Page 54 of Love, Accidentally

‘How so?’

‘Living up to all that expectation.’

‘Oh, I think most parents are so busy being delighted with their offspring that actual achievement isn’t actually that important. The number of truly idiotic injuries I’ve had to treat on children who are supposed to be geniuses would amaze you.’

‘Really?’

‘Absolutely. I had a boy only this week from one of the local grammar schools, supposed to be the crème de la crème, intelligence-wise. He and a mate had decided to see whether it was possible to stop someone stealing your bike by grabbing the back wheel as they tried to get away. The spokes made a hell of a mess of his fingers. Genius versus basic mechanics and physics, yet the genius lost. I have plenty of other examples.’

He shudders. ‘I think you can keep them.’

‘The point is that there are lots of different types of intelligence. I meet people who I’m sure are academically brilliant, but appear to be totally baffled by what I would consider basic life skills. But then there are people who probably wouldn’t pass an exam in a hundred years, but have an instinctive ability in a particular field that makes them successful. Plus the rest of us, of course, who are somewhere in between.’

‘I bet your parents are proud of you,’ he observes. ‘You’ve got to be pretty clever to do what you do, I reckon.’

‘No more proud than your dad is of you, Mister Technical Content Creator,’ I retort. ‘Anyway, like I said, it’s the first rule of parenting. Even my sister, who has traditionally called Isaac every satanic name under the sun, secretly thinks he’s the best thing since humans were invented.’

Will smiles. ‘We’d better take good care of him then, hadn’t we?’

‘She’ll certainly never forgive us if anything happens to him. She’s probably as nervous about today as I am. Ah, here we are.’

I park on the road outside Tash’s house rather than trying to squeeze on to the drive next to Greg’s enormous SUV, but she’s obviously been watching for us as the front door flies open before we even reach it.

‘You must be Will,’ she says warmly, ignoring me completely to eye him up and down. ‘Tills has told me so much about you.’

‘Really?’ Will looks alarmed rather than flattered.

‘No.’ She sighs. ‘She’s been depressingly tight-lipped about you, which is why it’s so nice to meet you in the flesh. Come in. Isaac’s really excited about today. He’s talked about nothing else since he got up. Greg’s just popped out for a run, but he says hi.’

She leads us into the sitting room, where Isaac is sprawled on the floor watching the inevitableThomas the Tank Engineon TV.

‘Isaac,’ she says brightly. ‘Look who’s here.’

‘’Lo, Auntie Tilly,’ he says without diverting his eyes from the screen. ‘I’m watchingThomas.’

‘So much for his excitement,’ I tell her with a laugh.

‘Be polite, Isaac,’ Tash warns him, reaching for the remote and pausing the action.

Isaac rolls over with a sigh to attempt the greeting again, but his eyes widen when he catches sight of Will.

‘Who are you?’ he asks.

‘This is my friend Will,’ I explain. ‘He’s coming with us today.’

Isaac stares at Will without speaking as he digests this new information.

‘I’m very pleased to meet you, Isaac,’ Will says, settling himself down so he’s cross-legged on the floor next to him. ‘Your Auntie Tilly has told me a lot about you.’

This is enough to disarm Isaac, who is obviously delighted to think that he’s been the centre of attention without even needing to be present.

‘I was watchingThomasbefore Mummy stopped it,’ Isaac tells him, shooting Tash a resentful look. ‘Do you knowThomas?’

‘I do.’

‘Who’s your favourite?’

Tash and I hold our breath as Will considers. This is a make-or-break moment. If it turns out he doesn’t actually know anything about the programme, Isaac won’t be impressed.

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