
‘Thanks... Don’t touch those, Isaac, I’ve put them all out in order.’
Isaac’s hand shot away from the metal strut as if it had suddenly become red hot, and he hid it behind his back.
‘Come here, sweetie.’ Charlotte motioned her son towards her and put her arms around him. ‘We’ll just watch, shall we?’
Isaac nodded, obviously wishing that he could be a part of the construction project, craning to see what was happening. Edward seemed almost oblivious to the two of them, quickly selecting the pieces he wanted and deftly fitting them together.
They watched in silence. ‘Look, sweetie, it’s almost ready...’ The structure was recognisable as a kite now, and Edward was attaching twine to the steering loops at each side.
Isaac nodded. But as Edward had worked she’d felt the excit
