Lachlan reasons that he’s drunk and exhausted in ways no child should ever be, and heisa child, no matter that he’s six months shy of nineteen.
‘I am, yes.’
‘Then stay.’
‘I don’t answer to you, Jules, but I’ll stay until you fall asleep if you—’
‘Sleep with me.’
Lachlan rolls his eyes.‘Dream on.’
‘Not like that.Just in the same bed.We can cuddle.’
Lachlan wishes he had the naivety to believe any part of it because if anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, it’s Jules.But all of Lachlan’s goodwill goes towards keeping him safe, and he has precious little left over for handling his emotional tricks.
‘That’s inappropriate.’
‘You cuddleher.’
‘She’s notyou.’
Lachlan knows Jules is hurt by that but better running headlong into a firm boundary than freely off a cliff.The boy’s jaw works when he smiles coldly and says, ‘What a fucking loser you are, Bodyguard.’
‘So true,’ Lachlan encourages flatly, scanning the room in a perfunctory manner to signal his exit.‘If there’s nothing else?’
‘Get out.’
Lachlan does.
?
June arrives with an early heatwave that draws immediate attention to the fact Mimi can’t swim, and apparently never has.
‘She’s allergic to chlorine, apparently,’ Blaire explains when Lachlan asks.
That makes sense to Lachlan, who had always wondered about the absence of a pool.‘I could teach her to swim in the lake.’Temperatures are hitting unbearable new highs, evidence of the planet’s displeasure.
‘It’s not swim-safe, you know that.’
‘OK, then, ask permission to build a freshwater construct.’
‘I will,’ Blaire says, typing fast on her tablet.She must know it’ll be met with resistance but she’s his go-between, she manages and handles so much for him.‘Don’t get your hopes up, though.’
‘I won’t.Thank you.’
The lack of an accessible pool, paired with the lake being strictly forbidden, means Mimi is mostly limited to splashing around in the shallows beneath the manmade waterfall.But the place sits too deep in the shade, and she hates the drifting leaves that stick to her legs and chase after her in the water, so for most of June, it’s sprinklers or nothing, but at least Mimi likes them.
The little girl loves eating apple slices on wet grass under the light spray.She especially likes how crazy Lachlan’s hair gets when he joins her, is fascinated with it, studies his hair intently, muttering findings to herself and Mari, whose fur is now more practically set after having been washed many times, tail no longer fluffy but still colourful.
She’ll mutter about howsome peopledon’t have curls and others do, all her secret things she thinks Lachlan can’t hear.He wishes more than anything he could say he is her real Daddy.
But there are certain lines he must not cross.
And he doesn’t want to lie to her.
What they have is real enough besides.
Mimi will be five years old in late August.
