Once Charlie had driven away, I turned my full attention to Abby who was chattering about what she'd done at school that day.
"Where's Amber?" I asked her again as I headed into the house. Since the meeting night at Pinewood, we'd hired Amber a few times to look after Abby when we needed some extra help. Today, since I was supposed to be picked up by Imogen and then go to pick up my car, we'd asked her to pick up Abby from school and watch her for a while.
"In the kitchen. She's making apple slices." Abby told me and I nodded.
"Tasty. How was school today?"
"Good. Papa, I painted you a picture!"
"Did you now? You'll have to show me." We were in the hallway now and I set her on the floor so I could kick off my shoes.
"Oh, I didn't realise you would be home so early." Amber appeared from the kitchen, a bowl of apple slices in her hands.
"I wasn't going to be. I just had a change of plans. Imogen will be here soon and then we have to go and pick up my car. You can still stay if you'd like to. Or you can head off now. We'll still pay you for the whole time."
"That's okay. I can hang around for a bit. Abby and I were about to watch some TV."
"Sounds good. Mind if I join you for a bit?" I directed the question to Abby who nodded eagerly.
"Yeah, yeah! Come on, papa." The little girl grabbed my hand, tugging me towards the living room. I laughed and followed her, Amber coming behind me. I flopped down onto the sofa and Abby crawled onto my lap, hugging me tightly.
"Don't I get cuddles today?" Amber asked, a teasing undertone to her voice. Abby glanced over and shook her head.
"I want to give papa cuddles."
"Well, it's only for a little while. Mummy's on her way home and we're going to get my car." I told her but she just buried her face in my chest as Amber turned the TV on.
Less than twenty minutes later, the front door slammed open and I heard Imogen's footsteps echoing from the hallway.
"Nick!" I gently pushed Abby onto the sofa and got up, hurrying to where my wife was waiting by the front door, arms crossed. "You could have told me earlier. I would have gone a different way home."
"I did tell you. I sent you a message. I just figured it would save time if Charlie gave me a ride home and you meet me here."
"I was driving. How am I supposed to read it?"
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Can we talk about this later, though? The mechanic shop will close soon." She huffed a little but nodded so I grabbed my shoes and followed her to where she'd left the car idling on the driveway. "We'll be back soon." I called over my shoulder towards the living room.
"I told you I don't like that guy." Imogen muttered when we were on the road and I looked over at her in surprise.
"What?"
"The guy you said drove you home. He's the one we met at that evening, yeah?"
"Yeah. Charlie. But I don't get what your problem with him is. He's just a nice guy."
"I don't know how to explain it, I just had a really bad feeling about him, like he was bad news or something."
"Imogen, he's married and has two kids. How bad can he be?"
"You've clearly not paid attention to those crime shows."
"Oh, come on. Look, if you say you don't want me to catch a ride with him anymore, I won't. But we do work together, so it's not like I can avoid him."
