Cold as Ice (Willis/Carter #2)(15)

‘Wait, Jackson.’ He was arching in his seat, trying to get out of the buggy.

‘Undo him for me?’ she said as she untied the bag.

Tracy bent down and fiddled with the clasp holding Jackson in his seat. She finally managed to open it and Jackson rushed forward.

‘Grab him. Before he ends up in the water!’ shouted Danielle.

Tracy made a lunge for Jackson and gripped his hand as they walked towards the edge of the pond. Danielle followed them and gave Jackson a chunk of bread to hold before handing the rest of the bag to Tracy. They hovered near the edge of the pond and ducks descended on them thick and fast in a noisy squabble. Tracy leant over Jackson and held on to him tightly as he shrieked for joy and threw handfuls of bread at the ducks. She laughed at his delight. She turned to see Danielle watching them.

‘What do you want him to call you?’

‘What do you mean?’ Tracy looked at her blankly.

‘Grandma? Granny? What?’

‘Uh . . . oh . . . I don’t know,’ she said, shaking her head, shrugging, burying her neck in her pashmina. ‘Tracy will be fine.’

“No it won’t. He wants a granny, not a friend.’ Danielle called Jackson’s name three times to get his attention back to her. He reluctantly turned away from feeding the ducks.

‘Who’s that?’ She pointed to Tracy.

Jackson looked bashful and said: ‘Nanny.’ He gave Danielle a look that betrayed the fact that she had told him to say it.

‘Nanny . . .?’ Tracy tried not to look offended. ‘As in goat?’

‘Just an idea.’

Danielle answered, hiding a smile as she pushed the empty buggy nearer to them. Tracy tried not to be annoyed or show she was bothered. ‘Shall we take him to the swings?’ she said as she looked down the length of the lake to the playground beyond.

‘Ask him if he wants to go.’ The flash of annoyance came quickly again to Danielle’s face.

Tracy closed her eyes with a sigh. Then she leant down in front of Jackson’s face – eyes wide and smile in place.

‘Jackson? How would you like Tracy – Nanny – to push you on the swings?’

Jackson nodded.

‘Okay then, let’s go.’ Tracy took his hand and they started to walk along beside the lake. Danielle followed, pushing the empty buggy.

Jackson laughed as he skipped and hung on to Tracy’s arm.

‘You’re a heavy little thing.’ She laughed as she did her best to lift him from the floor by his arm.

There were a handful of kids in the playground. Jackson ran excitedly from one apparatus to the other, unable to make up his mind which to go on first. He was followed hotly by Tracy. Finally he settled on his first choice, the swing, and Tracy pushed him while Danielle sat on a bench nearby.

Tracy looked across at Danielle between making woo, woo noises for Jackson to accompany every push of the swing. Danielle was texting. She’d been texting for the last ten minutes.

‘Who’s that? A sweetheart?’ Tracy called over to her.

Danielle looked up from her phone, shook her head and smiled.

‘Just someone on my course.’

‘What course is that?’

‘I’m taking an Access to primary education course so that I can go into teaching. I’m learning about computers as well at the moment. I want to become a special needs teacher. I want to be there for Jackson. I want to give him everything he needs.’

Tracy turned back to push Jackson, who had grown quietly content as he swung back and forth in the air.

‘What about you, Tracy? Any ambitions? Any things you really want to achieve?’

‘Oh, you know . . . the usual – see the world, first class of course: I’m a bit old to go backpacking now.’

‘No you’re not. I read about it – it’s all the rage, Tracy. Women going off in their forties and fifties to find themselves. Going to Thailand on treks or taking a year to work their way around Asia.’

‘Well I’ll have to wait a few more years then,’ Tracy said.

Danielle laughed. ‘Yeah, I forget you’re just fifteen years older than me. We could be sisters.’

Tracy smiled as she continued pushing Jackson, pleased with the compliment. She had expected a snipe about her ageing looks but was pleasantly surprised when one didn’t materialize.

‘I’d love to go on a cruise,’ she said. ‘That’s more me really than backpacking.’

‘I would love to take Jackson on holiday, anywhere – I don’t mind,’ said Danielle, her face softening, and Tracy thought how pretty she looked today. If only she would make more of herself.

‘Plenty of time yet for that, isn’t there?’ Tracy smiled at her. Danielle nodded, her eyes still focused on some distant dream.

‘Yeah. I suppose he’s young. I’d like to take him places when he’s older. I haven’t done much travelling. The last time I went on holiday was with Mum and Dad; that was the time we began falling out. That’s when the rot set in. Gerald was jealous of the time Mum and I spent just talking; he always wanted to know what we were talking about – as if we were keeping secrets from him – just bollocks really – paranoid, controlling. That holiday marked the beginning of the end for us. What about you?’