Betting on Snow Lewis Foster id

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.”As the door squeaked open, Paul looked down to see a boy about two years old with wavy blond hair and tear-stained cheeks, whose hands were tightly clasped around the leg of a man in his late twenties.The man was tall and on the skinny side, with tousled brown hair that fell in curls over his gold-rimmed glasses.His tight white shirt clung appealingly to his chest, particularly at the spot where a chocolate-covered hand had grabbed him.“Hi.You must be Paul.”Paul stretched out his hand in courteous greeting.“Mr.Fern-Jones?”“Please, call me Ben.”Paul followed the ungainly pairing of parent and child down the light-filled hall and into a cavernous living room.Ben waved a hand distractedly toward a once-luxurious sofa, now covered with toys and blobs of dried food.“Do sit down.And please excuse the mess.”Paul was used to the cluttered chaos of student life, but the room was impressively scruffy.He pushed a toy train to one side and took a seat, trying to avoid a fresh splodge of pink goo.Ben placed the sniffling child onto a brightly colored playmat and shoved a beaker into his hands.Then he collapsed with audible exhaustion onto a sagging armchair.“As you can see, we’re in need of a bit of help ’round here.”Paul wasn’t sure whether to feel sorry for him.Even if the furniture had seen better days, he was obviously loaded.You didn’t get to live on a street like this without some serious assets.Paul supposed there was money in the family, but from his harassed look, he figured Ben and his wife also had high-powered jobs.They probably hadn’t intended to have a child or hadn’t realized what hard work it would be and were now regretting their life-changing decision.The person Paul felt most sorry for was George, who was bashing two wooden cars together with destructive glee.“So do you have any childcare qualifications?” Ben was now in more professional mode.“Not as such.” Paul was starting to wish he’d applied for one of the cleaning jobs instead.“I do like children, obviously, and I generally get on well with them.”Ben looked at him uneasily, clearly knowing a time-waster when he saw one.“What qualifications do you have exactly?”“Well, I do have a degree in English, if that helps.”A light of recognition flickered across Ben’s face.“Oh really? Me too.”Paul gratefully latched onto a source of conversation, hoping he could escape with some dignity.“Did you study in London too?”“London?” Ben seemed to think it a strange idea to study in the city.“No, I was up at Oxford.Then I went to Cambridge to study law.I loved the whole literature thing, but I’m afraid being a lawyer is rather more profitable.”“Tell me about it.” Paul was trying hard to dislike Ben, with his Oxbridge degrees and his fancy house.But there was something disarming about the way he pushed his glasses onto his nose and glanced affectionately at his son.“Is George’s mother a lawyer too?”“George’s mother?” The confused look on Ben’s face made Paul’s stomach clench with embarrassment.He guessed they must be separated, which was why Ben needed help around the house.“I’m sorry.I didn’t mean to pry.”“That’s okay.As it happens, George doesn’t have a mother.”This time, it was Paul’s turn to look confused.“Of course he has a mother.What I mean is, we don’t see her.” Ben hesitated, weighing up how much he should say, and then lowered his voice.“Tina was a surrogate mother, you see.She was wonderful throughout the whole process, but she didn’t want to see George after the birth.She knew it would be too painful.”Paul couldn’t imagine anything more painful than the current conversation and racked his brain for a safe question to ask.“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why are you looking for a male au pair? It is quite unusual.”“I suppose it is.” Ben smiled tiredly at George, who was chattering with a teddy bear.“I’m afraid we’ve had a few female au pairs, and George hasn’t taken to any of them.To be honest, most of them barely lasted a week.So I thought I’d try something different.”Paul wondered what kind of a little monster the child was, to drive away so many girls.“I think he got used to only having men in the house.He doesn’t appreciate the feminine touch.”“Only men?” The random parts of the puzzle began to slot into place.“Me and my, er, partner, Julian.”“Oh, right.I suppose he’s at work, then?”“Julian is….” Ben looked over at a photo Paul hadn’t noticed, of George and Ben and a blond-haired man, waving for the camera on a windswept beach.“Julian passed away last year.Eleven months ago today, in fact.George and I are on our own now.”Paul had an urge to get up and give him a hug, but as he’d barely known him ten minutes, he thought it best to refrain.He also felt horribly guilty for wasting the poor man’s time.“I’m so sorry.I should go.You really need someone experienced [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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