Chapter 24 #2
‘Nah. It’s just an Uncle Nick day. He picks up the little ones from childcare and school and then he lets us all hang here until our parents can come get us.’
I pause as she says this. Don’t think about that too much, Kay.
But it’s almost like trying not to look into the sun.
Nick has a day dedicated to him where he looks after all these kids like some sort of professional manny.
I watch him go over to baby Evie, pull a face and kiss the top of her silky baby head.
I didn’t see that, that had no effect on me whatsoever.
Zita pulls out some dough and tops it with tomato sauce from a pan. ‘Sofia, you want olives?’
‘Yes please,’ she says. I look down and see Sofia still gazing up at me. She pulls me over to a table to sit down. She watches me as I unravel my scarf from my neck and take off my coat. ‘Do you like olives?’ she asks me.
‘I love olives.’
‘Then I like you. You can share my pizza.’ I like how her standards are so low. ‘What have you asked Santa for, for Christmas?’ she asks me.
‘Strangely enough, olives. Hundreds of them.’
She giggles. ‘Do you want a glitter tattoo? I have a whole box of Christmas ones. You can choose which one you want.’
‘Then I don’t see how I can say no. What do you have?’
A glass of water appears in front of me on this large wooden dining table. ‘She says this as if she has a catalogue but really she only has candy canes,’ Nick says, coming to sit down.
‘Then you can match Uncle Nick!’ she cheers. I notice the teens at the kitchen counter trying to hold in their giggles.
‘Also, she says that like she’s going to apply it, but really I am the tattoo artist here so I will have to do all the work,’ Nick continues.
He sticks his tongue out at her, but it does little to change this girl’s affection for him.
She comes and climbs on to his lap. I see why he’s so good with kids now, the man has had practice.
But it’s seasoned practice – not something that has come out of obligation but love for all these little people in his family that he obviously holds dear.
Sofia adjusts herself on his lap and rests her head in the warmth of his chest.
‘You don’t have to do this. In case you need to preserve your arms for anything else. A tattoo is a serious commitment,’ he says dryly.
I shake my head. ‘No, please do proceed. I have given this a lot of thought.’ I put my arm down on the kitchen table.
‘Turn it over so it’s in the same place as Uncle Nick’s,’ Sofia directs me.
‘Sof, big old bossy boots,’ he says, but that makes her giggle all the more sweetly.
He runs three fingers along my forearm, almost stroking the skin and I try to distract myself by smiling at the child in his lap.
He places a sticker on my arm, pressing it down and then using a damp sponge to wet the paper, holding it there to soak it through.
Is his hand shaking? I hope not. No one likes a nervous tattoo artist.
‘I’ll time it,’ Sofia says, looking at the stopwatch on a phone on the table.
‘So is this your first tattoo, madam?’ he asks, as we wait and I smile.
He’s trying to joke again. Maybe he took his time to thaw with me.
He’s at home here and I get to watch him in a habitat where he is so loved and feels comfortable; I am seeing him in another light.
Damn that light. His hand still rests on mine as we both try to ignore the contact.
Is this also intense for him? Why am I sweating around the collar of my t-shirt?
‘I actually have a tattoo that I got done when I was travelling,’ I say.
‘I’ve never noticed it before?’ he says.
I blush a little. ‘It’s because it’s above my hip bone.’ He widens his eyes. ‘It’s a dolphin.’
‘I LOVE DOLPHINS!’ Sofia squeals, and I’m grateful she broke up that slightly awkward moment.
‘So I was looking at the schedule for the book drive. You’re a bit mad, eh?’ he says, changing the subject and reaching over to get one of my flyers that he’s scribbled things on.
‘I prefer the term “ambitious”,’ I say. ‘If it’s too big a favour to ask for transport then please say so.’
‘I didn’t say that. But were you really going to do this all on your own?’ he asks me thoughtfully.
‘Back when I had a working car maybe, but a grumpy man in a truck in the rain told me I might need to take on some help.’
I hear Zita laughing from her countertop. ‘I like this one, Uncle Nick. He’s very grumpy, all the time.’
‘Zita…’ Nick mutters moodily.
‘It’s a busy time on the farm. The twentieth, I can only make the morning… we’d need to do two deliveries on the twenty-second. But I can make myself available for everything. I’ve ensured the vehicles are available and rearranged a few things.’
‘Really?’ I say, mildly surprised.
He looks up at me, his green eyes earnest, searching. ‘Yeah. I’d do it for—’
‘The good of the book drive…’ I say abruptly, interrupting him.
He chuckles under his breath. ‘Of course.’ He looks down at my arm.
‘Well, what do you think, Sofia?’ I ask her. ‘Is it ready?’
She nods and Nick slowly peels back the paper to reveal a pretty red and pink candy cane with a green bow on my arm. ‘Get yours out, Uncle Nick.’
I can hear Zita and Nate laughing from the other side of the kitchen but Nick puts his arm next to mine and we glance at each other for a moment, grinning. Look at us, matchy matchy.
‘Is the lady happy with her tattoo today? If you are, make sure you leave us a good review on Yelp.’
‘Most certainly. Thank you… and to you Sofia for the artistic direction.’
She smiles then turns and shouts across the kitchen. ‘IS MY PIZZA READY?’
‘Man, you are bossy. Come on then,’ Zita says, and Sofia jumps off her uncle’s lap.
‘I’m sorry,’ Nick says. ‘It’s bedlam here sometimes. You didn’t have to come in and stay for pizza. Sorry about the twenty questions. I don’t often have friends visiting.’
‘You’re telling me you have no friends?’ I joke.
‘None that are…’ He puts a hand out, pointing to me.
‘Book ladies,’ I joke. And I snicker and blush and look at him curiously because I see those teens nudging each other in the chest so I suppose I have come up in conversation.
They know about me. But what do they know?
Is it because I’m a novelty in this house or because Nick has said something to them, about me specifically?
‘You may need to leave before my mum and sister get here though. You think this lot are bad.’
‘I heard that, Uncle Nick. Don’t worry – I texted Aunty Nell already. She’s on her way,’ Zita shouts across the kitchen.
‘They’re an excitable bunch. Sorry. You are very welcome to take that pizza to go if you want. I won’t be offended.’
Is he embarrassed by all of this? Does the cape, the fact he kisses babies and the sheer bedlam of the scene change my opinion of him?
Surely that can only be for the better. ‘Don’t apologise for your family,’ I say, watching baby Evie whizz around the kitchen.
‘This is all very…’ Don’t say cute and wholesome.
Don’t say homely and warming. But there is something wonderful about a house full of people, full of life and love, and it hits me somewhere in my heart, because I don’t have this.
I’m an only child and I’ll go back to a dark, cold maisonette after this that belonged to a family member that I’m slowly losing.
So to be in the midst of all this love and noise and festivity in abundance is joyful, a huge hug for the soul.
I look through to a large living and dining space.
‘Do you seriously have a tree in every room?’
‘Have we not met before?’ he jokes.
I laugh, watching Nate nudge his niece in the ribs.
‘I have pizza! Merry Christmas,’ Sofia says. She returns carrying a plate very carefully towards the table. A plate with a pizza that has all the olives shaped in a heart. Nick turns around staring daggers at his niece whilst I take a piece.
‘This is the best gift ever,’ I say to little Sofia and she stares at me with tomato sauce all over her face, giggling.