Chapter Six
“ O h wow, this place looks amazing.”
Debs once again had to agree with Grace’s assessment. This was the third time she had been to the centre, the first after the evening visit to say thank you to Sienna, and she had been blown away by it every time. This time, though, was even more exciting than before; the place was buzzing with activity, busier than she had ever seen it. She had wanted to come by before now, but work and life had kept her busy, meaning two weeks had passed since she had last seen Sienna. The thought made her pause; although she had enjoyed those brief moments in Sienna’s company, she wondered when her brain had decided she was here to see Sienna and not see the centre. She pushed it away, sure it was nothing that the usual human concern and desire to see the woman; she was kind and generous, and there was something intriguing about her, the way she swung from confident to so uncertain the last time Debs saw her, which made Debs want to see her again.
“Liz and Sienna have really pushed to get this place filled,” Mica said beside her, and at the mention of Sienna’s name, Debs hummed a sign of agreement. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
“What?” Debs took a moment longer than usual to come to her senses, finding Mica giving her a strange look. “What?”
“Exactly. What was that?”
“What was what?”
“Maybe we should get the kids settled first?” Grace suggested with a pointed look in Mica’s direction. “Have a look around?”
“Yeah, sure, good idea. Hey, Bobs, you want to come with me and see what activities they’ve got going on?” Debs watched as Bobby nodded, clearly a little overwhelmed by the crowd and the noise, clasping tightly onto Mica’s hand. “You coming, Charlie?”
“Yeah, sure,” Charlie said with a shrug, more than happy to follow behind with Mica and Bobby. Debs watched them go, sighing as Charlie seemed to instantaneously pick up once he was out of the immediate vicinity of Debs.
“He’ll come round,” Grace said quietly over her shoulder, and Debs was grateful for the quiet tone, wary that Thea was still with them. She smiled as Grace held out a hand to Thea, urging her to walk with them through The Atrium. “Want to go explore?”
Thea nodded, slipping her hand into Grace’s, and Debs couldn’t help but smile. Even though she knew she had done everything she could for her children, knew that everything she had ever worked for had been for them, she still sometimes wondered if she could have done more. If Charlie needed more attention, or Thea could have done with a more present mother. She loved the fact that Thea now had Grace; they had immediately bonded, Grace doting on her as if she was her own. Debs knew that it was doubly advantageous; Grace enjoyed the time she spent with Thea, which didn’t include Lego or computer games, especially now Bobby was getting older and spending more time with Charlie, becoming less dependent on his mother’s constant presence.
They wandered around for a few moments, Debs leading them to the children’s room she remembered Sienna showing her a couple of weeks ago. Thea hovered at the threshold as she watched what was going on around them.
“You want to go try something, honey?” Debs asked.
“There’s a pottery painting class about to start if you fancy that?”
The soft, warming tones of a voice Debs had barely heard yet strangely missed once she heard it again filtered in from behind them, and she couldn’t help but smile when she turned around to see Sienna standing behind them.
“Hi.”
“Hi. You came back?”
“I said I would. This is Grace, Mica’s partner, and my daughter, Thea.”
Debs grinned as Sienna immediately dropped into a crouch, holding out a hand towards Thea.
“Hi, Thea. It’s lovely to meet you.”
“Hi,” Thea said, beaming as she shook Sienna’s hand before looking up at Debs. “Can I go do the painting?”
“Sure. Do you want me to—”
“No, Auntie Grace can come. She’s better at painting than you.”
Grace tried and failed to stifle a snort of laughter behind her hand, and Debs threw her a look, faux offence on her face. She couldn’t be mad, not when it was so endearing to see Grace and Thea’s relationship in play once again, and secondly when Thea was absolutely telling the truth.
Thea practically pulled Grace towards the section in the corner that had been set up, leaving Debs alone with Sienna, who now was back standing at full height.
“Well, that was brutal.”
“ That is my youngest child and her favourite person in the world. Even if her honesty is a little harsh.”
“And your son? Is he with his father today or…” Debs noted how Sienna almost stumbled over the words, the way she shifted uncomfortably on her feet.
“No. He’s here somewhere with Mica and their son. I would take a wild guess somewhere where there’s a computer.”
“So you’ve been entirely abandoned?”
“It seems so.” Debs faced Sienna fully, eyes roaming over her face, noting how she seemed a little worn out compared to when she had last seen her. But then again, if the volume of children here on a Saturday afternoon was indicative of how busy it had been all day, she imagined Sienna mustn’t have had much of a break. “Have you got a spare ten minutes?”
Sienna cocked her head, seemingly thinking over the request before she looked around the room. “Yeah, I can disappear for a moment.”
Debs followed as Sienna slipped through the few people who were hovering and chatting near the doorway, leading her towards the office. She took in the little differences since she was last here two weeks ago; the wall planner pinned on the wall, the open lunch box on the desk. She smiled as she spotted the small collection of plants scattered across her space, including one that sat in a small ceramic pot with the message I’m Rooting for You painted on it. Everything about the small corner of space screamed Sienna.
“What is it you needed?”
Sienna’s question snapped Debs out of her visual assessment of the office.
“What?”
“What did you need to see me about?”
Debs frowned, confused as to what Sienna was talking about. “I was actually asking you to come and take a break.”
“Oh.”
“It’s fine. I could have been clearer.”
“No. I mean, I guess I was just…I didn’t even think there would be any other reason.”
Debs didn’t know why that admission made her chest ache, why it hurt to know that Sienna only saw her as a business colleague, rather than someone who was looking out for her, concerned for her.
“Sienna…” Debs sighed, wondering why she felt so off-kilter by the atmosphere between them. “Has something happened?”
“No. Why?” Sienna replied, shaking her head.
“You just seem…like something is bothering you.”
“No.” Sienna shook her head. “I’ve just been really busy. I reapplied to go back to uni, and the deadline for finding out if I have a place is coming up fast. And I’ve spent the past two weeks trying to arrange the winter events for the centre so I can be on top of things if…no when I start my lectures. Not to mention trying to focus on the sessions I already run here, ongoing publicity, overseeing the volunteers…it’s just been a lot.”
Debs felt the smile threaten to break out across her face at the knowledge that Sienna was doing something else amazing with her life. A sense of pride swelled in her chest, already there simmering at seeing just how invested and dedicated she was to the centre, but knowing that Sienna wanted to do even more…she cleared her throat, trying to compose herself.
“You’re going to uni?”
“Yeah. Well, back to uni. Liz said that she would support me, I just need to get the place, but I think I overestimated just how hard it would be to balance both things, and I’m starting to wonder if it’s the right thing to do.”
“Come to dinner.”
Sienna took a step back, almost recoiling at the offer which Debs had made. “What?”
“Come to dinner at mine. We can talk about your studies and how to balance it with this place. And then afterwards, you can have a glass of wine and actually relax for what I’m sure will be the first time in weeks.”
“As what?”
“Excuse me?” Debs blinked, confused at the question.
“Well, offering to help with uni and work sounds like something a mentor would do, but then having a drink afterwards…”
Debs softened at the question, realising that, really, Sienna was just trying to set some expectations and boundaries. She briefly wondered why, if there was someone who had crossed the lines that made Sienna feel comfortable. A wave of anger rose in her at the thought, but she pushed it down, not having the time to dissect why in the moment.
“A friend. A friend who just so happens to have the information you need and is worried that you’re working too hard. We’ve had people at the business who either start as part of their uni degree or go back to uni later on. We’ve built a strong support programme to make sure that neither suffers and they can do what they want.”
“Oh.”
“If it makes you uncomfortable, or you don’t want to, then the first part of the offer still stands. You could come by the office—”
“No! No, it’s fine.” Sienna exhaled deeply. “That would be really helpful, actually.”
“Okay.” Debs nodded, still wary she might need to tread carefully. “I have Tuesdays free? If that works for you?”
“I could do Tuesday.”
“You don’t need to be here?”
“No.” Sienna smiled. “Liz keeps telling me I need to not spend so much time here.”
Debs laughed, unsurprised at the apparent dedication Sienna was showing to the centre. “I’m glad to hear it. Here.” Debs leaned over the desk, snagging a pen and scribbling down a number on a scrap of paper before handing it to Sienna, the delicate brush of their fingers sending a spark through her. “Text me, and we can arrange the time.”