Paper Hearts

THEN: Chapter 27

“I don't know that love changes. People change. Circumstances change.” – Nicholas Sparks

Eden:

“George! Honey, no, you can’t climb in the boxes, we need them for packing – Eden!”

I rolled my eyes and turned to scoop George out of the cardboard box he’d somehow found his way into behind my back, “He won’t bite you if you just take him out of the box, Em”

She looked anxious, “Well...I thought he might cry”

I laughed, loudly, “Oh, you’d better get used to that. And see, look, he’s not crying. Are you, baby?” I bounced George on my hip, and he beamed at me.

“You nearly done?” Emma queried, taping one of my boxes of books shut. I’d had to be selective about which ones to take, which meant leaving some behind...a task I wasn’t exactly enjoying. Even just taking the ones I felt it was imperative for me to have, I still had eight boxes.

“Yep, that’s all the books, I guess...” I looked forlornly at the ones that I was leaving behind, all of which somehow looked incredibly lonely on the bookcases, “I don’t even know where we’re going to put the ones I am taking, I just can’t leave them behind...”

“You really do come with a lot of baggage” Emma teased, and I threw one of George’s teddies at her.

“I did warn you”

“I know you did. I’m only joking. Truth be told, I’m kind of excited”

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We weren’t allowed to repaint the walls or anything, seeing as the property was rented – so everything was magnolia. But we were still determined to make this place our own. George’s room was the tiniest of box rooms, but I reflected that he was so small it probably didn’t make much difference for the time being. We slapped on wall stickers – planes, trains, cars with wide grinning mouths, and posters of Thomas the Tank and Fireman Sam. Emma, who had always been good at art, bought a massive canvas and did a whole animal-themed painting – lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, pandas, parrots...George would stare at the bright image in amazement, eyes round as saucers, and Emma and I made the noises of each animal for him before collapsing into fits of giggles at my imitation of an elephant.

I filled a whole wall of my fair-sized room with bookcases, though I still didn’t have enough room to accommodate all the ones I’d bought with me. I stacked them under the bed, on the top shelf of the built-in wardrobe, on the very top of the bookcases. Emma rolled her eyes when she saw that ‘Anna Karenina’ had been given pride of place, standing up on the top shelf so that every could see it.

It took us a while to settle in, and Mum and Dad spent more time at our flat than they did at home, for a while. By the time of George’s second birthday, things were only just starting to feel normal – I’d got used to movies and wine with Emma once George was in bed, wheeling George around in the pushchair every day as I handed out my CV, the sound of the group of students who shared the flat above us and played music well into the night. I was starting to feel...happier.

Two months before George’s birthday, I finally got a job. I was going to be a waitress in the coffee shop where Ollie and I had met; seven days a week (because I needed the money), strictly afternoons only. I couldn’t bear the thought of George not seeing me when he woke in the morning, even though working afternoons meant that I wouldn’t get much chance to take him out. But it was, I told myself, for his own good, and it was nice to be able to put more towards mine and Emma’s rent.