Kate Bonvilston clapped her frozen hands together and let out a shuddering breath as she stood at the school gates. Always reminded her of a prison with the high walls and spiky rails on top. Wasn’t much more welcoming inside. Then again, when were schools meant to be friendly places?
“Kate?”
Ah. Laura—her cheating, lying scumbag of an ex. Even the sound of the voice grated. Flipping fantastic.
She took a breath as Laura plodded over with a smirk on her face. What was her deal? “Yes?”
“You look rough. Did you catch another cold?” She laughed. Why was that funny? And when had she decided to get her nose pierced…three times? Ouch. “Bennie always uses that wash stuff. She never looks rough.”
“I know.” But why would she care? Why should she give a shit about her ex-friend? The ex-friend she’d been a sucker for until she’d decided on a fresh start with Laura… Yeah, that had worked out great, hadn’t it? She rubbed at her aching forehead, frowning again.
Mum had issues with her frowning, some weird advice from a TV show saying it would turn men off. Hopefully men were a lot less shallow than that. The men she knew were. The Style Surgeon? She shook her head, hoping that Laura would take the hint and find someone else to natter at. Who called themselves a Style Surgeon?
“You here for Mikey?” Laura wasn’t going anywhere, by the daft grin and lack of personal boundary. It had been bad enough when they were together. Who wanted to cuddle with an ex?
“Yes.” Why else would she be there freezing her ass off if she wasn’t waiting for her brother? If Mikey’s teachers hurried up, she might not get hypothermia…or need therapy.
“How is he?” Gone was the smugness and the Laura she’d known. Kind, quirky, compassionate peeked through. Nice to know Bennie hadn’t completely squashed that side.
“You know Mikey. He’s good.” She shrugged. Mikey had a lot more resilience than her. He smiled more too. Considering he was the one with a traumatic brain injury and he didn’t look like he understood and couldn’t always speak, he was the wisest person she knew. Maybe having more shit on his plate made the small stuff more heartening?
“Is he getting any better?” Now Laura had threaded a hand around her arm. She peered up, a soft look in her eyes.
“No, it’s permanent.” She pulled away. A sudden urge of irritation flushed through her. “What do you care anyway?”
Laura sighed. “Yes. I messed up.” She shoved her hands in her pockets. “You never let me explain. You never let me close to you…not really.”
Three mums bustled by, waved, and called out “Merry Christmas.” Kate glared up at the school. What were the teachers doing? Why did they have to wait so long to let the kids out? So they had a “disco,” but it was five o’clock. “Mikey needs dinner.”
“I want to explain… Bennie wants to.” Laura reached for her arm again. “I love her, I really love her. She loves me. I didn’t want to come between you. Can’t you see that?”
She snapped her arm away. Stepped away. “He’ll get a bad stomach if he doesn’t eat. It’ll bring on a fit.”
“I miss you, but Bennie… She’s heartbroken.” Laura stepped closer again, glancing around as if only now she got the whole being in public, school gates thing. Yeah, best the parents didn’t know too much. Don’t show, don’t get stressed. “She talks about you all the time. You don’t want to give up on so many years together, right?”
“You make it sound like I was married to her.” She shut her eyes. Great. There was the opening. Laura never missed an opening.
“Weren’t you? Even though you were with me, you spent more time with her… You were inseparable.” Laura stood shoulder to shoulder and snaked a hand down to clasp hers. “Thought it would be you and her.”
“You made sure it would never be.” She pulled her hand away. What were they doing in the school, having a sit-in?
“She said it had been.” Laura’s tone filled with the edge that had become so familiar. Yeah, the nice side never lasted long. “Friends with benefits?”
“Before you came along.” She slapped her hands together again. A fresh start with Laura to forget Bennie? Yeah, that had worked out. Stupid, but she didn’t even feel cold now; she just wanted to smack something. “But, then, a lot of things were better before you.”
Laura winced. “Ouch.”
“Not half of what you laid on me.” Great, now she was pitying herself? What would Mikey think of that? She was better than that. “Anyway. Enjoy the holidays.”
Laura laughed. “Ah, there’s the polite side. Always count on you to buckle. Shame you weren’t so polite with my kids.”
“Your kids throw bricks through windows and think it’s funny.” She glared at her. Yeah, the three brats only visited Laura on the weekends, but she thought filling them with sugar and sticking them in front of a computer was good for them. Kate hadn’t. But then, they’d never agreed on anything. Why had it taken so long for her to see that?
“They’re just being kids. It was an accident.” Laura strode up to the gates as her three brats ambled out, coats hanging around their waists. They looked the spit of her; they were the spit of her. One even stuck their middle finger up while the other started a dirty version of some pop song. Laura just laughed and ushered them to her pimped-up Subaru. How did Bennie cope? She hated kids. Guess that’s why she wasn’t doing the school run.
“Kate-oh!” Mikey’s jolly soprano rippled over the buzz of over-sugared kids. There he was, reindeer hat on, a snowman Christmas jumper with half his lunch over it, and the biggest beaming smile any nine-year-old could muster.
Her mood vanished, and she held open her arms. “Alright, babe?”
He broke into a stuttered run, his left side not quite catching up with his right, and flung himself into her arms. “I made snoooowballs.”
His American accent always sounded a bit Scottish, but it was better than hers.
“To eat?” Dumb question as there was no snow.
“Yup.” He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it up to her. “Made this…you.”
She gave him a squeeze and tried not to pull out tissues and mop his face. Laura had always said she was more like his mother than his sister, but wasn’t that what a big sister really was anyway? She pulled open the card, which told her she was the coolest sister ever complete with igloo and some kind of penguin, if the flippers on black blob were anything to go by.
“Thanks, babe.” She scooped him up and wriggled him about. He giggled, carefree and joy-filled. “You’re the coooolest brother.”
He pulled back and gazed up at her with awe. “I am?”
Yeah, who cared about exes when Mikey was around? “Yep, who else would I sing carols with?”
He burst into “Silent Night” amid fits of giggles.
She held his freezing hand and led him across the busy road. Would take ages to warm up, even walking. Ah well. It was Christmas. They’d warm up with song.