Jonny’s head span back round to Rayah with enough speed to pull a tendon.
“What?”
Rayah had folded her arms and her eyes were glinting dangerously. He knew that look; it was one that made him suppress a groan.
“If you go on a couple of dates you could buy yourself a little breathing space.”
He inhaled deeply, aware that Sadie was running around nearby with a couple of the other kids. “The kids…”
“The kids need to see you having a life, Jonny.”
It was a line he’d heard before. As much as he’d let the guilt go, it felt wrong to have his kids find out that he’d moved on.
“They need a stable parent. Or one who can pass as a stable parent.”
“Your boys need to learn that it’s okay to have different sort of relationships with people. Romantic ones. Charlie really likes a girl in his class – it kills me to tell you this – but he won’t ask her out.”
“Because he’s ten.”
Rayah stared at him. It had been a long time since Jonny had felt like crawling under a desk and hiding, possibly back when he was in high school and his English teacher had caught him reading some inappropriate material while he should’ve been planning an essay on George and Lenny inOf Mice and Men.She had the teacher look down to perfection.
“Jonny, do you remember when you were ten?”
He tried to stare at her blankly.
“It was a long time ago.”
She laughed. “Well, there is that. You were going out with Jemma Martin. Until she dumped you for Scott.”
He felt his face heat up. “Charlie thinks girls are gross.”
“He doesn’t. There are three girls in his class that keep giving him sweets and at least two have their name and his surname scrawled at the back of their books.”
Jonny tapped his foot. His eyes focused anywhere Rayah wasn’t. “That doesn’t mean he’s interested in them.”
“You’re right. He isn’t. But he really likes Layla Wardle. He helped her when she fell over in the playground yesterday and he tries to sit next to her at lunch.” Her expression lost its tension. “It’s sweet. But you need to have a chat with him.”
“He’s ten, Ray. He’s…”
“Completely clueless about girls. Harry isn’t. He’s already broken two hearts since September. But then, he’s spent more time with Jake.” The snark was back.
Jonny looked around for Sadie and saw her playing with two of the boys in her school. She was demanding that they pretended they were various animals and obviously having fun. He did not want to think about her growing up. Any of them growing up. He and Grace had been young parents, only twenty-three when Charlie was born, and neither of them really had a clue what to do. He wasn’t sure he had a clue even now.
“Maybe I should curb their Jake-time.”
“Maybe you should go on a date. Show your boys how to treat a woman and give Sadie some expectations. Plus,” Rayah dug him in the chest with her finger, “you stop this competition to see who can get you in the sack first.”
Jonny gripped her finger before she could leave a bruise. “Seriously? There’s a competition?”
“Too right. Sadie’s six, so this has been a thing for two years.”
Jonny kept hold of her finger. Touching Rayah was something he hadn’t done for years. As kids, they had fought, she’d gotten on his nerves like the younger sisters of friends did, just like Sadie irritated Charlie and Harry’s friends, but he couldn’t remember when he’d touched her.
He wasn’t sure he didn’t like it.
“Who would I date?”
“Who would you want to go out with?”
