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She was running late.
The bus should have already dropped Haiden off at the correct stop to deliver him back to the house shortly before five. It was just after that now, so she expected to find him sitting on the doorstep, which wasn’t what she’d planned at all. She guessed she’d need to give him a key to the house at some point, but she hadn’t had time to get one cut yet. It felt strange giving someone else the option to come and go whenever they pleased, even though it was well within Haiden’s right to do so. The school imposed a curfew, but she guessed she could hardly force a man in his twenties to stick to it. It would be different if he was a teenager, but he wasn’t.
Ollie seemed okay after the incident at school. He hadn’t mentioned it since she’d picked him up from afterschool club, and she hadn’t brought it up again herself. She was dreading bath time, though, knowing she was going to see those horrible bite marks again. She felt a fresh rush of protective anger at the thought. Bloody Felix. How would he like it if someone bigger started biting him?
She approached the house, but instead of finding Haiden waiting for them, something else caught her eye, and she drew to a halt. “Oh, no.”
“What is it, Mummy?” Ollie asked from beside her.
“The plant pots are all broken!”
She did her best to keep the front of the house looking tidy. She always made sure Ollie’s scooter and bike weren’t left in the front garden, and she’d made the effort to have a couple of pretty, potted plants on either side of the front door. Now the plant pots were lying on their sides, the dirt and plants spilled onto the concrete path, the ceramic in fractured pieces.
“Did they get blown over?” Ollie asked doubtfully. She knew why he thought that—they’d had a storm over winter which had wrecked the garden and blown down a fence panel—but there hadn’t been any wind today.
“I don’t think so. Maybe someone knocked them over accidentally.”
“Yeah, that was probably what happened,” he agreed.
Movement came from behind them. “Hello.”
She looked over her shoulder to see Haiden. He was all energetic youth and good health, and she felt ten years older and exhausted all at once.
“Oh, hi. I thought you would have been back by now.”
“The bus was running late.”
Lucky for her. “How was your first day?”
It felt strange asking someone that question when they were clearly nowhere near being a child.
He nodded. “It was good. Still getting my bearings, you know.”
She smiled to show she did, but she’d left college at the age of eighteen with a couple of A-levels in dance and social studies to her name. She hadn’t even done a degree, never mind a masters in something.
Haiden caught sight of what they were looking at and frowned. “Someone broke your pots.”
His words jolted through her. Yes, that was what it looked like—as though someone had come along and deliberately knocked them over, so they broke, had maybe even picked them up and thrown them hard enough to smash. Her stomach twisted, hating the idea that someone would do that.
“I’m sure it was an accident. Let’s get inside so I can get some food on. I don’t know about the both of you, but I’m starving.”
That was a lie. Her appetite had completely fled at the sight of the broken pots, but she needed to feed Ollie and Haiden.
“How does spaghetti bolognaise sound?”
She felt bad she was feeding them yet more pasta, but she’d found a packet of reduced mince in the discount aisle in the supermarket and could rustle up a fairly decent spag bol out of that and some basic canned tomatoes and a couple of other simple ingredients.
“Sounds great to me,” Haiden said, giving her a smile, and something relaxed inside her.
“Spaghetti, yummy!” declared Ollie.
She laughed and pushed the front door shut behind them, closing herself off from the view of the mess outside. She’d need to clear them away so Ollie didn’t go cutting himself on them, but she couldn’t handle doing that now.
Instead, she went into the kitchen and busied herself with getting dinner started. The after-school club always gave Ollie a snack, but he was still ravenous by the time they got home. She wished she was able to pick him up at three-thirty and bring him home for dinner, just like a lot of the other mums did, but she needed to work. She could hear him now, making superhero fighting noises with his toys as he played in the living room.
Within minutes, she had the water boiling for the pasta, and the mince browning off in a pan. She’d throw in some onions, garlic, and celery, and then some tinned tomatoes and a stock cube for some extra flavour. It was a good, healthy meal and one she could rely on Ollie to eat heartily with no complaints.
She sensed someone behind her and glanced over her shoulder to find Haiden leaning against the kitchen doorframe.
“Oh, hi. I didn’t know you were there. Can I get you a drink or something?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks.” He straightened. “Please, tell me if I’m stepping out of line, but I’d like to go and clear up the mess while you’re making dinner.”
“I can’t ask you to do that. You’re a guest.”
He shrugged. “I’m happy to do it. I’d rather help out than sit around feeling useless.”
“You must have schoolwork to do.”
“Nothing that won’t wait until after dinner.”
She exhaled a sigh of gratitude. “Thank you.” She fished around under the sink for a dustpan and brush, and a carrier bag for him to put the broken ceramic in. “I really appreciate it.”
“No problem,” he said, flashing a set of white teeth.
She’d forgotten how good it felt to have someone else around to help with things. She’d been so used to doing everything on her own that she’d just accepted that was the way it was going to be. She watched his broad shoulders as he left the room, carrying the pan and carrier bag, and then turned back to the meal she was making. The sound of scraping and tinkling of broken porcelain filtered through to her from outside.
She didn’t know who had broken the pots, but she could make some reasonable guesses. The worst part was that she wasn’t going to be able to replace them any time soon. There was no way she could afford the extra money, though hopefully that would change over the next few weeks when the money from hosting would start to trickle in. There were more important things she needed to buy before worrying about pot plants, though, such as new clothes for Ollie, but hopefully she’d be able to siphon a little off to replace the pots eventually.
With the pasta and sauce ready, she dished it up into bowls, making sure Haiden and Ollie had the bigger portions. Haiden came in from outside and went to the sink to wash his hands.
“You have no idea who might have broken the pots, then?” he asked as she placed the bowls, together with knives and forks, on the small kitchen table.
“No, not really. I expect it was kids messing around. Maybe they kicked a football into the garden and knocked them down, and then grabbed the ball and ran off, not wanting to get in trouble.”
“Hmm, maybe,” he replied.
The pots hadn’t looked like they’d just been knocked over, though. She thought to how angry Rachelle had been earlier, and also Stephen’s reaction at finding Haiden here on Sunday morning. Would either of them stoop to something like that? Stephen had broken plenty of things when they were together and had been fighting. He’d put holes in the walls, and smashed picture frames, and had even ripped up a book she’d been reading when he’d wanted to get her attention. Maybe he’d come to try to see her, but when he discovered she wasn’t in, he’d broken the pots in frustration, though she would have thought he’d have known she’d be at work. She should probably call him and demand he tell her the truth about it, but her stomach shrivelled at the thought of having to make any kind of contact with him that didn’t involve arranging visiting times for Ollie.
“Thank you for cleaning up the mess, though,” she told Haiden. “I really do appreciate it.”
He flashed her that perfect white smile again. “No problem.”
She called Ollie to the table, and they sat down to eat. Ollie wolfed down the first half of his meal then proceeded to talk non-stop at them both, telling them about every little thing that had happened at school, though he missed out the part about Felix biting him. Haiden joined in where he could, dropping in comments like ‘wow’ and ‘no way’ whenever Ollie took a breath long enough to allow anyone else to get a word in. Haiden had been right when he’d said he hadn’t been a boy long ago either. He seemed to fit in easily around Ollie, and Ollie had warmed to him quickly.
A little ball of happiness swelled inside her at their company. Even though she knew it wasn’t a permanent thing, it felt good to break up the monotony of it being just the two of them.
She tried not to let the image of the broken pots, Stephen’s anger yesterday, or the teeth marks on Ollie’s shoulder spoil her mood.