7: Planning A Future
I hadn't expected him to ask his ex-wife, but I suppose who else would he trust with his youngest child than the woman he already trusted with the eldest? After our usual Saturday together, Alison collected both Michael and Charlie for the night, and suddenly Eddie's flat felt very empty and quiet. But we weren't going to spend this evening here. I returned home to get changed and do my hair. By the time he arrived to pick me up, I felt somehow nervous about our 'first' date together. But his easygoing manner relaxed me over dinner in the restaurant, and I think the wine helped as well.
By the time we got back to her house, her cheeks were flushed from the cold night air. I was going to get a taxi, but she insisted on walking the short distance. I enjoyed that ten minutes, it gave us time to hold hands, laugh, joke with each other, feel comfortable close to each other again. As we went through her front door she seemed happy, relaxed. Unlike our first ever night together, this evening there was no awkwardness, and she didn't show the same hesitation, or was it resistance? She bolted the door behind us and led me straight to her bedroom. There were none of the nerves of our first time together, none of the awkwardness, none of the rush, it was as if we'd never been apart. Her body felt instantly familiar to me, I knew how to hold her, how to touch her, how to fit us perfectly together.
Our Saturday routine had changed. What started as a couple of hours in the park together, became me coming back for tea with the boys, and some precious time with my nephew, bathing him and putting him to bed. Then Eddie and I would cosy up on the sofa together before spending the night together in his bed. And yet, I always returned home on a Sunday morning for the week. We never really discussed it, perhaps we should have done, but it was just how it worked, for the first year. We were both busy in the week with school, but still, I found the time to miss him. That gave me the idea, and I got to work.
One Friday she asked me to come over to hers when I finished work. Charlie was still in the creche until 4pm as usual, so I decided to ditch my usual afternoon marking for today and leave it until Sunday. I went round to Rachel's. She said she had a surprise for the boys, but wanted to show me first. She had repainted the spare bedroom bright blue and set it out with new furniture, an ideal bedroom for a little boy, with Charlie's name spelt out on the wall. "My room is nextdoor," she said, "so we'd be close by if he wakes in the night."
"We?" I questioned.
"Well, only if you want to," she replied, "I mean it just made sense, there's more space here than at yours."
"There is," I agreed, "Charlie's going to love it."
"I don't want Michael left out either," she continued, leading me toward the old box room. "I know it's small, but he won't be here full time, but once he's ready for overnight stays, we've got space." All the storage had been cleared, the room painted green, and a cabin bed with a desk underneath it.
Philip's room remained up on the 2nd floor, next to Rachel's study. Although Melissa was nearby, he still preferred to stay at Rachel's during his holidays from university. He may no longer be a child, but he still needed his family, and Rachel would always make space for him in her home. She'd moved things around in her study as well, clearing a corner for a desk for me. I only needed a small space anyway. As she knew, I managed to fit in most of my marking during the school day.
Alison was thrilled that Michael could have more time with me, and immediately agreed to him staying over every weekend. She and Rachel got on well, and Alison no longer collected Michael on the doorstep, but now came in for coffee and a chat. I was often the butt of their jokes.