Sidetracked by David Harley

Author:David Harley [Harley, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: David Harley
Published: 2019-07-04T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

As soon as he entered the old house, Matt succumbed to the warm welcome. The children – Sophie in a fuchsia nightie and Jack in light-blue pyjamas with a kangaroo motif – were waiting for him in the hallway, beside themselves with happiness and excitement.

‘Come on you two, race you upstairs!’

He made a point of huffing and puffing and arriving last on the landing.

‘Have you come home?’ asked Jack, jumping up and down in his bare feet on the pile carpet.

‘I’m here now,’ said Matt. ‘Even when we’re not together, I’m always thinking of you. The whole time.’

‘Daddy,’ said Sophie, grabbing his hand, ‘I want to see you more often, so I can tell you about my friends at school.’

‘Of course, sweetie. I want to hear about everything you do. We can have nice chats on the phone.’

‘It’s better when I can touch you. Sometimes I try to call you but you don’t answer.’

He rubbed his eyes and forced a smile.

‘It’ll be easier now you’ve come home. Come on, let’s sit down together.’

They went into the children’s bedroom, and the three of them snuggled up in the creaky rocking chair. He read them several bedtime stories, as they listened with serious concentration. By the time he had finished, Jack’s eyes were firmly shut and Sophie was yawning. He lifted them up and dropped them gently on their beds. Before turning out the light, he tucked them in and gave each of them one last kiss. As he left the room, he stopped in the doorway to listen to their soft and even breathing. He could have stood there forever.

When he went back downstairs, despite the layers of dust and piles of unopened boxes, the house felt friendly. He smelled what he guessed was Jenny’s walnut bread baking in the kitchen, and the sweet scent from a tall vase of peach-coloured roses which stood on the grand piano – Jenny’s only true love, he used to call it - in the living room. Jenny must have worked hard to make everything look nice.

She came out of the kitchen, wearing a colourful print blouse over her jeans, and a pair of coral earrings that he had given her during their year in Italy. He was even cheered by the familiar sound, which always used to get on his nerves, of Hamish the hamster relentlessly spinning on his squeaky wheel in his cage next to the microwave. The children must have retrieved Hamish from the neighbour who had looked after him while they had been in Australia.

After telling Matt to sit outside on the deck, Jenny brought a bottle of sparkling white wine which she asked him to open, and produced some tasty snacks with tiny pieces of smoked salmon and cream cheese on oatmeal biscuits.

‘However did you find the time to prepare all this?’ he asked.

‘Luckily the shops were still open,’ she replied. ‘You and I haven’t seen each other for ages, and I wanted everything to be just right.’

‘I suppose tomorrow you’ll tackle the garden.

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