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TWENTY-SEVEN
ARIELLA
I’m exhausted by the time I return on Sunday night. Lara made sure Norway was busy and loud, but bags of fun. On the jet out with CrimeSpree and his entourage, she rebranded the weekend ‘Viking Dick Fest’, with the intent to scrub my body of any sexual memories related to Caleb. As soon as we landed, she kept dragging random Norwegians in front of me, and, by Saturday afternoon, I’d gone into hiding with the set-up crew and even volunteered to go jewellery-shopping with CrimeSpree, even though I knew I was leaving Lara unsupervised with a supposedly napping Bamidele.
Surprisingly, I didn’t think about London until Jasper reached out on Sunday morning. It was comforting to hear from him, so we ended up talking for most of the morning and made plans to have dinner somewhere fun and categorically unromantic the following Friday.
I return to the flat on Sunday evening to a loud television, messy kitchen, untidy living room and Caleb asleep on the couch, with Alfie, thumb in mouth, asleep on his chest. I laugh at a trail of tiny chocolate-covered fingerprints on the counter, next to big ones. I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face. Judging by the pan and bowl, they managed to successfully melt chocolate, but whatever they were doing with the ice cream was an absolute disaster.
The mess is sweet but those two, now with matching haircuts, asleep on the couch, warms my heart. I tiptoe into my room to drop my case, and return to the kitchen to clean up as quietly as I can. When I am done, I pick up the jumpers and shoes around them so the apartment looks tidy again. Only then do I wake Caleb.
‘Hi.’ I smile at him, stroking his hand.
‘Hey! When did you get back?’
‘About half an hour ago. I see you got yourself a little guest and you’ve been attempting home-made Magnums.’ I smile at the still-sleeping Alfie and run my hand through his hair.
‘Yeah. Kids, chocolate.’ He laughs quietly. ‘He looks good in a crew cut and low fade, doesn’t he? Em is going to lose her shit when she picks him up from school tomorrow.’
‘It’s sweet. They even flicked it up and to the side like yours.’ I laugh. It feels good to be back home.
‘What time is it?’
‘Eight-ish. Why?’
‘I need to put him to bed; gimme a minute.’
Caleb holds on to Alfie tightly as he lifts him off the couch and carries him to his bedroom. He returns a few seconds later with a pillow and a blanket, and tosses them on the couch.
‘He is so adorable.’
‘I know! Do you know how many women cracked on to me this weekend? That little chick magnet is my wingman for life. Single dads and active godfathers are doing okay out there. Who knew?’
‘What did you guys get up to? Want a drink?’ I ask, going to pop the kettle on.
‘Just some water. He’s kept me on my toes. I grabbed him on Friday and we just played video games and hung out here. We delivered your stuff on Saturday, got our haircuts, hit the winter market at the Southbank, did the aquarium and popped into the Royal Festival Hall for some children’s festival. We got back pretty late, so today we just went up to the Heath, ran around and played frisbee, went to the urban farm, did our homework, had a bath and put a film on. It’s been fun.’ Caleb yawns. ‘How did the gigs go?’
‘I’ve never done so much walking in such a tiny space. The soles of my feet are killing—’
‘These are new.’
Caleb reaches out, puts my hair behind my ear and strokes my earlobe softly. My body fires up. Jeeze! When I finally got to know him, I became comfortable with him touching me. Since things got intimate, every time he touches me, brushes against me or simply moves me out of the way, my body responds in ways that are alien to me. Norway has done nothing to diminish the effect of Caleb’s touch.
‘Ariella?’
I snap out of it. ‘Sorry?’
‘I said these are new. Are those diamonds?’
Thankfully, he doesn’t touch me again.
‘Yes. They’re little Viking shields. CrimeSpree gave them to me this morning as a thank-you gift.’
‘They suit you. How did the rest of it go?’
‘Amazing. Oslo was really busy, but Tromsø was indescribable. We played on a massive boat between glaciers. Lara did a fantastic job with the concert and still found time to parade the male population of Norway in front of me like a buffet. Impressive, but unsettling.’
He smiles that smile at me.
