CHAPTER 19

 

A couple of days later, Cate was still feeling unsettled by her evening at Mill Lake with Kian.  It didn’t make it OK – he’d still cheated on her – but she actually believed his version of events.  She’d gone home that night and pored over The Story again; comparing it with what Kian had told her and her diary for last year.  There were so many things that didn’t add up.  Jenna claimed that they’d met up twice after Kian had got back from the World Cup but when Cate checked her diary; Kian had been home both days.  She said that they’d performed sex acts on each other using strawberries but Cate knew Kian was allergic to them; they brought him out in hives.  It should have been comforting to know that they hadn’t been having a full-blown affair like Jenna had claimed but it actually made Cate feel worse – that Kian had destroyed their marriage for a drunken blow-job.

  Her car was at the garage for its MOT so she left Vanessa and Thom and headed towards Oxford Road to catch the bus back to the city centre. 

  “Cate,” Kian wound down the window.

  “What are you doing here?” Cate hissed, quickly checking to make sure that nobody was watching them.

  “We’re going to the beach,” Lola cried from the backseat.  “Mummy come too?”

  Cate scowled at Kian, “you’re not playing fair.”

  She looked around again.  “Hey,” Kian said, dragging her attention back to him.  “They’re already in Subway.  I’m not a complete B-A-S-T-A-R-D.”

  Cate rolled her eyes, “God help us when she can spell.”

  She got in the car but sat in the back with Lola instead of upfront with Kian.

  “How did you know I’d be here?” Cate asked, as they drove away from the university campus.

  “Mum’s got your schedule on her fridge,” Kian smirked at her through the rear-view mirror.  “I might have snapped a quick photo of it on my phone.”

  “You’re a pig,” Cate scowled.

  “Oink oink,” Lola giggled.

  When they got to the beach, Kian unknowingly chose the same spot Cate, Liv and Lola had come to the day after Boxing Day.

  “I shouldn’t be doing this,” Cate grumbled.  “I’ve got so much reading to do.”

  “You can read now,” Kian nudged, “you’ve got your books with you.”

  While Cate caught up with her reading, Kian and Lola played football on the beach.  “Last time we came here,” Lola said quietly to Kian, “Mummy was really sad.”

  “When was that, sweetheart?”

  “After Christmas,” Lola said.  “Mummy did that thing where she bites her lip a lot; she does that when she’s really sad.”  Lola tried to show Kian what she meant but she looked so much like her Mum, it crushed him.

  “Hey,” Kian knelt down so he was at Lola’s level.  “It’s OK, Mummy’s not sad now, is she?”

  Lola looked across at Cate.  “Hey,” she said, catching them both watching her.  “What are you guys up to?”

  Kian whispered something in Lola’s ear and she ran across to Cate giggling.  “Daddy wants you to show him your keepy-uppys; he doesn’t think you can do them.”

  “Is that right?” Cate smiled, shoving her books back in her bag.  She took the ball from Kian and rolled it around with her foot, getting the feel of it before she started.  “Who’s going to keep count?” Cate asked, balancing the ball on her foot.

  “101, 102,” Kian counted.  A couple of people had stopped on the promenade to watch Cate’s skills.

  “Do you concede yet?” Cate asked, hardly out of breath as she adeptly caught the ball on the back of her neck.

  “When did you learn how to do all that?” Kian was impressed.

  Cate did a few more keepy-uppys.  “You’ve got to say it.”

  “Yeah, I concede,” Kian threw his hands up in the air.  “That’s f… incredible.”

  As she caught the ball, the crowd of people watching gave her a round of applause.  “Thanks,” Cate blushed.  “I didn’t realise there was anybody else watching.”

  “She’s much better than you, Daddy,” Lola giggled.

  “I think you might be right,” Kian grinned, ruffling Lola’s hair.  “She’s the English Marta.”

  “Who’s Marta?”

  “She’s a footballer like Daddy.”

  Lola looked shocked, “Girls can play football as a job?”

  Kian picked Lola up, “yeah, women’s football isn’t as popular here as men’s football though.”

  “So when I grow up, I could be a footballer like you?”

  “No,” Cate groaned.  Kian and Lola both looked across at her.  “Sorry,” she laughed, ruffling Lola’s hair.  “You can do whatever you want sweetheart, as long as you’re prepared to work really, really hard.  It’s just another footballer in the family, really?”

  Lola frowned, “but Daddy’s a footballer and he doesn’t work hard?”

  Cate laughed at Kian’s frown.  “High-five, Lo.”

  “I’m hungry,” Lola said, rubbing her tummy.

  “I know a place,” Cate said.  They put Cate’s backpack and Lola’s football back in the car and walked along the promenade until they saw the red lit-up sign for O’Donnell’s.

  Seamus was by the front door when they got there, “Cate, nothing for years and then two visits at once?”

  “Hi,” Cate smiled.  “You remember Lola and this is…”

  “Ah yes,” Seamus scowled at Kian.  “I know exactly who you are.”

  “Seamus, have you forgotten your manners?” Sue gave him a nudge, “blocking the doorway like that.  Cate, sweetheart, oh it’s so lovely to see you again.”

  “Daddy,” Lola tugged at Kian’s sleeve.  “Why doesn’t Mr O’Donnell like you?”

  Kian didn’t really know how to answer that.  Fortunately, Sue came to the rescue.  “Mr O’Donnell is just feeling a bit grumpy today.  Follow me, I’ve got the perfect table for you.”

  “You get back in the kitchen,” Sue nudged Seamus, who was still shooting daggers at Kian.

  After Sue had gone to get their drinks, Lola tugged on Kian’s sleeve again.  “Daddy, you didn’t answer my question?”

  “Do you remember when you asked why I didn’t live with you and Mummy anymore?” Lola nodded.  “You said you’d done something really bad?”

  “That’s right, well Mr O’Donnell knows that I did something really bad and so he’s cross with me.”

  “When you did something bad, did you say sorry?” Lola asked.  Kian nodded.  “Did you really mean it?” he nodded again.

  “If you’ve said you’re sorry, why can’t we come home?” Lola asked. 

  Cate quickly excused herself to the ladies’ toilets.

  “Do you remember before when you said that the last time you came here, Mummy was really sad and she kept biting her lip?”  Lola nodded.  “Sometimes, if you do something really bad, it’s not enough just to say sorry.”

  “Then how are you going to make it better?” Lola asked.  “Daddy, I want to come home.”

  “I don’t know, sweetheart,” Kian sighed, “but I’m working on it.”

  In the car on the way home, Lola fell asleep.  “I thought you handled that really well,” Cate said softly.

  Kian looked at her through the rear-view mirror, “I really am sorry, you know?”

  “I know,” Cate said sadly.  “I just wish that was enough.”

  “Have you planned anything for Lola’s birthday yet?” Kian changed the subject.

  “I’ve thought about it,” Cate said.  “It’s just… I don’t want one of those hideous parties with like Louis Vuitton party bags.”

  “Will you let me do it?”

  “You want to organise Lola’s birthday party?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay but on one condition,” Cate thought of that sterile Christmas tree, “you can’t get professionals to organise it, you’ve got to do it all.”

  “Deal.”