“I belong to her the same as you belong to your mum,” he explained.
“Oh,” said Oliver. “I’d be sad, too, if I didn’t see my mummy for a very long time.”
His words made us all choke up, and I stood to go grab a plate for Elaine and some coffee. It gave me a chance to settle my emotions. She sat down at the table, talking to Oliver mostly. I got the sense that she really wanted some alone time with King, so once we’d finished eating, I made a suggestion.
“How about Oliver and I go out for a couple of hours? Give you both some time to catch up.”
Elaine nodded like it was a good idea, but King looked a little more hesitant. I knew it wasn’t because he didn’t want to spend time with her, but more because he didn’t want to talk about all the painful things they had to discuss.
“I don’t want to go,” my son complained grumpily. “I want to stay here with Oliver 2!”
In any other situation, his grumpiness would have annoyed me, but no. The fact that he’d grown so attached to King made my heart do wild flip-flops in my chest.
“Oliver 2?” Elaine asked, her lips tugging into a smile.
I sighed and smiled back at her. “He thinks it’s crazy that they’re both named Oliver. Don’t ask. Do you mind if he stays? I have a few things I need to take care of anyway, and it’ll be easier if I leave him here.”
“Of course not, you know I always love having him.”
And that was how I found myself grabbing my things and making my way to the front door. King followed me out, leaving Elaine and Oliver in the kitchen. Then he placed his hand to the small of my back, and my body gave a little shudder.
“Don’t feel like you have to leave,” he said quietly, his touch warm.
I turned and looked up at him. “You and your mum need to talk. I’ll only be gone a couple of hours.”
“Yes, but this is your house….”
I quieted him by placing a finger to his lips. “No buts. Seriously, you need to talk to her. Get it all out. If you put a DVD on for Oliver, he’ll be quite happy to sit and watch it. He won’t give you any trouble.”
“It’s not about that. You know I love him.”
Without thinking, a soft sigh escaped me. “God, I love that you love him.”
“Well,” said King, leaning closer, voice low, “I love that you love that I love him. And I love you, too.”
I shot him an amused scowl. “Don’t try to sweet-talk me.” My hand moved from his mouth to his jaw, my touch a caress as my expression sobered. “How are you feeling, though? Any headaches or nausea?”
His mouth firmed as he swallowed. “Honestly? Yeah, a bit of both. But I’m handling it.”
“Yeah,” I breathed, ready to burst, I was so proud of him. “You are.”
His strength in dealing with all this as well as feeling like shit from quitting drinking continually amazed me. He backed me into the wall and bent to press a kiss to my jaw. “I’ll miss you today.”
“I’ll miss you, too. Now, I’d better go. Otherwise, I might drag you back upstairs to bed.”
His answering chuckle vibrated through my chest as I slipped out the door and headed for my car. It was only when I was halfway down the street from my house that I realised I had no clue where I was going.
Twenty-Three
“Oh, my God, don’t even get me started,” Lille harrumphed. “That flippin’ monkey has stolen dozens of my hair ties, several tubes of lip gloss, packets of face paints, and any number of small coins since I started living with this circus. Somebody needs to call the cops on the little fecker. I swear, I don’t know where he hides it all.”
“Maybe he has a secret stash where he goes to admire all his pretty treasures,” Matilda suggested with a grin.
Lille sighed. “He was walking around with green all over his tail the other day, and my green paint was suspiciously missing from the case.”
“Well, this isn’t good news for me. After meeting Pierre, Oliver is determined to get a monkey. I may have to dazzle him with a new toy just so he’ll forget,” I joked.
The girls laughed as we sat at the tiny kitchen table in Lille’s camper van, sharing a bottle of wine and talking about Marina’s monkey/thief, Pierre. When I’d tried to think of somewhere to go earlier, I found myself instinctively driving in the direction of the circus. I’d lied when I’d told King and Elaine that I had things to do, but it was a white lie. I could have gone to my parents’ house, or even to Karla’s, but for some reason I wanted to spend time with these women, talk to them about King because they were the ones who knew him best these days.
Somehow though, we’d managed to discuss everything other than the father of my child, and it was oddly relaxing. Sometimes it was a relief to just talk about random crap, like monkey hijinks. Matilda had a dress in front of her as she hand-stitched a detail into the neckline. Jack and Jay had been around, but mostly they were in the tent, rehearsing. I was interested by the dynamic between the two couples, and truthfully, dying to know how they’d all met. So, like the Nosy Noreen that I was, I asked.
An hour or so later, the bottle of wine had long since been emptied, and I’d lived through the stories of two pretty spectacular romances. It made me feel relieved to know I wasn’t the only one whose heart had been twisted around, chewed up, and spat back out again. I thought that maybe the best loves had to suffer the greatest hardships. You had me and King, Jay and Matilda, Jack and Lille. Hell, there was even Karla and her husband, but that was a story for another day.
Matilda had just gone to use the bathroom when Lille bent forward and placed her hand over mine. At thirty-three, I was almost eleven years older than her, and yet, there was something about Lille that felt wise beyond her years. Her touch comforted me, and when she spoke, my heart felt too full.
“I’m so glad we found you, Alexis. Seeing King get better has been truly amazing to watch, and it’s all down to you.”
I stared at her for a long moment, then wrapped my fingers around hers to squeeze her hand. “I’m so glad you looked.”
It was late evening when I finally said my goodbyes. I’d only had two glasses of wine, and that was hours ago, so I knew I’d be okay to drive home. When I got there, I found Elaine curled up on armchair in the living room, asleep and a blanket draped over her. King sat on the couch with Oliver, and a kid’s movie played on the TV. Oliver was sitting comfortably in his lap as King absently stroked at his hair. If I wasn’t so taken by the sight of them, I might have pulled out my phone to take a picture. It was just too bloody charming.
“Having fun?” I asked softly, careful not to wake Elaine.
King looked up at me, and I was struck by the calmness in his features, the sense of peace about him. He didn’t answer, just shot me a lazy smile and nodded for me to come sit. I dropped my bag on the floor and shrugged out of my jacket before taking the place beside him. After a second of hesitation, I rested my head on his shoulder. He exhaled heavily, turning his face so he could nuzzle his nose into my temple.
“Did you and Elaine get enough time to talk?” I whispered.
“Yes,” King whispered back and I could feel him smiling into my skin. “Thank you for giving us some time. We needed it.”
“It’s no problem. And Oliver wasn’t too much trouble?” I asked, our son too engrossed in the film to hear his name.
King shook his head, still smiling. “No, love, he was good as gold.”
Only a minute or two passed before Oliver bolted upright and announced, “I have to pee.” He was up and out the door a second later, climbing the stairs to the bathroom. I let out a quiet laugh and glanced up to find King looking down at me warmly. Elaine stirred in her seat, Oliver’s announcement having woken her.
“What time is it?” she asked, voice sleepy.
“Just after eight,” I answered. She took in the sight of me and King sitting together, and smiled fondly.