‘Sneaky. I like it.’
‘I think I have a bit of a fetish,’ she admits shyly. ‘I like the smell of a baby’s head.’
‘Nah, that’s not a fetish. That’s biology.’
‘It’s like baby crack,’ she adds.
‘Nah, pretty sure baby crack is at the other end, and not quite so sweet smelling.’ Funny how her tear swollen eyes can still manage a withering look.
‘So you’d like a family.’
‘If I find the right man.’ A hint of her attitude returns, and though I smile, I also theatrically clutch my heart.
‘Way to sling me under the bus. Are my swimmers no good for you?’
‘Don’t joke about it, Flynn,’ she says, sounding pained.
‘Who’s joking? See this face? As sober as a judge and just as serious.’ And as I say the words, I know them to be true. ‘So, that’s settled then. You want kids and so do I. Guess that makes me your ideal man a little further down the line. We just might need to get a lot of practice in first.’
‘My ideal man isn’t crazy. You can’t just decide you want a family with someone you barely know.’
‘Didn’t stop my parents.’
‘What?’ She drags the word out over several disbelieving syllables.
‘They’d been dating a month when Mum fell pregnant. Forty years later and the old fella still can’t keep his hands off her.’
‘That sounds like a fairy tale.’
‘True. Like the ones the Brothers Grimm wrote, especially when you’re a kid and you go into the laundry room to find a clean T-shirt only to find your mum sitting on the washing machine, your dad’s hips working like a piston between her legs.’ I shiver at the memory, feeling like I ought to cast a circle of salt or something. ‘And then there are my brothers. They’re like the cast of a gory fairy tale. When you meet them, you’ll see what I mean.’ I pull her to my chest again and sigh. ‘Come on, fuckin’ Miles?’
‘What’s wrong with Miles? Apart from him being a colossal twat?’
‘It just sounds like you had a close escape from the fuckwit. He must’ve been an ugly kid. Who names their kid a measurement of length? Maybe the kids weren’t even his. His wife might’ve been playingMilesaway. A bloke with a name like Miles sounds like he couldn’t organise a fuck in a brothel, never mind father a couple of kids.’
‘And you’re such an expert on fatherhood?’
‘I reckon I am. I have the best kind of dad. A pretty cool family, too. Just don’t tell them I said so. I’ll tell you about them sometime.’
Chastity yawns, nuzzling closer. ‘I have had a really shitty day. And these things you’re telling me are just like. . . information overload. I just need this day to be over.’
‘Sounds like a plan, babe. Lead the way.’
‘What?’
‘Well, you’re not kicking me out,’ I reply, because fuck that for a game of soldiers.
‘You want to stay?’ she says softly. ‘I’m not—’
‘Babe, don’t. You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Just let me hold you tonight.’
