Thursday
Jamie went out again early the next day, helping his dad with his rounds. He took Tansy with him too as there were lots of dressings that needed changing and I volunteered to watch Parker for a couple of hours, before I went down to the gallery to start setting things up for the wedding.
‘So buddy,’ I said, as Jamie and Tansy shut the front door behind them. ‘What would you like to do?’
Parker shrugged.
‘Don’t mind,’ he said.
‘Snowman?’
He screwed his face up.
‘We could read your space book.’
Parker shook his head.
‘Play dominoes?’
He shrugged again. I eyed him carefully.
‘Are you tired?’ I said.
‘Not really.’
‘Is something the matter?’
He smiled at me, but it wasn’t a very convincing smile.
‘I’m okay,’ he said.
‘I’ve got two brothers you know?’ I said, sitting down on the sofa and pulling him up next to me. ‘But they’re a lot younger than me. I was twelve when Mitchell – he’s the oldest – was born and fourteen when Mason came along.’
Parker looked at me but he didn’t speak.
‘When they were growing up I was a bit jealous because they were really good friends. If something was upsetting one of them, then he had the other to talk to about it. I never had that when I was little.’
‘What about Harry?’ Parker said.
‘Harry’s older than me,’ I said. ‘A lot older. Years and years older. So she was practically a grown-up when I was born.’
‘She’s ten years older than you,’ Parker said. ‘That’s not a grown-up.’
‘No,’ I admitted. You couldn’t get anything past this little boy, that was for sure.
‘Anyway, she wasn’t that interested in me when I was small. So I didn’t have anyone to talk to about my troubles – the way Mitch and Mason have each other.’
Parker nodded, his brown eyes watching me, obviously wondering where I was going with this potted family history.
‘Do you have anyone to talk to if things are upsetting you?’ I said.
Parker chewed his lip.
‘I’ve got Mrs Anderson,’ he said. ‘I guess I can talk to her.’
‘Is she your teacher?’
He shook his head.
‘She takes care of me when Mom is at work,’ he said. ‘She lives across the street but when Mom has to work during the night, Mrs Anderson stays at our house.’
‘Great,’ I said. ‘She sounds very nice. What about friends? Kids at school?’
Parker shook his head slowly.
‘I’m not really friends with the kids at school,’ he said. ‘They’re kind of mean to me.’
My heart broke a little bit to see his sweet face twisted in pain.
‘I have a lot of friends at after-school club though,’ he said with a smile that made me feel much better. ‘We play dominoes and tell jokes.’
I grinned at him.
‘Tell me a joke,’ I said.
‘How many astronomers does it take to change a light bulb,’ he said.
‘Don’t know.’
‘None!’ Parker said triumphantly, giggling to himself. ‘Astronomers aren’t afraid of the dark.’
I laughed loudly, pleased he was showing some of his usual spark, even if that joke was terrible.
‘While you’re here, though, in Scotland, I want you to know you can tell me anything that’s upsetting you. Or you can tell Harry. Or Daddy Jamie.’
Parker looked horrified. He slid off the sofa and picked up his space book.
‘I’m going to read for a while,’ he said. ‘I guess I’m tired after all.’
I decided not to push him. Instead we sat together in friendly silence, Parker reading his book and me leafing through a copy of Good Housekeeping that I’d found on the coffee table and must have belonged to Mum or Suky.
After about half an hour, I set aside the feature about Felicity Kendal I was reading and looked at Parker once more. I knew what it was like to be a solitary child and I definitely knew what it was like to be a bit different from the other kids at school. I’d had a safe place – a haven – when I was wee. A cave, sheltered from the wind on the banks of the loch. It was only small; a tiny alcove where a big boulder had once rested. But after a big storm changed the look of the coastline, the boulder rolled away and exposed the cave. I used to hide out there all the time. It was where I’d met Jamie, in fact, when his own solitary wanders along the beach meant he stumbled upon my hiding place.
I looked at Parker, apparently engrossed in his space book, which he was reading for the tenth time. Then I started pulling the cushions off the sofa where I’d been sitting and piling them up.
Parker watched me over the top of his book.
I left him sitting on his chair and trotted upstairs to grab a couple of Suky’s crocheted blankets. When I came back down, he gave up all pretence of reading, put his book to one side and looked at me.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘Building a den,’ I said, draping one of the blankets over the top of the cushions. ‘Want to help?’
Parker nodded. He rolled off the chair and followed me as I crawled inside the little snug hole I’d made in between the cushions.
‘We need to arrange the blanket on the floor,’ I said. Parker copied me as I patted it down and fitted it into the corners.
‘What now?’ he said.
‘Now,’ I said, backing out of our den. ‘We need supplies.’
We went into the kitchen and found a packet of biscuits. Outside it had started snowing again.
‘Hot chocolate?’ I asked. Parker nodded, beaming.
We took the biscuits and our hot chocolate back into the lounge then Parker crawled back inside our den and I followed with our snacks.
It was warm inside, and the light glowed through the regular holes in Suky’s crocheting. I felt safe there and I hoped Parker felt the same.
‘I think it’s nice for kids to have a safe place,’ I told him. ‘Do you have a garden at home?’
‘We have a back yard,’ he said. ‘But it’s not very big. Grandma and Grandpa have a big yard with grass and trees and a summer house.’
‘That sounds lovely,’ I said. ‘Maybe you could find a little corner of their garden and build a den there. Then, if you’re ever feeling sad or confused or upset, you can go there and think about happy stuff.’
Parker looked solemn, except for his hot chocolate moustache.
‘Where do you go if you’re sad?’ he said.
I smiled at him.
‘I go running,’ I said. ‘There’s a big park near where Jamie and I live with a pond in it. I like to run round the pond and look at the ducks. Harry does yoga – do you know what that is?’
Parker nodded.
‘It’s bending,’ he said. He drained his mug. ‘Did you go running when you were a kid?’
‘Not really,’ I said. ‘I used to go to a cave.’
Parker’s eyes widened.
‘Like the bat cave,’ he said.
I giggled.
‘Well much smaller than the bat cave and with far fewer batmobiles,’ I said. ‘It was just a tiny cave on the beach. You’ve been for a walk by the loch with your mum haven’t you? It’s still there – look out for it if you go that way again before you go back to Boston.’
‘Is it near the café?’ Parker asked.
‘Not far from there,’ I said. ‘Just a little bit further along the shore.’
‘Cool,’ said Parker. ‘Can I have a biscuit?’
I was pretty proud of myself as I tore open the packet. Maybe this whole stepmother thing wouldn’t be a disaster after all.
‘Come on then,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you show me the Jupiter page in your space book.’