He finally caught up with her and touched a hand to her arm. ‘Stop, please!’ He doubled over. He was fit, but he’d sprinted from the house the second he’d grabbed a plastic container of leftover food and told Prue and the kids he was taking it to the lady around the corner. It was true, but if he hadn’t seen Cleo, he would be sauntering along wearing a coat and warm shoes rather than out in a shirt and jeans and already feeling the cold after he’d stopped.
‘What’s that?’ Cleo gestured to the container as he managed to recover and stand upright.
‘Leftovers.’
‘Seriously?’ She did not look happy.
‘Not for you, for a neighbour who recently lost her husband.’
‘So you do have a heart.’ She was even angrier than he’d anticipated. ‘Look, Dylan. I’ll make this easy for you. You don’t need to explain. She’s your wife, the mother of your children. It really is simple, although I am confused as to why you invited me over in the first place.’
‘I invited you because I wanted you to be there.’
‘And did your kids have any say in that?’
God, it was freezing! Cleo’s icy reception didn’t make it any better. ‘I hadn’t told them anything. If you’d said you’d come, I would’ve explained you were a friend.’ When she shook her head, he said, ‘I’ve never introduced another woman to them.’ Her head snapped up at last instead of looking down at the concrete sidewalk. ‘Does that surprise you?’
‘Not really.’ She hesitated a moment. ‘Dylan, from what I saw tonight, your ex-wife is still very much a part of your lives, and take it from someone who understands the situation completely, you don’t need an outsider spoiling that.’
‘I wish you’d texted or phoned before you came over. Then I could’ve explained that Prue showed up, unannounced. Jacob answered the door as I had my hands full attempting my first Thanksgiving turkey and all the trimmings. I couldn’t tell her to go away when Ruby asked if she was staying for lunch. She’s their mom.’
‘I did try to contact you but you’ve obviously been too busy to check your phone.’ She shook her head as though she didn’t want to listen to a word he was saying, as though she’d already made up her mind about him. It was infuriating. ‘She’s their mum, I’m not. Do yourself a favour, Dylan, and go back to your family, back to your wife. No hard feelings, it’s where you should be.’
Before she had a chance to walk away, he reached out and grabbed her arm, gently but enough to make her stop. ‘There’s a reason we are no longer together. We’re divorced and my life is following a path without her.’ He almost wondered whether Prue’s mom had had something to do with this sudden appearance of his ex today, but whether or not she did, it didn’t matter. It looked as though it’d ruined things with Cleo anyway.
She used her hand to physically pull his from her arm. ‘I don’t think I can deal with the complications, Dylan. And I don’t think you can either. Kids need their mum and their dad, end of.’
‘Cleo—’
‘No, Dylan.’ She began to walk backwards. ‘I won’t be the person to split you all up.’
‘We’re already apart.’
‘It didn’t look that way to me.’
What did he have to do to show her he was being amicable by letting Prue stay? Had Cleo been there, then today would’ve played out very differently. He would’ve introduced both women, and perhaps it would’ve been for the best.
‘Happy Thanksgiving, Dylan.’ Her voice was calmer, but still she turned and walked away.
He watched her go. He thought he’d saidHappy Thanksgivingbut he couldn’t be sure.
Dylan took the leftovers to Mrs Garcia as promised, and headed back to the house, Prue and the kids. He walked into a game of Monopoly, which he didn’t usually mind but it meant it’d be ages before he could properly talk to Prue. Thankfully, given the kids’ ages, they’d worked out a modified version that was at least a little quicker. Nobody was allowed to mortgage property, which meant if you were out of money you were out of the game.
‘You’re the ship,’ Jacob announced. ‘I’m the dog, Mommy is the hat, and Ruby is the car.’
Most boys wanted the ship or the car but Jacob had long been obsessed by the idea of getting their own puppy. They had acres for a dog to roam in and now Prue wasn’t complaining that a dog would mess up the furnishings, maybe they should do it. He put aside that thought and rolled both dice and for the next couple of hours the discussion zoomed in on the famous streets, houses, hotels and banking, and ended with Ruby storming off because yet again she’d landed on one of Jacob’s properties and he’d got up and done a happy dance, a sure way to wind his sister up.
‘They played quite well up until Ruby stormed off.’ Prue followed Dylan into the kitchen.
‘Last time it was Jacob accusing Ruby of cheating.’ Dylan smiled and put the kettle on when both kids disappeared to watchMiracle on 34thStreet, which was showing on television. He felt like another glass of red wine but needing to talk to his ex-wife was praying on his mind too much. ‘There’s always something. It’s a long game for a six- and four-year-old to play, even though we’ve got different rules.’ He took out a mug and offered Prue a cup of tea or coffee.
‘Can I help myself to a glass of wine instead?’ she asked. ‘Join me?’
‘I’m not in the mood.’
Prue took out a glass and poured herself a full-bodied red. ‘We could get the fire in the living room going and have cheese and crackers—I’ve brought a box of Grahams as well as more wine. We could sit by the Christmas tree, like old times.’
He made himself a coffee and leant against the kitchen bench. ‘Why are you here today, Prue?’
