Chapter 10
For once the morning was running smoothly it was nearly the summer holidays and the countdown
had commenced. Karen had managed to organise Jess and Harry who were happily playing
together in the lounge whilst Karen organised herself for the day. Work didn't seem so bad these
days, knowing that she'd being seeing Rob when she got there.
'Right then you two shall we get going, we can walk today so…'
'SCOOTERS' Harry chanted before charging out to get his shoes on and jacket.
Karen smiled, before following them out.
'Don't go further than I can see' Harry set off speeding away whilst Jess happily scooted
next to her mummy sweetly. Oh the difference between boys and girls.
'Wait Harry' Karen called ahead as he approached the road, in true fashion of the smooth running
of this morning, he stopped just like he was told to. Karen had a feeling that today was going to be
a good day.
'Miss Watson said we'd paint outside today' Jess explained excitedly to her mum
'well that sounds like fun'
'I'm going to paint all of us. You, Harry and Rob' Karen smiled so sweetly. She really had no
concerns about how her relationship with Rob was affecting her children.
'I'm sure it will be beautiful, your my clever little girl.'
They approached the school gates,
'Right then i'll see you two later be good! I look forward to seeing your painting Jess'
'can I show it to Rob?' Jess asked eagerly.
'We'll see. Now I love you lots, mummy's got to go to work' Karen gave her children both a hug and
a kiss and watched them both run off into their little friendship groups before locking up their
scooters and heading to work herself.
Karen couldn't remember the last time she'd walked the kids to school and herself to work. She did
love the summer months, this time of year always lent itself to good things. She approached the
school gates in hope that today was going to go easy on her and there weren't to be any major
catastrophes to deal with… but then again this was Waterloo Road. She headed up to her office
with a definite spring in her step, the fresh air had definitely done her some good. She sat herself
down at her desk having organised herself, she looked at the assembly rota and sighed with relief
to see it was Tom's turn. There was a gentle knock at the door.
'Come in' Karen called through as she began to get stuck into the ever growing pile of paperwork
sat was on her desk.
'I thought you weren't in today since I couldn't see your car' it was Rob who seemed to have been
a little worried, Karen could see his concern and found it rather sweet. She got up to welcome him
properly.
'I decided that it would be nice to walk, Harry and Jess took their scooters to school and I walked.
Hence no car'
'and that's why you seem so relaxed and so beautifully windswept' Rob commented on her glowing
appearance to which Karen blushed.
'Anyway, I missed you' Karen commented as she gave him a gentle kiss.
'Me too, which is why I bought you these' Rob revealed a beautiful bunch of flowers that he had
been hiding behind his back.
'They're beautiful' Karen commented, 'well they can sit on my desk, thank you' she gave him a
longer more passionate kiss before turning to find a vase to put them in.
'So I was thinking since I've been working so late recently' Rob had been stuck marking year 10
English mock papers over the last week, 'I thought it would be nice to go out for a meal tonight.'
Karen liked the idea but she couldn't help feeling slightly deflated since she had Harry and Jess
that evening.
'You, me, Jess and Harry.' Rob continued,
'well that sounds lovely! There's a certain little girl I know who was telling me this morning how she
was going to be painting a picture of us all today at school and how she desperately wanted to be
able to show you later.'
'Well then I look forward to seeing what the little genius has come up with. It's good how well
they're taking us isn't it?' Rob commented thoughtfully.
'They really love you Rob' Karen replied back as he took her into his arms,
'and I adore them too. Even when they're throwing a tantrum or refusing to eat the amazing pizza I
had made' Karen laughed at Rob's reference to an evening previously where Rob had made a
pizza which Harry decided he would choose as the moment to tell them how much he hated pizza.
'No but seriously Karen, I like our little unit'
'me too' Karen replied enjoying her hug which was rudely interrupted by the bell.
She sighed, 'Now now Miss Fisher you can't keep me all to yourself'
'oh how I wish that was possible' Karen replied seductively
'I'll come meet you for lunch'
'yeah, have a good day' they shared a final kiss before heading off to start there days.
Karen sat down at her desk unable to get Rob out of her head, he'd referred to them as a unit. Rob
saw himself as an important part of Jess and Harry's lives as well as her own and Karen loved him
all the more for it. He'd seen more of the two of them than Charlie had over the last 7 months or so.
The thought really frustrated Karen, but at the same time she wasn't ready for Charlie to come and
burst her bubble yet. And she knew he would at some point, he always did.
It was finally lunch time but Karen was the workaholic of Rochdale and was well in the throws of
filling out paper work, she'd had a very productive day. Rob knew all to well that Karen having not
made her face present in the staffroom could only mean one thing and he headed off to her office
to drop off some lunch.
'Guilty!' Rob burst open the door taking Karen by surprise. 'You'd never eat it it wasn't for me' Rob
commented, placing the sandwich and himself on the desk so she could no longer continue with
her paperwork.
'You don't have to be quite so distracting' Karen teased. 'So where are we going tonight?' Karen
was really looking forward to it, they hadn't spent time together properly in a while. She rested her
hands upon Rob's thighs and looked up in anticipation of his answer.
'Well, I was thinking we could go to the new Chinese on the corner, I know Jess and Harry both like
Chinese'
'they do! sounds good to me' Karen's belly rumbled at the thought.
'I think that's your body trying to remind you that it's lunchtime and that means you break and have
some food'
'alright, alright. Ive got the message' Karen reached out for the sandwich Rob had brought her.
'Cheese and mayo, really Rob?'
'It's all they had. Serves you right for not coming when the bell rang' Rob teased her some more.
'I better go get to my class can I trust you to eat your sandwich?'
'I'm eating it' Karen raised up the half bitten sandwich.
'I'll meet you at the restaurant for 6?'
'Sounds good. I'll see you later.'
The final bell for the end of the school day rang and Karen packed up her stuff determined not to
be late to pick up Harry and Jess. 'Karen' Chris her deputy head entered, 'Can I just rack your
brains about this new scheme starting next week?'
'Can it not wait till the morning, i've got to go and get Jess and Harry from school and I didn't bring
my car' Karen continued as she picked up her bag and held her black coat over her arm
determined to just leave.
'It's the sexual health programme, we've had some letters'
'and as it's your scheme Chris it's your job to deal with those'
yes I just thought as the head…'
'Chris we can do this at our meeting tomorrow, I'm running late' Karen didn't have time to be nor
wanted to be sucked into more work. She wanted to pick up her two rascals from school, get home
and go out for her meal with Rob. Right now this new scheme wasn't important and nor did it really
need her input, Chris was a really headstrong competent member of staff.
Karen finally got to Jess and Harry's school to find Jess in a strop.
'You're late' Jess wasn't impressed,
'I know sweetie, i'm sorry something came up at work. I got here as quickly as I could I promise'
Jess tried to understand and let her mummy give her a hug.
'Right lets go get your brother then.' Karen walked over to Harry's classroom to see his teacher
being driven mad by Harry's churning out of facts about dinosaurs on his rucksack and performing
impressions of those dinosaurs to make sure his teacher understood the difference.
'I'm so sorry I'm late' Karen apologised profusely.
'It's fine, at least i'm well informed about the dinosaur world now' his teacher joked,
'yeah sorry about that, he does seem rather fond of that rucksack. Come on then trouble lets leave
Miss Reynolds in peace aye'
'see you tomorrow Harry'
'Bye Miss Reynolds.'
They began their journey home,
'Jess did you paint your beautiful picture today then?' Karen asked, Jess nodded still slightly upset
and annoyed with her mummy for being late.
'Can I see?' Karen asked noting her daughter's annoyance, though she did continue to talk through
her painting.
'This is you and me and that's Harry on Rob's back. It's at the park, when we went for our picnic'
'it's beautiful, you're very clever! And Rob is going to love it!' Jess looked up at her mum eagerly.
'Rob's taking us all out for Chinese' Harry got very excited to the point where he fell over and
grazed his knee, resulting in Karen carrying home a very upset little boy.
They got home and Jess dashed off to get a dinosaur (can you see the theme) plaster for her little
brother.
'That looks sore Harry' Jess commented sweetly. Karen placed on the plaster which seemed to
make everything better.
They all got ready for their meal, Karen was wearing a pair of black jeans and a chiffon black shirt.
She'd chosen a pair of peep toe patent red shoes that only came out on special occasions which
she'd chosen to match her lipstick. She wanted to make an effort for Rob, she finally had someone
to impress again. Jess and Harry had both changed and were looking very smart, Harry had his
little shirt on and Jess was wearing her pretty polka dot skirt and patent dolly shoes that matched
the colour of her mummy's.
'Mummy you look beautiful' Jess commented as she perched herself on her mummy's lap as Karen
sat on her bed spritzing her perfume before they were ready to leave.
'And you look even more beautiful' Karen squeezed her little girl which made her smile and giggle,
a sound that Karen would never want to not hear.
'Come on then you two lets get going, i'm starving!'
'Wait I need to get my picture to show Rob' Jess bounced back with her picture in her hands.
'Hang on a minute why don't we roll this and then it won't get all creased. We don't want it to get
ruined' Jess stood patiently as she watched her mummy roll it up and secure it with an elastic
band.
'Can I hold it?' Harry asked,
'let Jess hold it, it's her painting. Right can we get going.'
They arrived at the restaurant a little late, as per usual. Karen could see Rob sat over in the corner
and led the way to the table. Karen sat opposite Rob, whilst Jess sat next to her mum and Harry
next to Rob.
'Thought you guys might have gotten lost!' Rob teased
'We were sorting out my picture' Jess gave the picture to Rob.
'Oh your picture! Mummy was telling me all about this' Rob unrolled the picture, it was very
beautiful, Jess was clearly very good at art.
'That's mummy, that's me and that's you with Harry on your back' Rob smiled
'I love it! Can I keep it?' Rob asked sweetly
'Of course you can'
'I'm going to put it up on my fridge' Jess smiled sweetly, Karen admired the moment her boyfriend
(wow that still felt weird to Karen) and her little girl were having.
They'd ordered and demolished their food, it had been a hit with them all even Harry, who had
been so particular about Rob's pizza previously. There was a live band playing and lots of the
children in the restaurant were dancing along. Jess was eager to join them,
'please can I get down now and go over there' Jess pointed sweetly though they both knew what
she wanted to do, since she'd repeatedly asked throughout their meal.
'yes you can, but stay where we can see you and don't go off anywhere else.'
'Harry will you come with me?' Jess asked her little brother sweetly holding out her hand, he got up
taking her hand. Harry was having one of his shy moments.
'You two go have fun.' Karen commented admiring how well her children both got on most of the
time.
Rob took hold of her hands across the table, 'I'm glad we can do things like this together'
Karen smiled, tilting her head to one side.
'Me too. I've been looking forward to it all day' Karen admitted.
'You look beautiful' Rob told her leaning over and giving her a sneaky kiss, Karen's cheeks
blushing.
'Well you don't scrub up too badly yourself' Karen teased.
'No but seriously Karen, you three are really important to me. I care about those two as if they were
my own.' Karen welled up slightly at this point, she tried to suppress the tear that was threatening
to fall but it fell and Rob caught it with his thumb and wiped it away.
'aye' Rob commented at the sudden tears.
'Sorry it's just I know you care about those two, more than their own dad would care to show'
'I hate to see how much he's hurt you. But I want you to know that you'll always have me. I don't
plan on letting you go and I want to always be around for Jess and Harry.'
'I love you Rob' Karen whispered her gaze fixed entirely on the man sitting in front of her.
'I love you too, you mean the world to me Karen. I want to protect you. I want to care for you, I
want to shout from the roof tops that your mine and no one else's. But most importantly I'm
prepared to share you. I know those two are your whole world and I would never want to change
that.'
'If anything I feel like I'm going to have to share you with those two' Karen replied quickly, laughing.
'I know what we have Rob is really special, I never imagined myself in such a serious relationship
after Charlie. I guess I never really gave myself a chance of happiness after Charlie, but sitting
here with you. I couldn't imagine not being with you.'
After a lovely evening Rob and Karen decided to call it a night with two small children to get to bed.
They arrived home, Karen had invited Rob round for coffee.
'Right you two pyjamas and bed' Karen ushered her children up the stairs, who both sighed.
'It's late and I saw that yawn mister' Rob teased Harry.
Both children were quickly tucked up in bed and Karen and Rob had said goodnight to them and
now found themselves wrapped up in each other's arms on the sofa.
'I've had a lovely evening' Rob commented.
'Me too. You are full of good ideas aren't you' Karen replied.
'Well, I try' Karen couldn't help but laugh. Rob was the perfect combination of charismatic and
caring. He knew exactly how to calm Karen down as well as cheer her up.
'I think I should probably head off, school night and all' Rob commented sadly.
Karen sat up from Rob's embrace.
'You could always stay the night?' Karen was determined for their night to continue.
'Only if your sure, I mean' Rob was being so gentlemanly. Karen seized his lips passionately before
breaking away.
'Take me to bed Rob.'
Karen found herself being swept off her feet and being carried into her bedroom. It was clear their
night wasn't quite over yet.