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“But Mum’s not sad now. And monsters are only made-up.”
“But there are real monsters.” There was a wobble to Mia’s voice. Audrey held her breath. She should’ve sent Esther home, not let her near Mia.
“No real monsters, Mia. I chased them all away for you.”
“You can’t do that.”
Reece growled like a bear. “Yes, I can.” He’d have pulled a face too.
“How? Will it be magic? Do you need to borrow Polly’s magic pencil?”
“No, I have my own magic. See these arms.”
“Strong.”
“See these eyes.”
“Black.”
“They’re not black.” He laughed. “I’ll find any monster who makes you feel scared and I’ll chase them away. Always Mia. I will always do that for you. You don’t need to be afraid any more. No monsters will come in the night to get you, or Mum or anyone else.”
“They might.”
“Nah-ah. I promise.”
“But what if they do?”
“You’re brave so you’d tell them to get lost and when they’re all confused I’ll creep up on them and throw them out of the house.” He said that with a flourish and Audrey could imagine him throwing his arms out wide.
“Okay.” Mia sounded more convinced. “I might vomit.”
Audrey went to get up, but Reece had it.
“You’re not going to vomit.”
“I might. Like in your car.”
“You vomited because you ate your lunch too quickly.”
Audrey grimaced and lay down, her hand involuntarily coming to rest on her stomach.
“Your car smells stinky.”
“It does now.”
“Like dog poo.”
“No.”
“Like Nanna.”
“Mia.”
“I didn’t vomit the water I drank after.”
“No, because you’re not sick. You were just a gobble guts.”
Mia repeated gobble guts and giggled, then she shouted, “Vomit!” making it a lusty war cry. Audrey loved it. Like she loved Mia enjoyed dolls and dress-ups as much as she enjoyed building things and taking them apart.
