Tam frowned. “Why would someone do that?”
“I don’t know, mate. But she’s okay now. I won’t let anyone have her who doesn’t know how to care for her properly.”
“Can we—?”
Isha cleared his throat. “Come on, kids. That’s enough for today.”
“But, Daddy.” Delilah spun on her knees to face Isha. “We could take her home and give her Mummy’s name. She could live in the kitchen.”
“Erm…” Isha winced. “I don’t think your mum would appreciate either a snake in her kitchen, or it sharing her name. Maybe try for that gecko first, yeah?”
“She won’t let us have a gecko,” Tam said. “They eat live insects.”
“It’s true.” I didn’t look away from the white snake, but somehow I knew Isha was squirming, and I was fucking glad of it. He hadn’t worn a wedding ring the day we’d met, and I couldn’t bring myself to check if he was wearing one now, but it was clear by the way his children were talking that their mother was still in his life. “With geckos you need to keep colonies of live food to hand feed them. If you don’t like creepy crawlies, a snake is a safer bet.”
Isha made that noise again. The one that came from his throat and went straight to my dick. He crouched by Delilah and scooped her off the floor. “It’s a moot point. Mina won’t have anything non-human in the house, so say goodbye to the ghost snake, kids. It’s time to go.”
There wasn’t much else to say. Isha gathered his children and left. I took the blue-eyed ball python to the door to wave them off, and when I got back, my phone was beeping again.
Another Grindr message was waiting for me.
stacked81:brat
This time I replied.
dragon89:fuck u
Five
Isha
dragon89:fuck u
I had a million and one things to do, and yet somehow, I still had time to obsess over the last message Jude had sent me. If you could call it a message. Whatever. It was the middle of the day, I was way behind schedule, and here I was, staring at Grindr in a crowded coffee shop while waiting for my ex-wife to join me for the world’s fastest lunch break.
I don’t even like coffee.
“Stop sulking.”
“Hmm?” I glanced up as Mina dropped into the seat opposite. “I’m not sulking.”
“Yes, you are. I know that look.”
“Girl, you don’t know shit.”
Mina poked her tongue out, her eyes bright with humour. She was beautiful. Ten years ago, I’d have pounced on her, public place or not, but that fire was long gone. For both of us.
She swatted my head as though I was an annoying little brother. “Whatever. I don’t care what you’re pouting about, and if anyone has the right to have the hump, it’s me. You do realise Delilah’s convinced you’re getting Tam some horrible white snake for his birthday and it’s going to live in my kitchen? Are you bloody mad?”
“Hey.” I raised my hands in surrender. “I said no a thousand times. It’s not my fault you agreed to let him have his birthday in a freaky pet shop. If you hadn’t, they’d never have seen it.”
And I’d never have met Jude. Or maybe I would have, without the added complication of bringing my kids to our post-hook up encounter, and he’d have replied to my messages with a tad more enthusiasm. Either way, since I couldn’t blame a seven year old for living his best life, I blamed Mina. For everything. “It is a pretty cool snake.”
She glared daggers. “I don’t care if it’s dipped in gold, I’m not having a snake in my house. Maybe you can find a home for it in your imminent countryside palace. How’s that going, by the way?”
It was my turn to scowl. “There’s a problem with the water supply. The pipes are ancient and isolated. It’s going to cost a fortune to put right.”
“You have a fortune, Isha. That was the pay-off for being MIA for twelve years, remember?”
