CHAPTER 11
Juniper
Juniper smiled when she heard Billy’s chatter as he crossed the lawn, stomped up the steps and wriggled the door handle. She’d barely opened the door when his chatter was directed at her.
“Look, Mummy! William made me a turtle AND a frog!”
“Wow!” She looked down at the wood carvings he stuffed in her hands and gasped in surprise, looking up at William. “You did this?”
“Don’t you start,” he replied rolling his eyes and smiling at her somewhat sheepishly. “John made a bit of a fuss,” he said when she looked at him inquiringly.
“I’m not surprised. They’re amazing.” She ran her finger over the back of the frog then raised her eyes to his with a speculative gleam in her own.
“Anyway, are you feeling better?”
“Yes, much better, thank you. I only just got up about ten minutes ago.”
“Great, because I’ve organized dinner.” He held up a plastic shopping bag in one hand and a jaffle maker in the other.
“I thought you didn’t cook?”
“I don’t, but this particular meal is the dinner of champions. I wouldn’t have survived university without it. You gotta try it.”
“Okay.” She moved aside, waving her arm, gesturing to the kitchen. “You go right ahead. I’ll get Billy in the bath.”
As she bathed Billy, she heard all about the day’s events. He hesitated a little before telling her he and William had a fight. She was impressed with how William seemed to have handled it and as they had come back home, firm friends. It seemed to her that her son had been testing William. With bath time done and Billy playing quietly on the rug in the lounge area, Juniper moved into the kitchen.
“Hmm, interesting,” she said, skeptically. He was spooning tinned spaghetti onto buttered bread, then dabbing tomato ketchup on top.
“Don’t knock it til you try it.”
She laughed. “Fair enough. It sounds like you guys had a pretty good day.” She moved to the sink and filled a glass with water, grabbing some cold tablets on her way back behind the kitchen bench. “Billy told me he was rude to you on the beach.”
William paused midway to putting a tinned spaghetti sandwich in the jaffle maker, shooting her a look that was hard to read.
“I just wanted to say, thanks for handling it the way you did. He doesn’t often get like that, he’s normally pretty sweet tempered. He would’ve been very upset if you’d gotten angry back at him.”
To her surprise and confusion, she saw a look of relief flash in hiseyes.
“No worries. He’s a great kid.” He placed three more sandwiches in the jaffle maker then closing it, leaned a hip on the bench and looked at her. “What does he mean when he talks about people’s colors?” He asked quietly.
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think he means auras.”
He frowned at her in confusion. “Auras?”
“They’re like energy fields that people give off. They emanate from our chakras.”
“You believe in that?”
“Sure, why not?”
He shrugged, clearly not really sold on the idea but then the jaffle maker sizzled, forestalling any further conversation. A flurry of activity followed as Juniper grabbed plates, glasses and a bottle of refrigerated water and moved to the little dining table. Billy clambered up onto his chair, eyeing the tray of toasted sandwiches that William placed in the center of the table with suspicion.
William picked up a sandwich and put it on Billy’s plate. “Careful. It’ll be a bit hot.” Then he turned to Juniper, a challenge in his eye. She tentatively reached for a sandwich and placed it on her plate.
“Mmm, this is DELICIOUS!” Billy announced.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Well, if Billy liked it, how bad could it be. She took a bite and surprised herself by finding it not too bad. It wasn’t’ great, but it wasn’t terrible. “It’s nice.”
