Sighing I move to lace up Harvey's trainers as he sits on the steps. "No, daddy, daddy, that's too tight," he says frustrated, before I can tie the double knot on his trainers.
"Hurry up, I'm hungry," Phoebe whines as she checks her phone behind me. Sighing loudly, I move to finish tying Harvey's shoes before moving to head out the house. We're going Halloween shopping for little man so that he can go trick or treating and Phoebe, who's managed to just rise before lunch time, has a very specific request and wants me to buy it for her. I suspect her dietary requirements would not be so narrow if she had not been out drinking the night before. We'll talk about that one later, I think to myself as we head up the street to the store, Harvey rushing into a puddle as we get near the store carpark.
"Oh no, daddy. My trainers are mucky!" he exclaims as I shake my head.
"I wonder why," I comment dryly as we head across the car park to the store.
"I want to get my costume first," he says tugging on my arm as we head through the fruit and veg section and I sigh.
"No, I want to get my baguette first. I need something bland," Phoebe says. At 15, I wasn't really expecting her to whine quite as a much as her three-year-old brother but that's alcohol for you. She won't be frequenting any more parties in a while though, so she may as well enjoy this hangover.
With Harvey rushing ahead, I pick up a couple of baguettes, passing them to be Phoebe who looks bored by the whole proceeding.
"Are you with us?" I ask wandering to the chocolate aisle to get some snacks for Sunday movie afternoon.
"Dad, I feel awful. Stop winding me up," she moans as she runs her fingers through her dark hair. Phoebe is a good mix of both of us. She has Ana's stunning blue eyes and dark hair, which frames her face in light waves. She is stunningly beautiful naturally, and I'm relieved she doesn't seem to feel the urge to wear a lot of makeup. She has my face shape and mouth. Right now, she's dressed in a cropped sweater, which I'm certain I never approved so Ana must have, and Adidas sweatpants. She looks bored as she follows us around. Her attitude is so much more in line with mine that Ana's but she's certainly as stubborn as my wife of 17 years.
Harvey drags me by the hand to the Halloween aisle, peering at the goods.
"Look at this arm daddy!" he says holding up a large severed arm. I shake my head.
"Fingers?" he suggests hopefully. "What's this?"
"Fake blood. It will make a mess on mummy's carpet," I tell him firmly.
"Can we get glowing balloons?" he tries again.
"No because of the cats," I say. "Look at the costumes. You could be a little ghost. We could call you Casper."
"But my name is Harvey?" Harvey says looking perplexed as I show him a costume. "Yes, I like this!" he says excitedly as I hold it against him for size and he begins looking at the selection of buckets to collect sweets in.
"Can we hurry up?" Phoebe groans. "I feel awful."
"You have a hangover. A hangover is nature's way of deterring binge drinking," I tell her firmly.
"I was hardly binge drinking. I had three drinks," she groans.
"Which is three more drinks than you're legally allowed to have," I snap. "Three years before you're even old enough to drink." Phoebe rolls her eyes at me as Harvey looks at sweets. This trait is something she has picked her from her mother and seems to know that it really annoys me. I raise my eyebrows at her but turn my attention to my youngest.
"What sweets do you want to get for the trick or treaters?" I ask him.
"I don't. I don't want to give sweets away," Harvey says, making a nearby shopper laugh. I force a smile as I lead Harvey away. "I want. I want to get something for Ruby as she's sad."
Ruby is one of our two cats, which Ana told the children they could have before consulting me. Ana sold it to me later as a way of teaching the children about responsibility. So far, I think me and Gail are in close competition as to who has emptied the litter tray more. I think Phoebe might have fed them once.
"Why is Ruby sad?" I ask Harvey as we head for the pet food aisle.
"Because you got her an injection," he explains.
"So, she doesn't get poorly," I explain to him as he stops at Christmas treats for cats.
"We can get an advent calendar!" he exclaims looking up.
"Closer to the time," I say leading him to the Dreamies. "What flavours?"
"Get the mix. And they've not had salmon in a while," Phoebe says as I select them. This is something Phoebe would know as she is capable to stuffing them both full of cat treats and leading to me getting a telling off at the vets for letting one of the cats get obese.
We head to the check out and Harvey points and shouts. "That woman is buying pads!" as he peers in a lady's trolley.
"I'm so sorry," I mutter trying to get him to a check out and put our items on the belt before scooping my three-year-old up.
"Daddy, I want to put your PIN in!" he announces.
"No because you shouldn't know it," I say firmly as I bag up our shopping one handed as Harvey presses a button on the PIN pad.
"Daddy I know your number is 3741," he says loudly as people look. The checkout assistant laughs as I pass him the clubcard.
"Swipe this," I mutter. The only reason we have loyalty cards is so that Harvey has something to do at the till rather than shout out PIN numbers. I thank the checkout assistant before heading out the store.
"Daddy, I need to get down," Harvey says as he starts wriggling and I set him down. I'm aware there are paparazzi up ahead which Harvey dutifully waves at. "Hi!" he says, and I know he recognises some of them from the amount they stalk us. Better than what Teddy did though which was stick his fingers up at them. I nod vaguely in their direction trying to get past as Harvey runs up the pavement ahead to our house, heading in through the currently unlocked gates.
"Daddy, do you have the key?" he calls banging both hands on the door as I move to let us in and one of the cats runs out. "My trainers. Daddy. You need to clean them."
I sigh heading to the kitchen to find Gail. "Have you got any wipes?" I ask her as she looks up from preparing sandwich fillings for the baguette I place on the slide.
"Yes, Mr Grey. What are they for?" she asks with a smile.
"Harvey's trainers," I explain.
"Do you want me to do it?" she offers.
"No, it's fine," I say taking a wipe and heading back to clean Harvey's Nike trainers as he lays on the bottom step. I unlace them carefully, so he can go play, instructing Phoebe to head upstairs and find her mother.
Ana heads down a few minutes later. "We need to talk with Phoebe after lunch," I say firmly as she looks to me.
"Christian, she's 15, it's just part of-" she begins as I frown at once.
"Ana, this isn't acceptable. We need to lay boundaries down now," I say firmly.
"Because you know what us Steele women are like," Ana smirks as she places her hands on my shoulders grinning up at me. "At least she wasn't vomiting in begonias."
I shake my head before giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
"Oh, get a room," Teddy exclaims as he heads through. Our 17 year old son strongly resembles me at that age and because of his involvement in rugby, he is very well built. Teddy has now overtaken me in height, something I am disappointed about. Just like his sister, he has Ana's beautiful eyes.
"We are in a room. Which has a door. Which was closed," I tell him as he watches me with a grin. "Have you just got home?"
"Oh well. I mean. I've not been out all night," he sighs, clearly trying to hide something.
"So you've been with Alma?" I check, referring to his girlfriend of the last year as he blushes. "Just let us know where you are in future."
"How can you be okay with this but you're angry with Phoebe?" Ana says looking to me and I sigh.
"Ana, he's a boy, he knows how to take care of himself," I sigh as Ana narrows her eyes at me.
"Christian, that's a very narrow way of looking at things," she says firmly as I sigh.
"Well let us know," I mutter as I retreat to my office to check my emails away from family drama.