B00BR2BOUU EBOK (44 page)

Less than a year ago, I
seemed to face brick walls a lot in life. Brick walls that I was able to climb
over eventually, but not without reluctance, struggle and a strenuous effort.
Now, after being dished a platter of challenges in a short space of time, I
hurdle over them with ease, ready for the next row, and the endless rows after
that.

***

The latest hurdle I had to
jump over was settling my children into a new life with Bryce and me. This
hurdle at first seemed a bit higher than usual, but I didn’t have to jump over
it alone. As a family, we all jumped it together, and now that hurdle was
behind me with the others. The one I approached this particular day though, was
not really mine, it was Rick’s. But because it involved my children, I had made
it my hurdle to jump as well, and I intended on jumping over with Nate and
Charli as quickly and as easily as we could.

“Stop scratching your head,
Rick, you’ll get dandruff.” He looked at me slightly annoyed.

“I’m about to tell our
children they have a brother they have never met, and you’re worried whether or
not I’m giving myself dandruff?” He scratched his head again.

“Rick, they are stronger than
you think. They dealt with our break-up and me moving on with Bryce so much
better than either of us could ever have anticipated. So, try and relax and
think about how you are going to break it to them. You need to choose your
words carefully.”

The school bell sounded, and
the influx of children came barrelling out of their classrooms, filtering in
all different directions as they escaped the confines of another day of
education. I poked my head out of the window and waved, getting Charli’s
attention. She picked up her pace and skipped toward the car.

“Mum! And Dad!” She smiled
but seemed confused at the idea of us both being here. She opened the back door
and jumped in, then wrapped her arms around Rick and the driver’s seat he was
sitting in.

“Hi, princess, how was school?”

“Good, we made grass cups.”

“You made what?”

“Grass cups, silly. You put
some seeds in the cup, and you water it and put it in the sun and grass will
grow. It’s not ready yet, though, because we only put the seeds in today.”

Rick muttered under his
breath as he looked at me “How exciting, watching grass grow.” I shot him a
nasty look.
Geez, he’s a nightmare when his losing his shit.

“Sounds like fun, Charli
bear,” I said encouraging her gardening aspirations.

I spotted Tash and Steph a
few cars down. “I’ll be back in a minute.” I jogged down to them.

“Hey, Lex, did you have the
day off work?” Tash asked.

“No, I finished early so I
could pick up the kids with Rick.”

“So, are things going well
with Rick?” Steph asked, slightly disappointed.

“No, we have definitely split
up. He really did have an affair five years ago.”

Tash stumbled and nearly fell
into the car parked beside her. “What? Since when?”

“Since he told me nearly two
weeks ago.”

“And you’re here picking the
kids up like nothing ever happened? Can anyone else see a problem here?”

“Again, Tash, it’s a long
story that I will fill you in on soon. We have split up and I have moved in
with Bryce, well not completely moved in. I spend two or three nights at home
still, to help with the transition for the kids. But, essentially they will
live predominantly with me, but can stay with Rick whenever they like. It’s
actually been going really well.” Tash was still shaking her head and blinking
at me in astonishment. I noticed Rick signalling me to come back, so I touched
her arm. “Hey Hun, it’s fine. It really is. I’m a hurdler now.” I kissed her
cheek, gave Steph a quick hug, and jogged back to the car pretending to jump a
couple of hurdles.

“You’re insane!” she called
out.

“I’ll ring you tomorrow.” I called
back to them, blowing them a kiss.

***

We drove the kids to St Kilda
and ate Fish ‘n’ Chips on the beach. Rick was silently stewing on how and when
he was going to break the news about RJ. I didn’t want to probe him, but if he
didn’t man-up and let it out soon, the seagulls would not be the only things
annoying us. The mosquitos were soon to venture out as they always did when the
sun dipped into the horizon, and they would be conducting their ritual of blood
theft and saliva distribution resulting in a red welt which was as itchy as
hell. Charli had been tossing our leftover chips to the seagulls and watching
them turn into vicious crazy potato, salt and oil devouring machines. Nate was
more particular with his chip tossing, trying to bounce them off as many of the
bird’s heads as possible.

“Nate,” I warned him, but
smiled to myself at the funny desperation of the seagulls that still had to get
the damned chip even after it bounced off their heads.

“What? I’m not throwing it
hard.”
Fair enough.

I slapped my leg. “Bitch!”
Fucking
mosquito. Nice Language, Alexis— Mother-of -the Year.
“Sorry for the
language guys.” I put my finger to my mouth.

“Why’s it a bitch?” Rick
asked, his voice dripping in gloom.

“What?”

“Why’s is the mozzie a bitch?
Why is it not a prick?”

“Rick, seriously?” I screwed my
face up and looked at him annoyed.

“If you must know, only the
females bite.” I leaned over and whispered. “And if you don’t hurry up and say
what you have to say, this female will bite too, and it won’t be pretty.”

He took in a deep breath.
“Nate and Charli, come here please.” The kids sat in between us. “Listen I have
something really important to tell you both.”

“I knew it. I knew something
was up when you both picked us up from school.”

“Nate, let your father speak.”
I pulled my ‘smart son’ closer to me.

“This might come as a shock
at first.”
Really Rick? Don’t tell them it’s shocking before you’ve even
bloody said what it is. Men, hopeless!
“But, it is also really cool, too.”
Ugh,
it’s so not ‘cool’, it might be ‘new’ possibly even ‘good’, (possibly not), but
definitely was not ‘cool’.
He was struggling big time, but I had no
intention of doing it for him. He had to get it out. Then, as ‘Mum’, I would
smooth it out. “A few years ago, Mum and I had some problems...”
Pfft, that
was news to me.
“I met a nice lady...”
Fucking nice my arse! Alexis shut
up and let him do this.
“And well, we had a baby together. His name is RJ
and he is now five. He’s your half-brother.” Nate stiffened against my side.
Charli went red and scratched her head.
I know she gets that from her father
now.
“So, do you want to meet him?”
Oh, Rick.

Nate got to his feet and
stared at his father. “I hate you.” Then he took off toward the car.

I screamed out after him,
“Nate!”

“I’m waiting by the car.” He
turned back around and walked off.

“Come on,” I said to Rick and
Charli, “We’re leaving.” We all followed Nate to the car.

“Nate, I’m sorry. I made a
mistake five years ago when I met that lady. But, I can’t change that. You have
a half-brother now, and he is really a sweet young boy. You would like him.”

“I hate him and I hate you.”
He yelled at Rick. “Mum, I want to go home.”

I looked at Rick and shook my
head slightly as if to say ‘let it go’. “Okay, sweetheart, we’ll go back to the
house.”

“No, not that home, my new
home.” Tears filled his nine-year-old eyes, and it tore my heart to shreds. I
gave him a strong hug then opened the door for him. Charli, I think had no idea
what this all meant, but was concerned by Nate’s reaction.

“Hop in, sweetheart.” I
helped her into the seat and closed the door. Rick had damp cheeks and white
knuckles. I lowered my voice and turned my back on the car. “Rick, calm down
and get yourself together. He is in shock, and he is hurt. Give him some time
to process all of this. I will take the kids to the apartment tonight and talk
to them. Nate will come around eventually Rick, I promise.”

***

We drove back to the house in
silence, it was horrible. Nate went straight to his room and packed a bag. It
was the weekend the next day so at least he would not have to go to school in
the state that he was in.

“Charli, sweetie, can you go
and pack some clothes in your bag?”

“Mum, can I stay here
tonight?” She almost looked scared to ask.

I glanced at Rick, then back
at Charli. “Yes, but don’t you want to come with Nate and me?”

“I do, but I think I’ll stay
here with Dad. He looks sad.”

Rick bent down in front of
Charli. “Princess, I’m fine, you can go.”

“No, I’ll stay here. We can
go shopping tomorrow.” She smiled and walked to her room.

“If you’re happy for her to
stay, she can.” I said. “I’ll take Nate and have some one-on-one with him, then
I’ll be back Sunday night.”

“Yeah that’s fine.”

I kissed Charli goodbye and
told her to look after her Dad. She seemed to be pleased with her new task and
was asking if he needed anything as I closed the door.

***

On the way to the apartment I
asked if Nate wanted to talk. He had said ‘no’, but I could tell he did. I
thought I would give him the option to ask me when he wanted to, but when we pulled
into the garage, he was crying.

“Nate sweetheart. I know it’s
a shock, trust me I know.” I gave him a reassuring smile. “But it’s going to be
all right, you’ll see.’

“Why did Dad want another
son? Was I not a good son?”

“Oh darling.” I got out of the
car and walked around to his door, opened it and knelt down. “No, not at all.
You are the perfect son, the best son in the world, and you absolutely did
nothing wrong. Dad just made a mistake. We all make mistakes, sweetheart, it’s
just some mistakes are bigger than others, and this one was a pretty big one wasn’t
it?”

“Yes.”

“Listen, the thing about
mistakes Nate, is that most of them can be fixed. What Dad did was a mistake,
and it can be fixed by giving yourself some time to get used to the new changes.
But RJ himself, he is not a mistake that can be fixed, because he is not a mistake.
He’s a lovely little boy who had no idea his Dad had other kids, he even had no
idea who is Dad was until a few days ago. And sweetheart, Dad didn’t even know
RJ existed until a few days ago, himself.”

“Why?”

“Because the lady who is RJ’s
Mum, thought it was best if she didn’t tell anyone.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I know, and that’s okay. All
you need to know is that Dad and I love you so, so much, and that you have a
half-brother now, and he is really nice. And you know what? He is probably a
lot more scared to meet you than you are of meeting him.”

“I don’t want to meet him.”
He crossed his arms. This was a typical sign that he didn’t mean what he just
said, instead, he was too proud to admit it.

“Well, you don’t have to
right away. But you will eventually mate. Now, come on it’s getting late.” I
helped him out of the car, and found Bryce leaning up against the concrete
pillar.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to
interrupt.” He walked over and kissed the top of my head. “Hi, Nate. Do you
want a game of Mario Kart before bed?” Nate shrugged his shoulders but I could
tell he did.

“You can have one game, then
it’s bedtime, okay?”

***

Despite my strict instructions
of one game only, Nate and Bryce played Mario Kart for an hour. I called Rick
to tell him not to worry about Nate, that he seemed to be calming down. He told
me Charli had fussed over him and asked if ‘RJ looked like Nate’, and ‘why did
he give a baby to another lady and not to me’. I asked him what his response to
that question was and he said, ‘do you want a hot chocolate?’
Typical.

Nate had reached unconsciousness
as soon as his head hit the pillow. I walked down the stairs in search of Bryce
when he suddenly grabbed my arm and pinned me up against the entryway wall.

“I can’t wait another fucking
minute, Hunny. I need to be inside of you now.”

I looked at my watch. “It’s
only been five hours and fourteen minutes, Mr. Clark.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s too
long.” He pressed his mouth to mine and lusciously explored my tongue with his
own.

“Hmmm, I have to agree, but
we can’t here.” I slurred, with what felt like lustful intoxication.

“Where, my love? I honestly
don’t care where, just pick a place and do it quickly.” He moved his mouth to
my neck, and at the same time, slid his hands underneath my top to fill them
with my now firm breasts. “Fuck, I love your tits.”
Fuck, I love that you
love to love my tits.

“I need a shower. Do you want
to join me?”

“Jump up,” he said. So, I
jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist. He took to me to the elevator
where we continued to hungrily consume each other. We almost didn’t make it to
the shower, but I’m glad we did. It had to be one of my favourite spots to make
love to him. I adored the feel of his wet mouth as it pressed into mine while
water cascaded all over our bodies. He lifted me up, securing me to him with
one hand pressed firmly on my arse, and the other pressed against the tiles
just to the side of my head. He slid in and out of me with ease as he groaned
harshly into my ear, sending shivers of raw pleasure right through me. I don’t
think he realised what his groans actually did to me.