Chapter Twenty-One #2
I may or may not have forgotten that I’d invited Callum. With Gemma’s reluctant permission and Noah’s apathetic one, I’d hoped to integrate him a little more with my friends.
Seemed like a great idea at the time.
“Come on in,” I say, pushing away from the counter. The act seems to break the spell and Gemma turns to the sink. “That’s great,” I continue. “He loves football.”
“Yeah, you mentioned. I don’t plan on sticking around or anything,” he adds, handing me the present. “Don’t worry.”
Adam watches the exchange stonily, but Gemma turns around, giving him a rare smile.
“Don’t be silly,” she says. “Stay. There’s plenty of food and I need all the help I can get.”
Loud laughter from the hall punctuates her words, and she takes a breath, grabbing a packet of Doritos from the table.
“Wish me luck,” she says and slips past Callum without another word. Adam waits a beat before snatching the nearest soda bottle and following her.
“I’ll go,” Callum offers, but I shake my head.
“That had nothing to do with you,” I say, staring after them. “It’s her ex. He’s a dick.”
“Adam? Really?”
“Huh?” I glance over to see a matching look of confusion on his face. “Adam’s not her ex.”
“Oh. Sorry, I thought…” He shrugs. “Never mind. My mistake.”
“Darren’s her ex-husband,” I explain. “And Noah’s dad. By blood anyway. Or sperm, I guess. He shows up every now and then but never for long and never when it counts.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah.” I grab some more dirty bowls and dump them in the sink. “To be honest, we all thought she was having a breakdown when she moved back here. But she was right to. She needed a new start and that just happened to be in her old home.”
“It’s nice she was able to come back.”
“Yeah.”
More excitement sounds from the next room, but neither of us move.
“I like your hat,” he says after a moment.
“Oh shit .”
He grins as I take it off. I’d forgotten I was wearing it.
“I promised Noah I’d get rid of it when his friends came,” I explain.
“I think you look cute.”
“Well, he didn’t and he’s the birthday boy,” I say, smoothing my hair back into place.
“Does that mean when I’m the birthday boy, you’ll wear it for me?”
“If you ask nicely,” I quip.
He eyes me for a moment before he picks up the discarded hat, stretching the elastic band to fit it gently under my chin, and back over my head.
“I’m about to be proclaimed desperately uncool,” I remind him.
“You’ll survive.” He dips his finger into the leftover frosting, ignoring my warning look as he dabs it on my nose.
“Are you five?”
“No,” he says, and I think he’s leaning in for a kiss before he licks it off with a quick flick of his tongue. I inhale sharply, but he doesn’t try anything more, grinning cockily while I just stand there, until he nudges me out of the way.
“Now what are you doing?”
“Trying to make a good impression on your friends,” he says, pulling on the washing-up gloves hanging over the side of the sink.
“One of whom was just in here crying and is now in there trying to hold it together in front of a bunch of kids. You think the first thing she wants to do tonight is wash dishes for an hour?”
“You’re going to clean?”
“Only if that’s something you find endearing,” he says, and I smile.
“Very endearing.”
“Then yes, Katie. I’m going to clean. And you’re going to help me.”
And help I do, far more happy than I should be about dishes, as I grab a towel and dry the first plate.
* * *
The last of Noah’s friends leave a little after eight, but it might as well be two a.m. with how exhausted I am.
Once the plates have been cleared and the bin bags firmly trussed and taken outside, I sit with Gemma in the kitchen, watching her pick moodily at a cupcake while Callum and Adam play a video game with Noah in the front room.
“Well,” I say, as she dabs her finger on the table to pick up crumbs. “I think that was a roaring success.”
“Sometimes, I want him to stay a child forever,” she says absently.
“And then sometimes I can’t wait for him to be sixteen and sneaking out to drink with his friends.
At least then all I have to do is sit at home and wait to yell at him.
” She slumps back in her chair, eyes flicking to me. “Sorry for freaking out earlier.”
“Never be sorry for that.”
“Still. Thank you.”
“Of course,” I say firmly. “You’re my best friend.”
She smirks. “Does Nush know that?”
“She’s my best friend too,” I say. “I’ll make us bracelets.”
She laughs, and she’s so tired that her eyes grow a little watery as she does.
“I’d actually really like that,” she says, as Noah appears in the doorway. Adam hovers behind him, looking like a proud uncle.
“Your son just beat me fourteen–nil in the championship final,” he says. “Which we both agree deserves another round of cake.”
“For the winner or the loser?” Gemma asks, stretching across the table to get the knife.
“I think…” Adam looks at Noah. “Both? Both.”
“Did you have a good party?” I ask Noah, as they take a seat at the table.
He nods as Callum trails in from the hallway, taking up position against the counter.
He looks a lot more comfortable than he did when he first showed up and watching him spend an afternoon making an effort with my friends fills me with such warm, gooey feelings that I have to stop myself from going over to him.
“Billy only had one cake at his party,” Noah announces as he accepts another slice from his mam. “Did Dad call?”
We fall silent, even though Gemma doesn’t bat an eyelid as she passes around more plates before cutting some cake for herself.
I know that despite her calm mask, she’s thinking hard about how to answer him.
On whether or not to lie to him, and I look down at my food, what little appetite I had left gone.
“No, honey,” she says eventually. “He hasn’t yet. Maybe tomorrow.”
Noah just nods, his expression unchanging, like that was the answer he expected, and he ducks his head, thoroughly focused on his icing as he shovels it into his mouth.
Gemma’s jaw tenses and I can tell she’s trying to keep calm when Callum suddenly points a plastic fork at me, his eyes narrowed in a mock challenge.
“Right. You and me, Katie. Best out of five.”
“I have no idea how to play that game.”
“So, we’ll play for money.”
“Yes, a thing I famously have lots of.”
He smirks. “Fine. I’ll play Gemma.”
“Mam can’t play,” Noah says dismissively.
“Woah now,” Adam says, as Gemma bites her lip. “Who told you that?”
Noah looks confused. “She never plays.”
“Does she not?” Adam asks, grinning from ear to ear at my now… blushing friend? Is Gemma blushing?
“Don’t look at me,” I say, when Noah sends a questioning glance my way. “I’m as lost as you.”
“Let me tell you a secret about your mother,” Adam says, as Gemma blatantly kicks him under the table. “She’s a ruthless bi—”
“Adam!”
“Person,” he corrects. “And one hell of a gamer. We used to play when we were younger all the time.”
“You did?” Noah sounds suspicious, looking like he’s trying to figure out if we’re teasing him or not. “You never play with me.”
“Because she knows if she so much as picks up a controller, she’ll be lost for eight hours. And then who’s going to cook your dinner, huh?”
Noah’s eyes slide to his mother curiously. Gemma just shrugs.
“I played to relax.”
“There is nothing relaxing about watching you play.” Adam sits back. “Winner out of five games,” he says. “Ten quid. Except that gambling’s bad,” he adds, flinching when Gemma kicks him again. “So no money. Winner plays you for the trophy and loser of that has to clean up.”
“Mam says I don’t have to clean up because it’s my birthday.”
“So it’s a win-win for you. Gemma, get your butt in here. Show the birthday boy what you’re made of.”
“I’m not—”
“Yeah, you are,” Adam says, pushing a now grinning Noah back into the front room. Gemma, for all her show of reluctance, follows them quickly, smiling to herself.
“Bring the rest of the icing, Katie,” Adam adds. “Birthdays don’t end until midnight.”
“No one is staying up till midnight,” Gemma calls, and Adam responds with something I can’t make out. Whatever it is, it makes Noah laugh.
Callum and I watch each other from across the kitchen, and I know the contented glint in his eyes is reflected in mine.
“I like your friends,” he says, and I smile, grabbing the bowl of leftover icing, and taking him by the hand before going in to join them.