Page 10 of Break the Ice

‘Does Josh sound like the films?’ their mother prompts.

‘He sounds like Mr Incredible,’ Freya says. I’ve not had that comparison before but I have to laugh.

‘Josh is from New York,’ Norah adds.

‘Like in The Avengers?’ Freya asks.

‘Kind of,’ I say.

‘Can you say coffee?’ Skye asks.

I smile. I can say coffee in my normal accent but I know what they really want me to say. ‘Can I have a cup of coffee and a hot dog?’ I say in a pronounced Brooklyn accent. This is all these girls need to lose their minds. They climb up onto stools next to me at the kitchen counter. I now have best friend status.

‘He’s not a performing monkey, girls. Leave him alone.’

‘What’s your last name?’ Skye asks.

‘Abelman.’

‘What’s a Twinkie?’

‘It’s a cake, filled with cream.’

‘Do you have any brothers and sisters?’

‘I have a sister called Maddie.’

‘Girls, girls, girls…’ their mother intervenes. ‘Enough with all the questions or you’ll scare him off and there will be no one to feed the fish.’

I laugh. ‘It’s fine.’ I quite like being interrogated, being part of their home, being part of a family.

I get the feeling Norah senses that. ‘Well, maybe Joshua would like to join us for dinner? We’re having lasagne,’ she asks.

I pause. It’s written on my face, isn’t it? The face of someone whose only version of a home-cooked meal has been pasta made with a jar of sauce. Who sits on his bed and eats the pasta while he watches re-runs of Brooklyn Nine-Nine because he’s mildly homesick for people who sound like him. Does the loneliness just radiate off me? I hope not. ‘I’d really like that. I appreciate the invitation. As long as I’m not imposing on family time.’

‘Again, with the very good manners. It’ll be a pleasure. My husband, Adam, will be home in a minute, so you can meet him,’ she says. ‘Girls, lay the table. Show Joshua where we keep stuff so he can learn,’ she continues. I feel a tiny hand go into mine and I stop for a minute. I can’t think of the last time someone trusted me so immediately.

‘My mama has a restaurant so it’s really good lasagne,’ Freya tells me.

‘We also have garlic dough balls,’ Skye says. ‘Do you want to stay and build gingerbread houses with us too?’

I look at Norah and she smiles. ‘If you have no previous engagements then, again, you are very welcome, Joshua.’

I nod. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do this evening.

FIVE

PHOEBE

Christmas Eve

‘Oh my God, all these dogs need homes?’ I ask the lady at the rescue centre as I walk past lots of cages, all these dogs sitting behind Perspex doors looking up at me with big sad eyes, cards up saying their names and circumstances and age. Bertie is ten and his owner was elderly and died and left him on his own. He’s blind in one eye, loves walks in the park but is scared of birds. I mustn’t cry. I really can’t cry over these dogs or she’ll never hand over Norah’s pooch to me, or worse I’ll end up walking out of here with a whole bunch of them. I’ll show up at Dad’s tomorrow with a carful of dogs. Hey, fam! Gifts for everyone!

‘Some of them have been reserved with home checks and vaccinations pending but yeah, more come in every day,’ she explains to me. I feel my bottom lip wobble. Some of these dogs are very little and it’s a day before Christmas. I pull in my coat around me. I can’t look any of them in the eye. Just go there, collect the dog, Norah told me. She had signed all the papers and he’d recovered from his operations really well. It will be fine. She didn’t warn me about this bit though.

‘So who looks after them over Christmas?’ I ask.

‘A group of us here. It’s what we do,’ she says.