“Hi, sweetheart,” Mum said, struggling to hold Leona still as she bounced around on her lap.
One thing I had learnt since Mia had Leona was that children were loud. They also often made a huge mess and wouldn’t keep still.
“Hi,” I replied, frowning at being called sweetheart at twenty-two.
I walked into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and Mia followed. One, two, three… “You’ve got the ‘I’m thinking about Oakley’ face on again.”
I’m pretty sure that’s just my usual face.
“I don’t want to talk about it. I want to go murder a bunch of people on the PlayStation until I go out later.”
She gave me a sympathetic smile. “Who are you going out with?”
“Kerry, Ben, and Chelsea.”
“Chelsea too, huh?”
“We’re just friends, Mia,” I said and rolled my eyes.
“I know that. Does she?”
“No, I thought I’d string her along until I stopped thinking about Oakley all the damn time.” I started out being sarcastic, but the end of that sentence was honest, too honest. I still thought about Oakley all the time. It had just ended so suddenly. One minute she was there and the next they took off to Australia with no warning.
“Aww, Cole.”
I held my hand up. “Don’t.” I didn’t need the pitying looks or sympathetic words. I would be fine. There wasn’t any other choice. I wished Oakley had lied and told me she didn’t want me and she didn’t love me. That way I would know it was a definite end, and there was no chance of us getting back together.
Mia opened her mouth again to talk, even though I had told her not to, but thankfully, Leona skipped into the room, brushing her fringe out of her eyes.
“Untle Ole!” she yelled and ran at me. I managed to sweep her up just before she smashed into my crotch. Again.
Leona still had problems pronouncing her Cs, so I was ‘Untle Ole’. I smiled at her and said, “Can you say Cole.”
“Ole,” she chirped proudly, making me laugh. Close enough! I took her in the lounge to escape another Oakley conversation with Mia. She wriggled in my arms, waving her doll around and almost smacking me in the face with it.
“Maybe you could actually fix it, David?” Mum said dryly, hitting her laptop as if that was magically going to make it work.
“It’s not that simple, Jenna!” Dad countered, matching her tone. Well at least this argument isn’t about how romantic or pathetic I am.
“Oh how hard can it be? Just call the internet people, there must be someone in charge of the internet!”
I laughed. Mum turned and glared. Leona giggled along too even though she had no idea what she was laughing at. Mum had no fucking clue when it came to anything technical.
“It’s the router, Jenna, not the entire internet!” Dad said, shaking his head and walking off to his study where the router was.
Holding Leona over the sofa, she started laughing and squealing immediately, knowing what I was about to do.
“Ready?” I said slowly, making her squeal louder. I dropped her on the cushions, and she screamed like she was being murdered. Kids were so easy to amuse; all you had to do was chuck them around a bit.
Leona had been with Chris-the-dick all morning, so she was on a sugar high. All she had to do was smile at him, and he gave her whatever she wanted – usually sweets. At least Chris-the-dick stuck around. He surprised everyone there. As much as I hated to admit it, he was a good dad. I still wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire though.
Grabbing my mail from the side table, I escaped to my room. Having Leona around was great, but at the end of the day I was exhausted. She had too much energy. I flopped down on the bed and ripped the first envelope open.
Please have something decent in here. The estate agent had sent me a few new houses. I had seen about six already, but they were shit holes. Refurbishment I could handle, but I didn’t want to do anything structural.
Two out of the five were okay, and I would make an appointment to view, the rest I threw in the bin. House hunting was something I was meant to do with Oakley. When we were together, I thought about stuff like that. We were eventually supposed to move in together. I hated that I would now be living alone.
Oakley was on my mind more than usual lately. The trials were starting soon. I hoped those scum would rot in prison for the rest of their lives. At first, I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to hear the details. I had given a full statement of what happened the day she called me and it was going to be read out in court.
Now, though, I wanted to be there. I needed to watch them go down, and I wanted to see her again. It would only be on a screen, but it was still better than old photos. I would get to hear her voice. I only got two weeks of hearing her speak again and that just wasn’t enough.
“Hey,” Chelsea said, letting herself into my room. Damn, it was quarter to eight already. Moping around in your own self-pity really passed the time!