“Liam, you can’t bribe him,” I tell him, tired. I don’t know what I expected. Liam is using his money to get his way. I should have known he would try this but this can’t be how this goes. I need him to try and get to know my son, not buy him with building blocks.

“I know!” he interrupts me, jumping to his explanation. “That’s why I’m giving them to you and not him, if you want you can hide it and give it to him some other time, but I saw it and bought it without thinking.”

“Oh.” I’m not often lost for words, but that is really thoughtful.

“Don’t sound so surprised.” He laughs, his eyes darting into my flat. Only then do I remember we are still stood in my doorway.

“Sorry, come on in.” I finally step out of his way shutting the door behind him, it’s time to get this over with. “Jack! Come here, bud.”

Jack comes running from his train set, sliding to a stop at Liam’s feet.

“Do you like trains?” Jack asks bluntly, staring down at his feet.

“Jack!” I chastise. “We introduce ourselves first.”

“Right. Sorry.” My son holds out his hand for Liam to shake, and I see Liam’s shoulders shake up and down with suppressed laughter. “Nice to meet you, I’m Jack. Do you like trains?” he repeats.

“Hi Jack, I’m Liam and yes, I love trains!” Liam gives Jack a magazine-worthy smile.

“Cool!” Jack nods taking Liam’s hand and dragging him into the front room before tugging him down to sit next to his train set.

The pair of them sit together for over an hour, and Liam listens to Jack tell him everything he knows about trains. Which is a lot. Liam tells Jack about the model train set his dad helped build as a kid. Jack’s eyes are full of awe looking up at Liam and my heart splutters. Seeing them getting along is everything I needed, but never expected. I thought it would be stilted, that they would feel awkward around each other, but I should have expected Liam to win him over. It’s clearly not just women he has a way with, we can add kids to that list too.

My mind still can’t be quiet. What does this all mean for us? Will Jack be jealous when the new baby arrives, and Liam isn’t just his play-date buddy – but his own sibling’s father? Is it going to confuse him? Or confuse me, even?