An unlikely friendship

part 30

Ant sat down next to Isla,wondering what he should do next.

Dec was obviously very upset and Ant's natural instinct was to go after him,but was that even practical right now?

He still had Isla here and wandering the streets with a three year old in tow,wouldn't be much fun for either of them and then there was the dogs that he was supposed to be walking very soon.

Ant didn't doubt that the owners would be very understanding of his situation,but it wasn't very professional and all it would take is one person to leave a bad review online about his now thriving business for it to have very negative consequences.

He stared down at Isla for a moment,who was still engrossed in Peppa pig,before taking his phone out of his pocket and started scrolling down for available babysitters.

Dec had obviously only just started looking for childminders,so that wasn't a possibility yet,but hiring a babysitter for the afternoon was doable.

Ant started browsing through several online profiles,before putting his phone down on the coffee table.

He just didn't feel comfortable with that,not yet anyway.

Getting to know a childminder was one thing,but just getting some random stranger to come over to his house and leave Isla with them there and then was a whole different kettle of fish.

He knew these girls would very likely be very good at what they did,but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

There was only one thing for it.

He'd have to leave Dec alone for the time being and hope he would eventually calm down and get all the upset and guilt he felt out of his system and come home.

And Ant would just have to take Isla on the dog walks with him.

He decided he would take the car to pick the two dogs up,usually he would walk as they were both pretty local,plus he'd have the other two dogs that were boarding with him,so this way,he could drive to the park so Isla wouldn't be too tired before they even got there,he just hoped that none of the owners would object to her presence.

He knew all the dogs pretty well by now and trusted them around a young child and knew they'd probably be more interested in having fun in the park and meeting other dogs than they would be in Isla.

"Sweetheart" Ant said gently "how would you like to go to the park?"

"Peppa pig" Isla stated firmly.

"Well" Ant smiled "you've already watched a fair bit of Peppa pig haven't you eh?how about we take the dogs for a walk and maybe you can go on the swings later"

"Ok Daddy" Isla beamed.

"Not daddy" Ant said seriously "I'm uncle Ant remember?"

Isla calling another man daddy was probably the last thing Dec needed right now,Ant thought to himself,even if it was a very good friend,it was still inappropriate,so he was determined to nip that in the bud straight away.

"Ok Uncle Ant" Isla replied casually.

The afternoon panned out much more successfully than Ant had hoped.

All the dogs owners had been happy for Isla to tag along and were delighted to meet her,although the dogs showed little to no interest in her apart from when she attempted to throw a ball for them,which inevitably never travelled more than a couple of feet.

After their walk,Ant put the dogs back in the van with bowls of water and opened a window slightly,it wasn't very hot so he didn't have to worry about them overheating while he took Isla to the playground.