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‘Right. Next time I want to know which bus to take, I’ll know who to ask.’ She grinned at him. ‘But it’s okay, really. You must still have work to do and we’ll be going in a minute.’
He shrugged. ‘I was operating at six this morning, I should have been gone hours ago. And... You look tired.’
Perhaps Edward noticed more than everyone thought.
There was no perhaps about it. He clearly did. Somewhere inside a smile formed at the thought that some of those things were connected with her.
‘We...we can’t. Isaac needs a proper car seat...’ It was a pity. The buses were always packed on a Friday evening and she could have done with a ride home.
‘No problem. I have one fitted in my car.’
Something told Charlotte that Edward had worked all of this through before he’d even made the offer. The complex equation balanced two shopping bags, one child and an indeterminate number of full buses, crawling through the traffic, against one child seat, a comfortable car and a lift home. He probably already knew what she was about to say.
She smiled, wondering whether he’d factored that in or not. ‘Okay. If it’s no trouble. Thanks.’
CHAPTER TWO
EDWARD GAVE NO explanation for the brand-new child’s car seat when he opened the back door of his sleek dark blue car and waved Isaac inside. Perhaps the girls at work were right. Perhaps he did have a woman somewhere. A woman with a child. So much for Paula’s assertions that it couldn’t hurt to try to breach Edward’s reserve.
All the same, there was nothing wrong with taking a lift from him, and Charlotte couldn’t deny that this was a great deal nicer than the bus. Not having to continually grab at her bags to get them out of the way of someone else’s feet. Isaac safely strapped in behind her, with Stinky on his lap. Leather seats. The quiet strains of music floating at her from four different directions. She began to relax.
‘It would be more convenient for you to drive to work.’
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As they passed Regent’s Park Edward’s customary forthrightness broke the silence.
‘Yeah. More expensive, too.’ She grinned at him. ‘Congestion charge, parking costs.’
He nodded. ‘I thought you were going to say you liked the bus.’
‘It’s not so bad. You meet a lot of interesting people on buses.’
‘So it’s a social experiment, then?’
Maybe for Edward. It was a matter of necessity for Charlotte. ‘You could call it that. We like it on the top deck, don’t we, Isaac?’
‘Yeah. You can see into people’s windows,’ Isaac piped up from the back seat.
‘Can you?’ Edward paused for thought. ‘What do you see?’
‘Christmas trees.’
‘In July?’
‘No, at Christmas.’ Isaac’s voice took on the tone of patient explanation that he sometimes used with adults. ‘We counted how many Christmas trees we could see on the way home.’
‘So you’re a mathematician. Is that why you’re called Isaac? After Isaac Newton?’
Isaac seemed to have succeeded where the combined talents of the Hunter Clinic had failed. That was definitely a joke, even if Isaac didn’t appear to understand it.
‘Who?’
Charlotte rolled her eyes. ‘He’s five, Edward.’
He nodded. ‘So you’re keeping Newton for later.’ He made it sound like leaving the best chocolate in the box until last. He raised his voice, speaking to Isaac again. ‘So how many Christmas trees did you count?’
‘A million.’
