There are nods of agreement from my housemates. I send Callan a text, asking if he wants to join us for food when he gets back from visiting Niamh and Aidan. He sends a reply back quickly, saying yes.
“Takeaway sounds great," I say.
"Can we—?" Hendrix begins.
"No!" The rest of us say in unison.
"Not tonight," Beau says. "I'm too tired to think straight enough to play a silly game.”
"Me too," Fraser agrees. "But I would be up for a film night. It would be good to hang out together. I've missed you guys."
“And we’d get to meet Callan," Beau points out.
"That too."
"His accent is even sexier than Rory's," Hendrix says.
I glare at him.
"What? It is. You know me. I say things as they are."
Isn’t that the truth? Honestly, I wouldn’t want him to be any other way. I wouldn't want any of my housemates to be different. They're all amazing. I wouldn’t have found a group of housemates as open and accepting as them without the My Kinky Housemate app. I’m glad I decided to take a chance on downloading the app. It changed my life for the better.
19
CALLAN
Niamh hands Aidan to me when I walk in the door on Tuesday morning. He's grisly but not crying. I give him my finger, and he suckles it immediately.
"I can't cope," Niamh says. "I can't do this. I can't be a single mam. I've tried. But I'm tired. And he hates me."
"He doesn't."
"Then why does he settle for you but never for me?"
I cradle Aidan in one arm and rub her shoulder with the other. "Because you're stressed. He's picking up on your tension, that's all."
"That's easier said than done when he's crying all the time." She tugs her hands through her hair. "I need a breather. More than for a few hours. A few days." She stares at me with wide, imploring eyes. "Could you take him? Just for a few days. I'll feel better after a break."
I was half expecting this, but it still knocks the air out of my lungs. “I need to check with the people whose place I'm staying."
"Of course." She wipes her hands over her face. "You probably think I'm awful."
"I don't. If you need space, you need space. It's better to take some time out than to let things spiral out of control."
She stares at me with narrowed eyes. “I guess you’d know, wouldn’t you?” There’s no anger in her voice now, only pity. Sometimes that’s just as bad.
I put the kettle on to make a bottle for Aidan, which puts my back to her.
“How are you? I keep telling you how tired I am, but you haven’t said how you are. Have you—”
I hunch my shoulders. “Thought about having a drink?”
“I didn’t ask that.”
“Were you thinking it?”
She stays silent, which is answer enough.
