Page 75 of The Merry Christmas Project

Josh was looking at him as if he was mad. ‘No way. Have you seen the nappy section of the supermarket recently ? I have to get her to write it down.’

‘And who writes it down for her ?’ Cole chided. ‘No one. Trust me. There’s a lot more to being a dad than watching Vicky be a good mum.’

Josh rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and studied the length of blockwork still to be completed. ‘I hate asking for time off.’

‘I know you’re a hard worker,’ Cole laughed. ‘But you’re a family man now, which is just as tough. Your days of backstage passes are behind you, you’ve got to impress her with your nappy knowledge.’

‘So, can I knock off at two today ?’

‘Thought you’d never ask,’ Cole replied with a wink.

Once Josh had gone, Cole decided to call the brickwork to a halt ; at this stage of the build there was plenty to be getting on with. He handed new jobs out and went back to his site office to book the crane they’d need to lift the roof trusses into place.

No sooner had he made himself a mug of tea when Lydia rang. His heart skipped a beat, immediately worried something had happened.

‘Lydia ?’ He calculated the time in Whistler to be just after seven in the morning.

‘Hey, sorry to bother you when you’re at work.’ She sounded flustered.

‘No worries. What’s happened, are the kids OK ?’ He sat down, gripping his phone to his ear.

‘They’re both fine.’ She hesitated. ‘Harley’s fine. But I’m a bit worried about Freya. She’s wet the bed every night this week. Something’s obviously bothering her, but whenever I ask her if she’s unhappy at school or if there’s someone upsetting her, she insists that nothing is the matter and that she’s happy.’

‘Poor kid,’ Cole muttered, his heart aching for his daughter.

‘I didn’t want to tell you because you’ll probably think it’s my fault. I dragged our kids halfway across the world, so it’s my problem to solve.’ There was a crack in Lydia’s voice and Cole felt awful for her. ‘But then I thought if you find out from the kids about the bed-wetting that you’d think I was keeping things from you.’

‘Hey,’ he said softly, picturing her hunched over her phone, her voice low so that the kids didn’t hear her. ‘I’m glad you told me. We’re both her parents; that means we both have to sort out any problems. And as for it being your fault, I gave you my blessing to go to Canada. I’m not going to start pointing the finger as soon as things get tough.’

‘Thank you,’ said Lydia, sounding dangerously close to tears. ‘You don’t know how much it means to hear that.’

‘Would it help if I flew over ?’ he suggested. He could if he had to ; work would have to wait.

‘You are a good dad,’ she said.

‘I’m trying,’ he replied.

Lydia sighed. ‘I’m meeting up with another ex-pat woman later, she and her husband are out here with their children – let me see if she’s got any advice before we do anything drastic.’

‘Sure,’ he said. ‘But the offer is there, just say the word.’

The story Merry had told him about lying to her mum came back to him then, about her misguided efforts to make her happy by pretending she’d had a good time with her foster parents. Maybe that was what Freya was doing : protecting Lydia’s feelings ?

‘Perhaps you could talk to her about how you feel,’ Cole suggested. ‘Maybe she needs to hear that it’s OK to feel sad, or angry, or … I don’t know, homesick even, and that there are things you can do to make those feelings better.’

‘You know, I was wondering if being homesick might be behind this,’ she said, ‘although she is adamant that she loves school and our apartment. But the bed-wetting has certainly been worse since she had a video call with her old classmates.’

‘She can love being in Canada and still feel homesick,’ he said. ‘The two aren’t mutually exclusive.’

‘Tell me about it,’ Lydia said drily. ‘What I wouldn’t give sometimes for fish and chips and a mooch around some decent shops.’

He shook his head, laughing softly at the memory of many a Saturday afternoon spent following her round the shopping centre, followed by a fish and chip supper at home. ‘I think maybe Freya needs to hear that too.’

‘You’re right. Thanks for listening.’ He could hear the smile in her voice now. ‘And thanks for giving such great advice. By the way, you haven’t forgotten the cut-off date to send parcels to Canada in time for Christmas ?’

‘Me miss a deadline ?’

‘Good point.’