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James let out his breath nice and slowly. The greatest man. She hadn’t said the greatest dad, but the greatest man. Oh, boy.
‘Heck, Kane-o, I reckon to have a dad like that you are spoilt rotten.’
There was a small silence before the bed-springs creaked a little more and James imagined his son climbing up on to his bed beside the woman who had so quickly moved into his own heart.
Come on, Kane, he wished as hard as he could. Do right by the both of us, kiddo. Show her we Dillon boys are worth sticking around for.
‘She hated mornings,’ Kane finally said. ‘Dad was on morning patrol to get me ready for school but she was a night owl, so she always lay beside me on the bed until I fell asleep at night. I sometimes wake up thinking she’ll be there …’
More squeaking bed-springs. What was going on? James risked a peek through the slit of the doorway but he could only make out their legs—Kane’s skinny with knobbly knees below his school shorts, and Siena’s shapely, tanned, barefoot with hot red toenails and crossed neatly at the knee.
‘The last thing our mums would want is for us to be sad, Kane. Don’t you think yours would want you to be doing well in your school projects? And making friends in class? And smiling all the time like you do when you’re on your trampoline?’
‘I guess.’
‘And I think your dad would want that for you too. You must know that’s what he wants most in the whole world, for you to be happy.’
‘I know.’
‘So, be happy.’
‘Just like that?’
‘Just like that. Wake up, whack a smile on your face and aim to have a good day every day. It’s that simple.’ After a pause she added, ‘Okay, so it’s not that simple. But it’s a good start, right? And I think we would both do well to remember that a little more.’
Kane’s legs leant sideways, into Siena, and her legs instantly uncrossed and went knock-kneed and askew. James realised that Kane had hugged her. He put a hand against the wall to steady himself.
‘Right, okay,’ Siena said, her voice suddenly thick. ‘We’d better get downstairs or your dad will think we’ve run away and he might then eat all the sausages himself.’
James pushed
himself away from the wall and ran down two stairs and waited for Kane to barrel out the door before taking a step back up.
‘Dad!’ Kane called, his eyes bright and lit by an inner fire that made James glow from the inside out.
‘Yes, buddy?’ he said, doing his best not to take the kid in his arms and hug him tight.
‘I left my hot dog in my room.’ And Kane ran off as if the wind was at his heels.
Siena came out of his room, her mouth falling into a shocked ‘O’ as she saw him at the top of the stairs. She glanced back into the room behind her.
‘Don’t tell me, Kane was showing off the camphor blanket box. He loves that piece. When he was younger and loved playing hide and seek he could be found there nine times out of ten. He smelled like camphor until he was five.’
She smiled at him, her eyes bright and her cheeks pink. ‘Yep. That was it. Now, where are those hot dogs? I’m starved.’
She slid past him, leaving behind a trail of expensive perfume, heat and bashfulness as she jogged down the stairs.
After the strangest afternoon tea date of her life, eating reheated sausages over the kitchen sink with a guy, a kid and an ageing hippy, Siena said her goodbyes.
‘Is that your bike at the front door?’ Kane asked, as they walked straight past it.
‘Oh, heck, I almost forgot! I bought it for you,’ Siena said. ‘Considering I squished your last one, I thought it was only fair. But you are only allowed to ride it if you tell your dad every time and you always wear your helmet and pads. And wake up every day how we talked about, deal?’
‘Wow! Sure. Thanks,’ Kane gushed, taking it in his hands and spinning the handle bars and testing the bell. ‘I promise!’
‘Say goodbye,’ James told his son.
‘Goodbye, Siena!’ Though Kane was gone to them now, running the bike round and round the lounge.
