Dr Davis's attempts did not work. Neither, apparently, did his mother's.
"I asked my mother to speak to her, but she only encouraged it," Dr Davis said with a scowl.
Millie had insisted Mai walk her to the car again. It was the third time that week.
"Encouraged it?"
"Yes."
"Surely she sees that it's—
"My mother is convinced I am lonely. She keeps offering to babysit so that I can date." Mai grimaced at the way he spat the word 'date'. "I barely have the time to give Amelia the attention she needs, I don't have time for dating."
"Perhaps you should accept some of the babysitting offers to take time for yourself. That could be what's worrying Millie. Kids pick up on these things a lot. Perhaps you need to spend some time with some friends or something?"
Dr Davis didn't say anything as he absorbed this notion.
"I promised my brother I would care for Amelia, I need to do that to the best of my ability."
"Dr Davis, you can't look after someone else if you don't look after yourself first."
"I'll see you soon," he said dismissively as he climbed into the car.
Mai watched them go, and waved at Millie when she looked back.
"Is that him?"
Mai jumped. Masako had crept up on her.
"Yes."
"You should jump on that."
"You should keep your mouth shut. He just needs a night off I think. I think he's worried he's not doing a good enough job of being a parent."
"Most parents worry about that."
"Yeah, but it's not his kid he'll screw up, it's his dead brother's? There is some definite guilt there."
"Nothing a good shag wouldn't cure…"
Mai punched Masako on the arm.
The following week did nothing to improve the situation. Dr Davis gave up waiting, and instead came and collected Millie from the crowd of students. A few times, they managed to leave without having a conversation with Mai first.
The week after that, things really nosedived.
Dr Davis requested a meeting with Mai.
"So you wanted to speak to me?"
"Amelia has been wetting the bed," he started with no preamble. "She has not done this since she first started school. I am concerned that this is because of her thoughts regarding us."
Mai frowned.
"Why do you think this?"
"I had a chat with her and I think she thinks that our lack of friendship is a reflection upon her."
"Oh…" Mai bit her lip.
"And that the reason I do not have a lot of friends is because I have to look after her, even though she is not my real daughter."
"She said that?"
"Words to that effect."
"Okay, how would you like to deal with this?" Mai asked. "I am here to support you both, I just want what is best for Millie."
"I was hoping that at least in front of her, we could assume some kind of friendship. I'll make an effort to come and greet you when I collect her."
"You don't think that will encourage her?"
"I will tell her that I just want to be friends before I even think about things like marriage and I hope that by the time she moves up next year, she'll have moved on from this. I will also make more effort with my other acquaintances."
"Okay then," Mai said, forcing a smile.
And so they tried it. Dr Davis came and spoke with Mai after school every day. She learnt a little more about him. He worked at the university. He liked drinking tea. He spent his weekends coming up with science experiments for Millie to do.
He reported that Millie stopped wetting the bed.
All was going well, for a few weeks. Until one day Dr Davis did not pick Millie up from school.
"Uncle Lin!" Millie shouted, beaming. "Uncle Lin, over here!"
Mai watched as the tallest man she'd ever met walked towards her.
"Hello," he said in a deep voice. "Noll asked me to pick Amelia up today. I'm a family friend."
"Where is he?" Mai asked. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, quite. His mother set him up on a blind date."
"Oh…"
"He's going to marry Georgie and she's going to be my mum!" Millie said, beaming.
"That's lovely," Mai said.
"It's just a date, Amelia," Lin insisted. "Come on, Madoka is cooking dinner for us today."
"Yay!"
Mai watched as Millie took Lin's hand and dragged him away without so much as a backwards glance.
"You look devastated."
"Thanks, Masako."
"What happened? Who was that?"
"Dr Davis's friend. He's looking after Millie for the evening."
"That's nice of him."
"Dr Davis is going on a date."
There was a moment of silence.
"Oh my, you actually like him! Don't you?"
"Don't be ridiculous, I can't date a parent."
Mai turned away and walked back towards her classroom. Masako followed.
"Sure you can, I mean I would wait until Millie is in Year 3, but there is nothing stopping you dating him."
"It's unprofessional."
Mai began to tidy her desk. Masako took a seat.
"Okay well let's go out this Friday. We'll find you some man action."
"Eww, no."
"Why not?"
"Because…"
"Damn, you really like him, don't you?" Masako asked in a soft voice.
"Yes! Okay! Yes, I like him. He's handsome and he's clever and he cares so much about Millie and she kept talking about us getting married and a little part of me was starting to think that maybe… Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to end up with someone like him."
Masako jumped up and gave Mai a quick hug.
"Okay, then instead of going out looking for a man, we'll go out and just have some fun. It's almost Christmas, we should celebrate surviving our first terms as the best teachers this school has ever seen."
Mai laughed.
"Okay then."
"Okay this cocktail is called a Mai-Tai and I had to get it for you," Masako insisted.
"What is in it?"
"I saw a lot of rum go into it?"
"Wonderful," Mai said. She picked up the drink and sucked at the straw. "Damn that is strong!"
"Yeah," Masako agreed with a smile. "Want to dance after this?"
"Yes, dancing sounds fun," Mai said, she glanced around at the growing crowd.
"You're distracted, who are you looking for? Does Dr Davis dance?"
"What?" Mai flushed red. "No. Don't be ridiculous."
"What happened the day after his date?" Masako asked.
Mai groaned and downed the rest of her drink.
"That bad?"
"He didn't act like anything had changed," Mai mumbled. "He doesn't like me like that obviously."
"Okay then," Masako said, and downed her own drink, "Come on, let's dance."
"Eugh, do we have to?"
"I did not drag you here for you to mope."
"But—"
"If you don't come and dance with me, I'm going to phone Dr Davis—" Masako began to threaten.
"What? You can't do that! How did you get his number?"
"From the files? Duh?"
Mai's mouth dropped. Masako pulled her phone out of her pocket.
"Masako! That is so ill—"
"Okay I'm going to text him now—"
"Fine! I'll dance!"
And she did. The two young women danced late into the night. Mai did not drink any more alcohol, the rum cocktail had been quite enough for one evening. Masako's attempts at distracting Mai were thoroughly successful and they left the club laughing.
They walked all the way home, oblivious to the dangers of the night and lucky enough not to be troubled by them.
Mai fell into bed and kicked her shoes off. She tried to undress without having to get up again, which turned out to be more trouble than it was probably worth. She gave up after a while, flicked her bedroom light off and went to bed in her underwear.
Mai raked her hair into a high bun and slipped on her boots. Her eyeliner from the previous night was smudged nicely around her eyes and matched her favourite pyjamas well.
She didn't need to dress up for a trip to the supermarket.
Mai drove to the supermarket, parked up, grabbed a trolley and headed inside. With only a little over a week before Christmas, the supermarket was heaving. People everywhere were stocking up as if the apocalypse was nigh. The shops would shut for maybe two days at Christmas, and the population acted as if the world was about to end.
Mai decided not to stress it. She had nowhere to be for the rest of the day. She could take her time. She winded down the fruit and veg, toiletries, cereal and tinned goods aisles, weaving in and out of other trolleys and excited children. There was only one week of school left after all.
She turned into another aisle, this one full of pasta and noodles. Mai grabbed a couple of packets and made to move on—
Small arms reached around her waist and squeezed tight.
"Miss Taniyama! They let you out of school!"
"Hello Millie," Mai said, beaming down at her student. "What do you mean? Of course they let me out of school."
"Auntie Madoka said all the teachers live in the cupboards at school!"
Millie grinned up at Mai, not letting go of her until—
"Amelia, let go of— Oh, Miss Taniyama."
Mai looked up to see Dr Davis walking towards them with a trolley of his own. She hastily reached into her own trolley and moved some vegetables to hide the box of tampons.
"Dad, look! Miss Taniyama doesn't live in a cupboard like Auntie Madoka said! The headteacher lets her out too!"
"Amelia, you really shouldn't listen to everything Auntie Madoka says," Dr Davis said. "Now let go of Miss Taniyama."
Millie let go, but stayed by Mai's side.
"What type of pasta are you getting, Miss Taniyama?"
"I was thinking rigatoni."
"Which one is that?"
Millie turned to the wall of pasta before her and began reading out the names of all the pastas.
"Fu-silly, ma-ca-ron-ee…"
"I'm sorry," Dr Davis said quickly to Mai.
"Don't be, this isn't the first time one of my kids has seen my outside of school. I'm just glad it's not a repeat of the lingerie incident."
Dr Davis raised an eyebrow and Mai elaborated.
"I was in Marks and Sparks, purchasing some new underwear and Terry was shopping with his father in the same department." Mai grimaced at the memory. "Apparently it was his parent's wedding anniversary soon. He then proceeded to ask me all about my underwear choices and his father did nothing to stop him…"
"Pasta, by comparison, is not so bad then?"
"No."
"Found it!"
Millie reached up and grabbed two packets of rigatoni pasta. She put one in Mai's trolley and the other in Dr Davis's.
"I thought you wanted bow tie pasta?" Dr Davis asked.
"But Miss Taniyama is having this one and I want to try it too!"
"Okay then," he agreed exasperatedly. "Come on then, we better let Miss Taniyama get on with her own shopping."
"Miss Taniyama," Millie said, ignoring her uncle, "What are you doing for Christmas? We're going to see my Grandma and Grandpa. Are you going to see yours?"
"No, my grandparents are dead."
"Oh. What about your normal parents?"
"They're dead too."
"Are they in the ground? Like my ones?" Millie asked.
"Amelia—"
"It's fine," Mai insisted to Dr Davis. "Yes, Millie, my parents are buried in the ground."
"Are they in the ground with my parents? Maybe they're friends there."
"Maybe they are," Mai agreed with a smile.
"Will you be with the other teachers?"
"No, the other teachers have their own families."
"But you don't?"
"No."
"So you're all alone?" Millie frowned, evidently quite concerned.
"Yes, but it's okay. Because after the holidays we go back to school and then I have all my students again."
"Oh… You'll miss us?"
"Of course I'll miss you!" Mai insisted. "But you've all been working hard all term, so you deserve a break."
"Why don't you come and have Christmas with us?"
"Because I'm not part of your family," Mai explained in a gentle voice. "But that's okay, you've got to have lots of fun so you can tell me all about it when you get back, okay?"
Millie nodded, although she did not look completely happy about it. Dr Davis stepped in at this point.
"Come on, Amelia, we've got lots more things to get. Can you find me some green pesto?"
Millie looked around, grinned at her uncle and then scampered off, calling "Bye Miss Taniyama!" as she did so.
"Thank you," Mai said. "That was edging into dangerous territories."
"She likes you a lot," Dr Davis said. "I think she's as worried about you as she is about me…"
"She cares a lot," Mai agreed. "Well, I'll let you get on, it was nice to see you. If I don't see you again, then have a good Christmas."
"You too."
Dr Davis half smiled her way, then walked on. Mai sighed and strode in the other direction. She spent the rest of her trip at the supermarket avoiding Dr Davis and Millie. She was concentrating so hard on avoiding them that she almost left without buying Christmas cards for all her kids.
Author's note: Does anyone know where I can find a guide on how to make friends, how to determine what level of friendship that person is and then how to keep them, please share? A lot of people say I write Oliver well and I think it's just because I'm as bad at people as he is... I'm Oliver and I spend my life wishing I was Mai...
