‘Thanks.’ He wiped the sides of his face and around his mouth and took a couple of minutes to get up from the rowing machine. He hadn’t missed the way she was watching him. ‘Did the kids let you in?’
‘They did. They’re watching television now.’
‘They’re exhausted.’ He wiped across his broad chest with the towel and down his biceps. He didn’t usually workout unless it was first thing in the morning, or the kids were in bed, or they were out at school and nursery, but today he’d made the most of their tired state. It was either that or tackle the basket of washing waiting for him in the laundry, or tidy up the kitchen, and neither were chores he relished. ‘We went out on the bikes,’ he explained, ‘all the way into Stamford, stopped for hot chocolates and then rode back.’
‘It’s freezing out there! Are you all mad?’
Dylan shrugged. The snow from last night had been minimal and hadn’t settled and today was one of those crisp, fresh Connecticut days that made you want to stay outside until the daylight faded. ‘It’s a beautiful day,’ he countered. ‘It’s good to get them outside.’
When he walked down the corridor and through to the kitchen to get a glass of juice, she followed him.
‘Have you thought about what I said?’ she asked as he took off his sweaty top, slung it in the laundry and pulled on the old t-shirt waiting for him on the back of a kitchen chair.
He filled a glass and downed it in one before turning to his ex-wife. ‘We’re divorced, Prue, and I don’t think we should try again.’ It was blunt, but perhaps it was the only way to be.
She took a step closer. As much as she’d loved him to be buff and strong, she’d never once come near him when he was sweating this much. ‘You’re not willing to try?’
‘Prue, I did try. When we were married. You can’t put us all through this again, and then what? What if you don’t want it in a month, three months, a year? What then?’
‘I will want it. I want this family to work. I’m thinking of the kids.’
It was working just fine as it was, Dylan thought. But it didn’t help the situation when she kept appearing at his house unannounced.
‘We worked once.’ She stepped closer. ‘Remember how much fun we used to have every Christmas?’
He allowed a small smile to escape because he did have some fond memories with Prue.
‘I want Christmas with my children, Dylan, and with you. All of us together.’
‘Why?’
‘What do you mean, why?’
‘Why do you want us?’
‘Because I’m the mom, you’re the dad, we belong together.’ Frustrated, she added, ‘When are you going to stop punishing me for leaving you?’
He softened. Was that how she saw it? ‘I’m not punishing you.’
‘There’s someone else, isn’t there?’ She looked down at the floor where he noticed he’d left sweaty footmarks from his socks. Once upon a time she’d have pulled him up on it straight away. She liked a clean house, the perfect home to show off to friends and acquaintances. The mess in here today definitely didn’t fit in with the image and he wondered how she was ignoring it all right now.
‘Tell me, is there someone else, Dylan?’ Her blonde bob looked gentler today, the ends less harsh around her face and the strong jaw, so much like her father’s, softened.
‘I have met someone,’ he admitted.
‘The blonde?’ When he didn’t answer, she asked, ‘Is it serious?’
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
She looked up at him. ‘I’d say you need to if she’s spending time with my children.’
He turned and began to rinse the lunch plates piled by the side, ready to stack in the dishwasher. ‘I’ve not known her long and the kids have only met her once, out and about. She hasn’t been to the house.’ He heard a chair being pulled out and assumed Prue had sat down.
‘Did they all get along?’
He turned the water off at the faucet. ‘Prue, don’t do this.’
‘What? I want to know if this woman is kind to my kids, if she’ll fit in with them. That’s the most important thing.’
