AllFreeNovel
Share Us
14
CERYS
Liam leftfour days ago and I’ve heard nothing. I toy with asking Louise for his number but when I hear her on the phone to Liam and the call ends without him asking to talk to me, I realise there’s no point. What did I expect anyway? Dates? A relationship? I indulged my fantasy a second time and I’m glad I only shared a kiss with him again.
Ella stopped asking about Liam after a couple of days. She’s used to her dad making promises he doesn’t keep, so Ella filed him away in the ‘don’t expect anything’ box. She submerges herself back in the quiet of TV shows and colouring, with the occasional trip to the park when the weather allows.
After one trip to the park, cut short by a flurry of snow, we head back to the house. It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow and this year Ella is fully aware of Santa and Christmas gifts, and able to understand her Advent Calendar countdown. The remaining chocolates behind each day on her Calendar all disappeared around day fifteen, and to my amusement Ella blamed Liam. When I refused to believe her, she then blamed Goldie.
The snowflakes falling on my face and mouth rewinds to the day by the Christmas tree in town, when Liam kissed them away. I shake the snow and memory away, annoyed that I’m spending time dreaming about what can’t be.
A familiar car sits on the driveway, the red paintwork of the flashy Ford sedan collecting snow.
“Daddy’s car!” shouts Ella and pulls her gloved hand from mine.
As she charges along the path towards the front door, I pause, unsure what I’m facing, or how I’ll cope. Anxiety and anger vie for top spot in my mind. The fact Craig never called to tell me he was coming isn’t a good sign.
Goldie greets me like a returning family member as he always does, and I absent-mindedly pat the jumping dog, fighting the tight-chested feeling as I walk into the kitchen.
Ella is already sitting on Craig’s knee. He looks up as I enter and smiles. No wariness, no apologetic look. The face of someone who could’ve just arrived home after work and didn’t kick his partner and daughter onto the street two weeks ago. Craig’s a good-looking guy and always aware how many of the girls at school crushed on him. His mother’s Italian and he’s inherited the dark hair and deep brown eyes—he also spends too much time at the gym perfecting his Mediterranean god image.
“Hey, Cer,” he says.
I blink.Hey?Unable to speak in case I start yelling in front of Ella, I unbutton my coat and cross to the fridge.
“Do you want some juice, Ella?”
“Daddy’s come to take us home.”
Gripping the fridge door, I inhale against the mounting anger and pause to compose myself.
“Really?” I pull out a cup and fill it with juice. “Ella, take your coat off and find Aunty Lou.”
Lou was the only one home when I left. Where is she and why the hell did she let him in and not call me?
Ella wraps her arms around Craig’s neck. “I want to stay with Daddy.”
A hint of smugness crosses Craig’s face and I get closer to losing my temper, heart thumping. “I need to talk to Daddy, Ella.”
She pouts. “Don’t make him leave.”
“Why don’t you help Mummy by finding your bag? You can put your toys in ready to take home.” Craig lifts her from his lap and sets her on the floor.
“You won’t leave?” she asks her dad.
“Not without you.” As Craig says the words, he looks directly at me.
Ignoring his veiled threat, I smile encouragingly at Ella who wrinkles her nose at us. “Okay.”
As Ella leaves, I sit opposite Craig. He’s dressed in the Cardiff football shirt he practically lives in and expensive jeans with designer trainers to match. He earns a decent wage as a plumber but spends most on himself. Every so often, he’ll buy Ella something expensive to help his guilt over never being home. The last gift was a trampoline now squashed in the tiny garden of our house in Cardiff, unused in the winter weather. He has no idea how to be a dad, yet she worships him.
“Why are you here?” I ask him.
“To take you home.”
“Just like that?”
Guilt flickers into his eyes. “I shouldn’t have done it.”
