‘What team do you support?’

‘Peterborough, I guess,’ Jamie said. A miniature goal stood at one end of the patio. Hardly enough space for a growing boy to run around.

‘I support Arsenal. I could take you to a home game if you like. Do you think your mum will let you?’

Jamie nodded, grinning.

‘Let’s see how many you can get past me,’ Max said.

Jamie concentrated hard before he kicked the ball. It shot straight past Max into the back of the net.

‘What? Where did that come from?’ Max raised his hands in disbelief. ‘You got golden boots or something?’

Jamie’s smile spread and lit up his face. He cracked a few more shots at goal and Max only saved one of them. Ali stood watching at the patio door.

‘Did you see that?’ Max said. ‘The boy’s got talent, I’m telling you.’

Jamie blushed.

‘I always knew it. Wanted to kick a ball about as soon as he could walk.’ Ali smiled. ‘Couldn’t he go to one of those academies?’

‘If he wants to and if they think he’s good enough.’ But he would never become a world class player in a garden the size of a postage stamp.

After dinner, Jamie helped Ali clear the table then he went to his room to play. He was a quiet, gentle child and deserved every privilege his girls had.

‘What are your arrangements here, rent-wise?’ Max asked, drinking another beer, pacing up and down the room. His brain was spinning into overdrive.

‘We’ve been here about two years, but we need to think about moving soon because the landlord is putting the rent up next year.’

‘Will you be able to get anything bigger? I mean you can barely call that a garden out there, it’s more like a yard.’ He pointed with his bottle.

‘I’m only just getting by now. You can see how pokey this is, but I can’t stretch to anything more on my wage.’

Max finished his second beer. He wanted his son to have a better life than this.

‘Before Tony there was Ian,’ she said. ‘He lived with us for the best part of a year. It was easier then with both wages coming in. Jamie was a toddler and got really attached to him, even started to call him daddy. I thought he was going to stay for good, but Jaz saw him out with another woman, so I ended it. I’ve been struggling ever since.’

‘So, there’s no one else on the scene?’

‘No, I’d tell you if there was.’ She sat on the sofa.

‘I promise I’ll do what I can to help. I want to be a big part of Jamie’s life.’

‘You’re away a lot with your job though, aren’t you?’

‘Yeah but I’ll visit as often as I can.’

‘Will you though?’