Chapter 20

“Thanks,” he said as they pulled up in the car park, and Lauren smiled.

“You’ll get back to being you,” she said simply. “It was worth it, right?”

“Yeah. Still hard.”

She squeezed his arm, then plastered a huge smile on her face.

“Come on. Let’s go see what a mess she’s made of her other dad.”

To Andreas’ surprise, he didn’t walk in to see one of the barmaids cuddling his daughter. Instead, he found Erik in a booth by the window, watching the football on the telly above the bar, and cradling a sleeping Beatriz against his chest. She was lying along his chubby forearm, head tucked into the crook of his elbow, her little fingers coiled around a soft floppy rattle they’d bought her last weekend. Erik beamed up at them, chest pushed out with pride, and Andreas felt his grumpiness soften.

“Alright?”

“Yep.” Erik patted the seat beside him. “She didn’t finish her bottle.”

“She doesn’t always.” Andreas settled down. “She’ll let us know when she wants the rest of it.”