Mere seconds after Luke had disappeared into the throng to find a toilet, Nathan became agitated, holding his hands over his crotch.
‘Need a pee too,’ he said, eyes beseeching.
‘Could you not have said when Luke mentioned he was going?’
The small boy shrugged.
‘Okay, wee man,’ Jamie said. ‘Let’s find you a loo, and maybe we’ll be there and back before your dad?’
Nathan nodded his head with the intent only a small child could, eyes bright at the notion of turning it into a game.
Jamie started off in the same direction as Luke, Nathan’s hot little hand in his. To his surprise he found he enjoyed the responsibility. But he heard his sister’s voice: Eyes on the prize. They were among her last words to him when he’d left to meet Luke.
It’s okay for you, he thought. Hiding behind your laptop, at a safe distance from the complications that actual human contact can elicit.
‘I’m bursting,’ Nathan said as he tugged at Jamie’s hand.
‘Sorry, wee pal,’ Jamie replied. ‘Give us a minute and you’ll be right as rain.’ He looked around for any signs telling them where to find the toilets.
There. A sign for the gents. Leading in a different direction to the one Luke had sped off in. He pointed up at it and smiled down at the boy.
Minutes later he was standing outside a cubicle while Nathan did his business inside. When he came out, ready to go back to the fun, Nathan made straight for the exit.
‘Eh, did your dad not teach you to wash your hands?’ Jamie asked.
Nathan gave a little shrug that read caught and walked over to the row of sinks, where he rinsed his hands in the minimum amount of water possible, waved his hands at a dryer and then ran to Jamie at the exit.
As they walked back to the little caravan where they’d had their break, Jamie spotted an empty stand. It was six paces from one end to the other and about the same as deep, and it was lined with waist-high elves and, in a central position, sat a large, high-backed chair on a purple-carpeted plinth. It had been set up for Santa’s grotto, Jamie realised. Except Santa had taken the day off.
Jamie reached in and pulled a hat off one of the elves and put it on Nathan’s head.
‘New game,’ he said. ‘But you mustn’t tell your dad, okay?’
Nathan nodded eagerly. ‘Okay.’
‘Promise not to tell your dad?’
Nathan nodded again. ‘Promise.’
‘Want to play hide and seek?’