It was almost like Margot Robbie’s Barbie had appeared in front of me, oozing a mix of glamour, sophistication, and charm but with the distinct impression there was a steel core under the softness that you invoked at your peril.
I stepped back to let her in. “Likewise. Oh, I should warn you, we have a small dinosaur on the loose. He was last seen trying to eat his dad but—”
“Mummy!” A thundering drumroll of feet announced Jack’s presence, and two seconds later he launched himself at Hannah, who swiftly dropped her handbag onto the nearby sideboard and scooped him up.
“Hello, darling.” She kissed his cheek noisily, a fond smile on her face. “I hear you’re being a dinosaur.”
“Yeah, gonna eat Daddy.”
“Are you now? Poor Daddy.”
“Is okay. He’ll grow back.” He ran his fingers across the gold necklace she was wearing and kissed her as an out-of-breath Matty arrived.
“Oh look, Jack, you were right. He did grow back,” Hannah said, shifting him slightly in her arms and half-extending the hand with the gift bag towards me. “This is for you.”
I took it slowly, unable to hide the shock on my face. I’d been given a few gifts by families I’d worked for in the past, but that was usually for my birthday, Christmas, or when I left. Not for surviving the first few weeks. “For me?”
“Yes, it’s just a little something to say thank you for looking after Jack despite all the challenges.”
“Wassa challenge?” Jack asked.
“When you have to do something that requires lots of skill and can be quite hard,” Hannah said, shooting Matty a knowing smile as she spoke.
Jack nodded. “Can I show you my zoo?”
“I would love to see your zoo.”
Jack wiggled out of her arms and patted her leg. “Wait here. I have to put the elephant in her house.”
“I was thinking about maybe taking him to the zoo at some point,” Hannah said as Jack shot off towards the playroom. “Maybe I’ll take him tomorrow. Then the game is at three on Sunday, yes?”
“He’d like that, and yeah. Are you still okay to bring him?”
“Of course.” Hannah turned to me and smiled. “Are you coming too?”
I looked between the two of them, my gift bag still clutched in my hand. I’d known Matty had a game on Sunday, but it had only been a vague awareness because he’d told me I wouldn’t need to work this one. But the idea of going to watch hadn’t even crossed my mind. “Er… probably not this one. I don’t have a ticket.”
Hannah looked at Matty with a raised eyebrow. “Honestly, Matthew. Don’t worry, Harper, you can come with me and Jack if you’d like. Since Jack is so little and won’t sit still for eighty minutes, we go to the family lounge to watch from there. There’s usually other wives, girlfriends, parents, kids, so it’s quite loud. But I completely understand if you’d rather spend your day off doing something that doesn’t involve being around screaming children.”
My eyes flicked to Matty, trying to gauge his response. I didn’t want to overstep, because I didn’t know how he’d feel about me hanging out with his ex, even if they did get on well. His expression was impossible to read, though, so I could only go with my gut. And I quite liked the idea of going to watch the rugby. Especially if it involved seeing Matty in shorts. “That sounds fun! As long as you don’t mind me gatecrashing?”
“Of course not,” Hannah said. She turned to Matty. “I’ll leave you to sort him out a pass. And now I have a zoo to look at.”
She walked off towards the playroom, leaving Matty and me standing in the hallway together in awkward silence. “Do you… you don’t—” I said, stumbling over my words.
“No, no, it’s fine. I should have offered,” Matty said.
“As long as you don’t mind.”
“No, of course not.”
“Cool… great… that’s…” I trailed off, my fingers still clutching the gift bag like I expected it to run away. The silence stretched out between us again, and I wondered if I’d done something wrong, but I didn’t know what it was or what it could be. Unless it was the rugby, but Matty had said he was fine with it. And I’d have to go with Jack sometimes anyway, so what made this different? Was it Hannah?
No, if he had a problem with it, he had to say so. He was a grown man and perfectly capable of expressing his emotions in aclear, rational manner. It wasn’t on me to try and read his mind, even if it would make things easier.
“What’s in your gift bag?” Matty asked with a vague wave at it.
“I don’t know. Should I—”
