I sat back in my chair and watched the exchange, not having a clue what was going on.
Mel’s cheeks flushed, and she folded her arms in front of her chest, cocking one hip to the side.
“She had baby puke all down her back, it was gross. Am I not allowed an opinion?”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Lucas had obviously puked over Sarah’s shoulder, and it had gone down her back. Mel decided to broadcast it across the office and let everyone know how disgusted she was.”
For the first time in my life, I wanted to punch a woman. Sarah would’ve been mortified.
“You did what?”
“All I said was that it was gross. Having sick all down your back is gross. She doesn’t even work here, so you can’t sack me for that anyway.”
Luke bolted upright from his chair and stood right in front of her.
“Sarah is the wife of one of your bosses and the sister of another, and it wouldn’t matter if she were a homeless person from the street, she’s a human fucking being and you will treat her with some respect. Do I make myself clear?”
“As crystal.”
“Good. Get out.”
She left, slamming the office door behind her.
“Your wife has had a really shitty day. Why don’t you finish early, buy her flowers, a nice bottle of wine, and go home early.”
“I need to go up the school and sort this shit out with Carter. I’ll hang around till then.”
He stood and nodded. “Buy her some flowers.”
“I will, and thanks for that with Mel. I had no idea.”
“No worries, it’s what big brothers are for.”
Luke left my office, and I called the school. No one could see me tonight, so I made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon instead. I then looked online for local house cleaners that also did ironing. I needed to find a few ways to lighten the load so that Sarah had a little less to do.
***
I stood in the school playground the following afternoon with my hands buried in the pockets of my pea coat. It was freezing, and the weather only added to my bad mood. I’d just had a meeting with Carter’s Head, who informed me that Carter had been picking on a few of the smaller kids with a bit of pushing and shoving.
I had never been able to abide bullies, and I wouldn’t have a kid of mine behaving like one. When he did it at home, I tried talking to him and telling him it was wrong, but that didn’t seem to be getting through, so tonight I was going to kill two birds with one stone and try a different tactic.
I got a few looks from some of the mums as I stood there, and it pissed me off even more than the cold weather and the shitty meeting. I had been up here every day for two weeks after Lucas was born, so they knew that I was Carter’s dad and Sarah’s husband, and yet they were looking at me as if I were the dish of the day. These were probably the same women that Sarah got coffee with a couple of times a week.
Did she stand here with them and look at the other dads when they came to pick their kids up?
There was a thin woman with dark hair and full-length leather coat who kept looking my way and licking her lips. It was actually making me physically shudder. I was gonna ask Carter later who she was and tell Sarah to stay the fuck away from her. She was supposed to be here to pick up her kid, not to pick up blokes.
I was only forced to stay there for a few more minutes longer before the bell rang.
“Daaaaaaaaad,” Carter shouted when he spotted me. I swooped him up into my arms and squeezed him tight.
“Thanks for coming to get me. I missed you this day and yesterday. You didn’t read me any stories this week.”
I felt a massive surge of guilt as I held on to my son and squeezed him just a little tighter. It was the first time that he’d ever voiced the fact that he’d been missing me, and it had me concerned that my being away from home so much was one of the reasons he’d been acting up.
“Hey, bud. I missed you so much, too. You had a good day?”
“Yeah. Why are you here?”
“We need to have a talk. A grown-up, man-to-man talk. That okay with you?”
“Hi, Carter. Bye, Carter,” a little girl with long dark plaits said as she skipped past.
“Bye, loser,” he called after her. She turned around and flipped her middle finger up at him. Carter, having no idea what that meant, stuck all ten of his up back at her. I was speechless.
“Who’s that, bud?”
“Oh, that’s just Isabella. She’s a girl, and she’s always mean. That’s okay, coz Mummy said that girls are only mean to boys that they like.”
“Is that right?” I gave a small laugh as I took his hand and led him towards the car. “It’s not nice to call people names though, even if they do like you.”
He nodded, and we headed to the car. I joined the queue of traffic to get out of the school and headed up to the high street.
“So listen, bud, we need to have a talk.”
I glanced at him in my rear-view mirror, but he just nodded and didn’t seem phased.