Dylan held up a hand. ‘Yes, yes. I know. So you say. But unless you were on a gurney in a hospital close to death, there’s no excuse.’
Prue burst out laughing. ‘God, that’s a bit dramatic isn’t it?’
Dylan spun round. ‘You didn’t see his face!’
‘My God, have you never made a mistake?’ Hands on hips, Prue gave as good as she got.
‘Not when it comes to my kids, no.’
‘Well aren’t you the Saint of Stamford. So bloody perfect. You’re never going to give me a chance, are you?’ With all the grovelling she’d done over the last few weeks, she wasn’t holding back or timid now. She was a woman used to getting what she wanted from men and it seemed that part of her hadn’t changed at all.
‘Dylan.’ She stepped forward, her voice softening but nonetheless serious. ‘I’ll make this up to him. There are plenty of plays, recitals, sports games I’ll go to over the years. And I know that doesn’t help now, but maybe Jacob needs to understand that sometimes things can’t always go his way.’
‘He’s four years old for goodness sake!’
‘Don’t shout. You’ll upset him all the more.’
He hated it, because she was right. He lowered his voice. ‘All he sees is that you went to see his sister in her nativity but you didn’t see him.’
‘How about I do something special with him tonight?’
‘He’s tired. It’s been a long day.’
‘Tomorrow then. I could take him into the city to see the store windows, the lights.’
‘He’s seen Christmas lights at a friend’s place.’
‘Dylan, don’t be stubborn. I’m trying here.’
He looked over at her, unwilling to make Jacob a pawn in any game between them as he tried to work out his feelings, his intentions. ‘Fine. I’ve got to walk round and get Ruby from her friend’s. Do you think you could stay here with Jacob rather than me dragging him out again?’
‘That sounds like a good idea. And Dylan… I really am sorry.’ She closed the gap between them and she was so close her lips hovered an inch from his. He remembered this move when they’d first got together. She’d do it to drive him crazy, to make him want her and be the one to make the move and kiss her first, take her to bed. But this time he didn’t feel it. He didn’t feel any attraction at all.
‘I’ll be gone ten minutes.’ He stepped away and didn’t turn back, and as he left the house, rather than thinking of the siren who’d seduced him years ago, with the slender, sculptured figure that had kept him awake at night back then, when he wasn’t enjoying her body next to him, he thought instead of the woman he’d kissed so tenderly at a party last month. That one night, the one time he’d held Cleo close, and it already meant more to him than the thousands of times he and Prue had made love.
When Dylan returned home, Prue was cuddling Jacob on the couch and he looked content, as though the failure to appear at his nativity didn’t matter at all. He loved how kids were so resilient, but this time he wished Jacob would put up more of a protest with his mom and make her understand how her actions impacted everyone else.
Dylan went ahead and chopped up ingredients for tonight’s meal as Prue spent some time with Ruby. Mackenzie came over an hour before dinner and asked the kids if they wanted to go next door and make gingerbread, which was of course the hit of the day, and Dylan was glad to see Jacob especially leave with a big smile on his face.
‘So when do I get to hear about this job of yours?’ he asked when he was alone with Prue. He could manage polite conversation and he resisted the urge to add ‘the job that takes you away from your kids’.
‘I’ll be running the retail office.’
‘You don’t have any experience in that.’ He didn’t turn round from stirring the chicken casserole on the oven shelf. He’d taken the top off to jostle the meat around to ensure it cooked evenly. He shut the oven door, hung up the oven gloves, and moved on to peeling the potatoes.
‘I’m learning. That’s what all my meetings have been about, to get me to a point where I can hit the ground running.’
‘You sound as though you’re looking forward to it.’ He looked over at her.
‘I don’t think the housewife life was for me, Dylan. I should’ve gone back to work after having the kids and then maybe…’ Her voice trailed off but he knew what she was going to say. She was about to say maybe she wouldn’t have left. But he wasn’t so sure.
‘I’m glad you’ve found something you want to do.’ He rinsed the peeled potatoes beneath the faucet.
‘What about you?’
‘Me?’ He set the saucepan onto the hotplate ready for cooking when the kids came home. He’d told Mackenzie to bring them back by six o’clock.
‘Yes, you. When are you going to get back into the game? I know you’ve had your hands full lately, but you’ll be wanting to get back to work, surely, especially once Jacob moves from nursery to school.’
