I roll my eyes. “You’ll turn into a chicken if we have it any more often.”
She lets go of me, flaps her arms, and squawks.
“Okay, okay. Butter chicken it is. Let’s go home. I’m tired.”
After dinner, she has her bath and gets into her pyjamas. I’m not sure who’s more sleepy—me or her.
Busy days always wear me out.
She climbs onto the couch with me. This is the favourite part of my day.
“Sophie? What would you say if I started seeing someone?”
She rolls her eyes. “You see me.”
I laugh. “No, a man. Like dating.”
“What’s dating?”
I blow out a breath. This is harder than I thought, and not in the way I thought.
“It’s when two people like each other and want to spend time together.”
“And kiss?”
I smile. “Maybe.”
“I think you should have some kisses, Mummy.”
Laughing, I peck her temple. “I like your kisses.”
She snuggles into my side, and I close my eyes. I think so often of telling Patrick about her, but the longer I take, the harder it gets. After that ill-fated trip to Auckland, I struggled with depression and was so grateful I had Gran.
By the time I was okay again, I had to have one of my legs re-broken and re-pinned as it hadn’t healed correctly the first time. Then there was a further surgery with the skin graft where I’d been burned on my spine.
And then Gran died.
Since then, I’ve been running on fumes. Just meeting someone who sparked my interest and who is interested in me is something I’m going to hang onto for a long time.
No matter how things work out.
Mark’sup a ladder when I approach the following morning.
He glances down at me as I walk toward him.
“Oh, hey, love. You okay?”
I smile at the term of endearment and nod. “Fine. How’s it going?”
He beams. “We’re making good progress. This lot should be done by the end of the week and then we can move over to the other side. Then we’ll look at those office changes.”
“Great.” I fidget, and he looks at me again before stepping down the rungs of the ladder one by one.
When we’re level, he grabs hold of my hands until they stop trembling.
“That’s better. What’s going on?”
“Yes. I want to say yes.”
