The boy looked pained, worried. “He works and he has you and us, but when we’re older and Scott and Zack and even Jake are married, Dad will be on his own. He should’ve had mum with him.”
“I know. I can see why you’re worried. But your dad is still really young and he will meet someone he wants to be with. He has started dating – he went out loads with Milo’s mum.” Rayah figured that practical assurance was the best way to go, not quite knowing how to get into the grief side of it, although she didn’t think this was stemming from Charlie’s grief.
“They weren’t really going out. She’s really nice but they were more like friends. Like me and Olivia at school.”
Rayah didn’t quite manage to hide her smile. Charlie and Olivia had always been really good friends, ever since they had been in Rayah’s class, and there had been a time when his classmates had teased him for having a girlfriend. He was now at that age where the teasing had stopped.
“Have you talked to your dad about how you feel?”
Charlie shook his head. “I just got him the present instead.”
“Do you want me to talk to him about this?”
Charlie looked up at her, just. He would be taller than her in a few months. He shook his head, hair that was a little too long falling over his forehead. Most boys in his class were keen to have their hair styled, but he wasn’t interested yet. Give it time. “I’ll talk to him. Maybe.”
There was a giggle and they both turned round. Olivia was standing behind them with two of the other girls from their class.
“You want to go and chat with them?”
Charlie was now redder than a beetroot. “Can we just go home? Even if it means leaving Sadie out for the wolves to look after her?”
“I think we can manage that; she’s one of their own, after all. Plus, we’ve got more presents to wrap.”
Rayah hadno idea what she’d been watching before falling asleep on Jonny’s couch but she knew it had been some time ago. The TV had timed off and the house was freezing. She stirred, snuggling into the blanket she’d at least had the awareness to put over her and then heard a scuffling noise coming from the large open plan kitchen that Jonny had pretty much built himself last summer.
She knew Jonny’s house well. Babysitting or just being over there to hang out was a weekly occurrence, or it had been before they’d both starting ‘dating’, so the house’s noises were familiar. This noise was not one that was in her itinerary. She looked around for some sort of weapon; the best she could find was a rolled up magazine.
Still half asleep, she stumbled from the sofa into the kitchen, bracing herself for having to attack whoever had entered the house. Rayah paused before she was about to strike.
She was about to assault Santa Claus.
For a second, she wondered if she was still asleep and having some very strange dream that was possibly cheese induced. She blinked, expecting to either wake up or her eyes clear, but Santa was still there: red coat, hat and a big white beard.
But the eyes were ones she would recognise anywhere. She’d seen them quite often before she’d just fallen asleep, in her imagination, and sometimes in the morning when she’d woken feeling – needy.
“Jonny?”
His laugh was low and rumbling, quiet so as not to wake anyone. “What the fuck do you have in your hand?”
She looked at the magazine and wondered what the hell she had been thinking. “I thought there was an intruder.”
“It’s Christmas Eve. There’s meant to be an intruder. Just not one who steals presents. Ray, what did you think you’d achieve with that?”
“I’m not sure. It was the first thing I grabbed when I heard a noise… Jonny, why are you dressed up as Santa?”
“Long story. I’m not the only Santa in Severton tonight.” He moved the beard below his chin and looked more like the man she knew.
A cacophony of thoughts deafened her. If she had been a church goer, there would’ve been a lot to confess and to be honest, she was going to have a few things to address at some point, such as the urge she was having to tell Santa what a bad girl she’d been.
Rayah rubbed her eyes, trying to ascertain whether that was Jonny dressed up as Santa or whether Jake had spiked the homemade mushroom pate with something a little fresher.
Jonny chuckled again and stepped closer to her. “I’m not an intruder. And I’m real. I’m sorry I’ve scared you. This probably wasn’t the best idea but it was either this outfit or naked.”
“Naked?”
She’d been brought up by wolves, otherwise known as a pack of Maynards. She was primed to be alert to certain words.
“My clothes got hosed.”
