‘It’s the same one I’m in now, just down the hall from yours and Mummy’s.’
‘Did you have any brothers and sisters to play with?’
‘I had a brother and a sister.’
‘Where are they?’
‘My sister lives with her kids just down the road. You’ll probably meet her tomorrow, and my nephews.’
‘Where does your brother live?’
‘He doesn’t live here anymore,’ Ewan said, then looked across at Kenzie with a question in his eyes.
Her heart stuttered, before she gave him a small nod.
‘He died, before you were born.’
‘Oh,’ she said, looking up at him sadly. ‘Like Rodney.’
He frowned quizzically, and Kenzie made a small sound before answering. ‘Yeah, like Rodney.’
‘Mummy forgot to feed him, and he died.’
At his raised eyebrows, Kenzie closed her eyes briefly before explaining. ‘Rodney was Poppy’s pet slater bug.’
‘A slater bug?’ he echoed slowly.
‘You know,’ Poppy said, ‘the little centipede thingies that curl up in a ball when you touch them?’
‘You had a pet slater bug?’ he asked.
Poppy nodded her head solemnly. ‘His name was Rodney.’
‘Yes, well … yeah,’ Ewan said, letting out a long breath.
‘Okay, enough talk,’ Kenzie said. ‘Hop into bed and I’ll read one book.’
‘I want Ewan to read me the princess story.’ At the comical look of discomfort on his face, Kenzie almost felt justified in saying yes, just so she could listen, but she took pity on him.
‘Not the princess one, it’s too long. Just a short one,’ she said firmly, waiting for her daughter to choose one from the backpack Kenzie held open.
Poppy eventually settled on a book and Kenzie stepped back to allow Ewan to take a seat on the edge of the bed. Before he’d even reached the third page, she was out like a light.
‘Does she always go to sleep that quick?’ he asked, slowly standing up so as not to jostle the bed.
‘Not always, just when she’s had a busy day.’
Kenzie made sure the night-light was on and went through the connecting door to her bedroom, making sure it was left open in case Poppy woke up during the night.
‘Well, goodnight,’ she said, pointedly, standing in the doorway.
‘Do you want to talk about this afternoon?’ he asked.
‘Not particularly,’ she said.
‘Do you regret it?’ he asked.
‘I …’ she started, then stopped. Regret was a rather harsh word. She definitely regretted being snapped out of whatever weird moment it had been by his ex calling him, though. That hadn’t been particularly fun. ‘No. But I don’t think it should happen again.’
