The Baby Diaries by Sam Binnie

Author:Sam Binnie [Sam Binnie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2013-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

May 4th

So. My final day in the office. It felt pretty odd, although of course it’s only until January, it’s not forever. But I still had a lump in my throat as I looked around, in between frantically trying to ready everything for my cover. When I shared my strange mood with Alice, she just said, ‘Uh, Kiki? I don’t think that lump’s in your throat. You’re having a baby.’ And of course, I shall miss Alice most of all, even though, as she points out, she’ll be round our flat all the time, teaching the boy everything he may possibly need to know about women. Which seems like kind of an odd offer to be making to an unborn child but, hey, one I’ll probably really appreciate in seven or eight or eighteen years.

I handed over as best I could to Tony. I explained that Matthew Holt’s book was coming along really well, and I thought it would make the publication date in the autumn. Nude in New York needed a bit more work, but could hit the autumn pub date too; Hilary Taylor’s latest still hadn’t appeared in any form, and Stuart Winton didn’t seem to have so much as a telephone number in our files. I also filled him in on what I’d done for Dining with Death and The Maltese Gherkin, for the early draft of the new Clifton Black I’d seen, and the discussions Alice and I’d had with Raff Welles for his paperback. Tony just continued to look shifty throughout, and when I’d finished running through everything and handed over details, I wasn’t sure whether he’d taken in a single word. Oh well. For eight sweet, sweet months, Tony is not my problem.

And everyone was lovely today. Norman continued to reveal his previously hidden warm, thoughtful side, making sure I still felt well and could manage this final day. Carol was bustling and bossy, but made everything OK when she took a split-second to wink at me, and the Art team, of course, had designed a beautiful card: a stork carrying a bundle with a little arm sticking out, holding a Complete Works of Shakespeare. We toasted with glasses of Appletize and they threw in some last-minute name suggestions: Bartholomew (Carol), Smike (Norman), Kal-El (Alice), Daniel (Dan – people just can’t resist, can they?) – then Alice said, ‘Hang on – will the baby have both your names? Carlow and Sharpe?’ When I confirmed it, she said, ‘Then how in the name of all that’s good can you resist calling it Major? For its whole school life, it will be …’ Norman finished it: ‘C Sharpe, Major. Oh, that is good.’

I really shall miss this lot very much.

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