Spiralling Skywards: Fading (Contradictions, #2)(57)

I was only forced to stay there for a few more minutes longer before the bell rang.

“Daaaaaaaaad,” Carter shouted when he spotted me. I swooped him up into my arms and squeezed him tight.

“Thanks for coming to get me. I missed you this day and yesterday. You didn’t read me any stories this week.”

I felt a massive surge of guilt as I held on to my son and squeezed him just a little tighter. It was the first time that he’d ever voiced the fact that he’d been missing me, and it had me concerned that my being away from home so much was one of the reasons he’d been acting up.

“Hey, bud. I missed you so much, too. You had a good day?”

“Yeah. Why are you here?”

“We need to have a talk. A grown-up, man-to-man talk. That okay with you?”

“Hi, Carter. Bye, Carter,” a little girl with long dark plaits said as she skipped past.

“Bye, loser,” he called after her. She turned around and flipped her middle finger up at him. Carter, having no idea what that meant, stuck all ten of his up back at her. I was speechless.

“Who’s that, bud?”

“Oh, that’s just Isabella. She’s a girl, and she’s always mean. That’s okay, coz Mummy said that girls are only mean to boys that they like.”

“Is that right?” I gave a small laugh as I took his hand and led him towards the car. “It’s not nice to call people names though, even if they do like you.”

He nodded, and we headed to the car. I joined the queue of traffic to get out of the school and headed up to the high street.

“So listen, bud, we need to have a talk.”

I glanced at him in my rear-view mirror, but he just nodded and didn’t seem phased.

“Yeah. Man talk.”

“That’s right. Ya know before when we spoke about you being the big brother now and how it’s your job to look out for Archie, Flynn, and Lucas.”

He yawned and nodded.

“Are we getting a happy meal?”

“Nah, mate.”

“Ohhhh.”

He folded his arms and threw himself back in his seat.

“Listen, I need you to listen to me for a bit. Now, I know that you’re a big boy, and I know that you know it’s not right to push the kids that are smaller than you, not your brothers not anyone. Not boys not girls, no one. You know that, right?”

He closed his eyes for a long moment, let out a sigh, and said, “Yes, I know.”

“The school called Mummy and told her that you’ve been mean to some of the other kids and that you’ve been pushing them. Is that true?”

He looked out of the window and shrugged.

“You don’t know if you’ve been pushing some kids?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, that makes Mummy really sad—like really, really sad, and I think we need to go and buy her some flowers to make her happy. What d’ya reckon?”

He stretched up in his seat and looked out the windscreen.

“Can I get out?”

“Yeah you can get out, and we’re gonna go buy Mummy some flowers and when we get home, you’re gonna tell Mummy that you’re sorry and then you’re gonna promise to play nice with the other kids from now on.”

I swore the kid actually chewed on his lip and thought about his answer for a second or two. Then, he nodded and gave me a sheepish smile. He knew what he was doing wasn’t right, and I knew he was a good kid at heart.

We bought Sarah a huge bunch of flowers, a huge box of chocolates, and a bottle of her favourite wine.

I hadn’t seen her long enough to talk to since her comment about Cassie, so I wasn’t sure what sort of reception I was gonna get once we got home.

We arrived to find Sarah curled up in the corner of the sofa with the twins lying on her chest and Lucas next to her in the crib we keep downstairs.

As excited as Carter was to give Sarah her flowers and her pink princess balloon he insisted she needed, I managed to convince him that we needed to go upstairs and change first. I then convinced him to go to the playroom and watch his shows while I made everyone some dinner.

Lucas stirred, and I rushed to get Carter from the playroom so he would be right there when Sarah opened her eyes.

“Here you go, Mummy, these are for you. I’m sorry the school called you up and it made you sad. I promise I’ll play nice with the other kids now.”

I lifted Archie and Flynn from her chest and laid them at the opposite end of the sofa, allowing her to sit up. She smiled and opened her arms to Carter.

“They’re for me? Oh my goodness, Carter, they’re beautiful. Thank you so much.”

He gave Sarah a kiss and a cuddle and then shot off back to the playroom to watch more of his shows.

I lifted her up and sat her in my lap, breathing in the scent of her skin, her hair, just her.

“How’d it go?”

“Yeah, he’s pretty much doing at school what he’s been doing here and picking on some littler kids.”

She leaned away from me so she could better look me in the face.

“Really? I wonder why. He’s always been such a friendly kid.”

“Yeah, Luke reckons he’s just had his nose put out a bit and is finding his feet. I guilt tripped him big time in the car, hence the flowers.”