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6
LIAM
I sleepuntil the early afternoon and wake to a growling stomach, and a need to back off from Cerys before my overactive imagination causes problems. This includes getting out of the house asap. I head downstairs to grab a bite to eat before I embark on the Christmas shopping I’m dreading.
Cerys sits alone at the kitchen table, back to me. I ignore her and rummage around in the fridge for something to eat. There’s leftover shepherd’s pie from last night and my mouth waters at the thought of Mum’s home cooking. Flipping the lid on the plastic container, I shove the meal into the microwave, catching sight of Cerys as I walk around the table.
Oh shit, she’s crying.Again.
“You okay?” I ask, hoping Cerys says ‘yes’.
“No.”
Ah. Crap.“Anything I can do?”
“No.” Her face crumples. I don’t want to deal with this, but her red eyes and tear-streaked face pull at a hurt of my own. More than that—I don’t want Cerys to be sad.
“Did something happen?” I ask.
“I’m living with someone else’s family, ruining their Christmas, and I have nowhere else to go.”
“You’re not ruining anyone’s Christmas.” I pull out a chair and sit opposite her. “Mum wouldn’t ask you to stay if she thought you would.”
“She just felt sorry for me after Craig kicked me out.”
What the fuck? “Craig? Is he your other half?”
Cerys studies the table intently. “Ella’s dad. Yeah.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing!” she chokes out.
“But how can he kick you out of your own home?”
She wipes her face with the heel of her palm and sniffs. “Easy. He did.”
“Why though? Why would he do that? Can’t you go home and tell him to get the fuck out instead?”
“I told Craig I wasn’t happy in our relationship and he lost his shit. He told me to leave and took my keys. I can’t even get in the house anymore.”
Her words slap me across the face. “What the fuck? He made his four year old daughter homeless?”
“He doesn’t care about her anyway...” Cerys heaves in a breath and the sobbing starts again. “She wants to see him on Christmas Day.” She pushes her phone across the table. “I just tried reasoning with him. A waste of fucking time.”
I arch an eyebrow at her language but my heart hurts, for Cerys and for her little girl. She doesn’t deserve this. Some fucking dad, he is.
“So I’m homeless, jobless, and I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to do. My parents won’t help; they said I brought all this on myself by getting pregnant in the first place and that I need to sort out my own mess.”
Her over-sharing shocks me even more and as her tears continue to flow, my anger at how someone can treat Cerys like this grows. I want to help her. How? I don’t know but the little girl watching TV in the other room needs someone to sort this out.
The microwave beeps but I ignore my meal. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?”
“Christmas miracle?” she says then laughs softly before carefully wiping her face with a tissue. “Actually, can you run me into town? I can get the bus though, it’s no problem.”
For the first time since I came into the kitchen, she looks at me. Behind her smile is the lost look of someone who doesn’t know where to turn or what to do. Would other people cope the way Cerys does? I had no idea the situation was this bad, the depth of their problems hidden from me by Cerys’s determination that life goes on for her daughter.
My plan to avoid Cerys today has flipped. Anything I can do to help her, I will. “Of course, I’m headed into town anyway. Christmas shopping.” I grimace and Cerys smiles, but her eyes remain dull.
