“You’re very welcome. Now why don’t we get in here straightened up so you have a room to settle in for now?” Finn was still working upstairs on the pipes needed for her new central heating system. The ceiling would need plastering, but for now we’d agreed to keep the living room as clear as possible so she could have a room in which to base herself.
We worked together cleaning up and then I helped put up new curtain rails so she could hang some curtains at her windows.
I built up the bed eventually after Vi first refused to let me and tried to assemble it herself, eventually giving up when she read the half-English confusing instructions.
I explained to her. “It’s not that it’s a male versus female thing, Princess. It’s just I’ve had a lot of practice with beds.”
Violet huffed. “I bet you have.”
“Jealous?”
“No!”
“Just because I can build a flatpack and you can’t.” I teased some more. She was getting haughty and jutting her hip out, which amused me.
“I’ll kick you out and just lie on the mattress again in a minute.”
I laughed. “No you won’t. You’re starting to see that we make a great team.”
She tensed.
Well done, Milo. You pushed it too far. Quick think of something to pull it back in…
“I’m great at all the men’s work and you’re great at making tea.”
She threw a handful of polystyrene chips at my head. I stood stunned as they hit the floor.
“Oh, like that is it?”
I dived for the box with the polystyrene in it and chased Vi around the living room until I managed to grab the back of her t-shirt where I shoved a handful down. She shrieked and carried on running, going through to the kitchen where she went in her new fridge freezer and took out a handful of ice.
“Don’t you dare.”
Violet’s eyes flashed wickedly and she dove for me. But she didn’t go for my t-shirt like I was expecting. Oh no, she pulled the waistband of my shorts and let the ice fall down my groin. I jumped around the kitchen. “Fuck all that is holy. I’m getting ice burns on my dick.”
Vi placed a hand over her mouth. I could tell she was trying to stifle a giggle. I did my wiggle shuffle right over to her and picked her up, ran back into the living room with her and threw her onto her mattress, the ice having thankfully moved and melted.
“You ticklish, Violet Blake?”
“Arrrgh. I surrender. I surrender.” She squealed. But she wasn’t getting away with icing my groin. Not until she’d injured it through rampant sex first.
I wiggled the fingers of my right hand in her direction and watched as she anticipated what was to come and braced herself.
And then I descended. Tickling her neck, her waist. She shrieked, begging me to stop. “I’ll do anything. Stop. Please.”
I paused, my fingers above her. “Anything?” I teased.
“Just stop. I can’t breathe. I’m too ticklish.”
I was just about to ask her for a kiss in return for stopping when my bloody brother’s footsteps could be heard thumping downstairs.
I sprang up off the mattress, and Vi was close behind me. She moved away from me, smoothing down her clothes. She looked at me in a bemused manner. “I got away.” She teased.
“For now.” I replied.
Finn came through the door. “I’m done for the day. I’ll be back tomorrow. What was all the shouting?”
“Spider.” I lied. “Huge fat spider. Violet was a complete girl about it, screaming and screeching everywhere. I, of course, picked it up with my bare hand and carried it outside. Then I pretended I still had it and chased after her. Such fun.”
“You totally sure about that, Miley?” Finn’s head tilted to one side. Damn, had he seen us chasing around?
“Y- yeah, why?”
“Only judging by the wet patch on your crotch, it looks more to me like you were so scared you pissed yourself.” He turned to Violet. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Violet and Finn exploded with laughter.
“Oh hahaha. You’re so funny, bro. So, you were leaving were you? Bye bye.” I waved my hand.
“You need to pack up too, bro. Leave the woman in peace. It’s been a busy day.”
“And you have plans for the evening.” She reminded me.
“So I do. Right, I’ll leave you to your cleaning, Miss Blake.” I walked out of the house with Finn.
He gave me the side eye. “What are you up to, brother? If you had a date you’d have told us all by now.”
I smirked at him. “No date. I’m going camping tonight.” I told him. “Fire, wine, beer, marshmallows. The lot. Can’t wait.”
“Been a few years since you were a boy scout, Milo, so who are you going camping with?”
I tapped the side of my nose.
“Never you mind for now. All will be revealed.”
“Oh God.” He responded. “What are you up to now?”
When I got back to the house Dad was sitting on the sofa in front of the TV. I knew without asking that he wouldn’t have a clue about anything on the screen in front of him. I recognised the blank expression on his face. His thinking face. I took the seat at the side of him.
“I guess it’s brought a few things back up?”
Dad sighed and turned to me. “It’s always there. In the background. But yeah, today it’s kicked up a notch. Back to wondering where she is and what she’s doing. If she ever found the happiness she was looking for, or if Vi’s uncle just ended up another casualty.”
“You ever tried looking for her?” It was a question I’d never dared ask before, but now we were doing this, having a conversation man to man.
“No.” Dad’s voice was resolute. “Not even on social media. Because I don’t want to pick at the scab.” He scratched his chin. “It took a long time for the bleeding from my heart to stop, son. I’d rather have the lid on the box than know anything about her. I would understand though if any of you wanted to try to find her. Then I’d just have to put my own feelings aside, because at the end of the day she’s your mother.”
I squeezed his arm. “Can’t speak for the others, but I’ve no interest in finding her. When she walked out of our lives she walked away from being part of mine. Don’t shut your heart off though, Dad. It’s been open enough to love all of us. Maybe you need to take a chance on letting someone else in. Otherwise you’re letting Mum keep a hold over you whether you try to find her or not.”
Dad smiled. “When did you get so wise, Milo Waite? So, tell me, what’s happening with Rapunzel?”
I loved he called her my nickname.
“She doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to claim our happy ever after.”
“Milo, son. I really hope you do, but just remember that the woman only moved in yesterday and you don’t actually know her properly.”
I shrugged. “Just feel it in my bones, but yeah, I’m taking it slowly.”
That got me a raised eyebrow.
“I am.” I got up off the sofa. “Anyway, good chatting with you, Dad. Now why don’t you get one of the other Waite sons to take you to the pub and while you’re there go check out any single ladies.”
“You just concentrate on your own love life, Milo. Where are you off to anyway?”
“I need to pop to Argos before it closes and then grab a few other essentials for later.”
“Later? You out tonight then? Didn’t think you’d want to be too far away from the Princess’ tower.”
“Exactly. That’s why I need to go out now. Because I know for a fact that after last night she’ll not come over here, but I also know it’s going to be a strange night for her in a partially renovated home and she’ll be nervous, so…” I paused for effect. “I’m going to camp out in her garden.”
It didn’t start to get dusk until after ten pm, so I waited. Finn had said her shower though basic worked fine and would do for now and I saw the bathroom light go on, the window open,
and figured she might be rinsing off the day’s grime. I made my way into the garden carrying all my kit. It took me a couple of trips, but I soon had everything I needed for the evening. As I rolled out an old piece of carpet I’d brought to cover up the rubbish scratchy grass, I heard the shower trickling through the open window and then to my delight I heard Vi singing. Her voice was horrendous. Absolutely like nails down a blackboard. But… she was feeling happy enough to be singing and that was good enough for me. I began to erect the tent on the carpet and placed my sleeping bag inside it and then I started a bonfire and got the marshmallows prepared.
The shower stopped and after a minute the side window opened wide. Vi’s angry face glared down at me.
“I just wondered who was making such a goddamn stink and it’s you! In my garden.”
“Come down and enjoy a toasted marshmallow, Princess.”
“I’m not coming out. I just got clean.”
“That shower only work once a day? You can shower again after the bonfire. C’mon, it’s fab and I’m lonely.”
“You’re an idiot.” She slammed the window shut.
Still, five minutes later, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt; with her hair in a short ponytail and still damp, she appeared and walked towards me clutching the bottle of wine.
“No glasses?”
“I’m drinking it all myself. You’re driving me to it. What’s this all about?” She pointed to the tent and the bonfire as she took a seat in the camping chair at the side of me. She put the wine bottle in the pocket on the arm.
“This, is my evening plans, which I told you I had.”
“I thought you meant you were going out.”
“I am out.”
She fixed me with a look. “You know what I mean.”
I stretched out my legs in front of me. “You won’t date me and that’s fine, and you’ll not stay at ours tonight, and that’s fine too. I totally get it. But this is your first night on your own and so I thought I’d camp out here just in case you got scared again.”
“How many sleeping bags are in that tent?”
“One. If you need me, I will bring my one sleeping bag and put it on the floor in your kitchen if you prefer. This is just me being your friend, Violet Blake. Then if you sleep soundly tonight maybe I’ll not need to camp out tomorrow night, but I’m here for as long as needed. You want to be an independent woman and I applaud it, but just for one night you can be independent inside while I’m just outside enjoying a night under the stars.”
“You can’t see the stars for the light pollution.”
“Do you have to be so negative? Now grab this stick and toast some marshmallows. Then get some of that wine down you and loosen up a bit. Let’s enjoy the summer’s evening because let’s face it, we don’t get many of them.”
She took the stick off me and placed it over the fire. When it was toasted, she began to take a bite. I thanked God I’d placed a blanket over my lower half so she couldn’t see how horny that made me.
She opened her mouth and I waited for her to tell me to pack up and go home. That she didn’t need me. But instead she said. “You’re a good man, Milo Waite.”
It made all the effort worth it.
Violet
When the smell of burning had drifted through the bathroom window I’d almost cursed. I’d been enjoying a shower, even if the thing was ancient and slow and the suite knackered and scratched. I’d wanted to keep the windows open for just a while longer, letting as much fresh air into my new home as I could before I locked it up tight and prepared to go to sleep. There was no doubt about it, I was nervous about sleeping here alone for the first time. I knew after the cat episode I was going to be listening out for noises and that every little sound would have me wondering what it was. But I was a grown woman. I’d been sleeping on my own a while now in my previous place and so with the help of the bottle of wine Becca had gifted me (I figured I could buy another for girls night), I had planned to put on my pjs and crawl in between the fresh covers on my new bed and drift off in an alcohol-induced sleep, safe in the knowledge that the ceiling wasn’t going to fall down and kill me while I slept.
What I had not expected was to see Milo Waite sitting in a chair that he barely fit in with all his muscles and length, threading marshmallows onto kebab sticks and grinning up at me, a blazing fire nearby. I guessed it cleared the garden ready for Quinn to start tomorrow, but I’d just got clean and now if I went outside I was going to smell of bonfires. Still, I knew I was getting ready to go out the minute my feet padded into the corner of the bedroom and I undid a box marked ‘clothes’ and took out some jeans and a t-shirt rather than putting on the pyjamas I’d already laid out in the bathroom. Tying my hair up, I grabbed the wine bottle off the side and went out to see him.
It wasn’t long before I was drinking wine, eating my marshmallow kebab, and feeling my neck and shoulders unkink far more than the shower had managed. The guy both wound me up and relaxed me in equal measure. Right now, he was clearly in the friend zone and so I felt I could just enjoy the evening.
“So, I know you’re not working right now, but when you did work, what did you do? Or were you a kept woman when you were married?” Milo asked after we’d chatted about house renovation for a while.
“I was a secretary. My last job was for a car sales showroom, but I’ve worked in a few different places over the years. I enjoy sorting out paperwork.”
“You’re turning me on here, babe. You know we don’t have an office manager, right? They don’t stay because we’re a nightmare.”
“You? A nightmare? I find that hard to believe.” I mocked.
“Finn’s ex was our secretary for a long time, until that went sideways. Then we’ve had a few more. Most couldn’t handle it. Then bloody Silas fucked one of them and she went a bit stalker on him. So we have a vacancy…”
“You can’t just offer me a job without consulting your family. Thought Juliet said you had to be part of the family anyway.”
“So far as the reno team itself goes we all are family, but Silas has moved on and so we’re going to have to take on other people at some point. Our business gets stronger and busier every week. Juliet was just being tetchy because a guy showed some interest in her.”
“Right now I’m focusing on getting the house straight.”
“I get that, but really how long is that going to take? You know, the things you can do, like painting, they can probably be done evenings and weekends. Why not think about coming and working down at our yard just a couple of days a week? See how you find it. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll have a word with the others about it, though they’ll be ecstatic to have help with organising ourselves and invoicing. Dad does the accounts and I know he hates it.”
“Yeah, he’d probably hate me doing them more. He’s not going to want to see my face, is he? I’ll just keep reminding him of bad times.”
“You and my dad are going to need to clear the air. He has issues with what happened that he’s going to have to deal with. He’s not there yet but we were chatting earlier about things. He’s spent years with his head in the sand about our mother. You coming here—although it threw him for a loop—is the start of him accepting what happened all those years ago and moving on. I know it is. It needs to be. So, seriously, do not feel you have to avoid my dad. He’s going to love you like I do.”
I’d been taking a drink of my wine and at his words I dropped the bottle on the ground and watched as it rolled all the way to the window.
Violet
I jumped out of my chair and ran to the bottle shouting, ‘Nooooo, my wine.” Luckily, not much had spilled out when I picked it up which was good because I needed to drink the whole thing down. I know Milo didn’t mean it how it sounded but having just come through the end of a marriage any such words I’d just discovered filled me with a complete and utter blind panic.
“Do you want anything else to eat? Or a cushion? I have a cushion. Or will you believe I
’m okay and go back home?” I was rambling and because I was avoiding his gaze I jumped when he spoke into my ear.
“Violet Blake. Stop panicking and come back to your seat. I’ve not just declared my undying love for you. I’ll save that for next weekend. I was merely saying I’m loving your company and your personality and my dad will feel the same.”
I smiled. “Maybe I just overreacted ever so slightly.” I began to move back towards my chair.
“Don’t worry. Women are always doing that near me.” Milo quipped.
We moved back and sat in our seats.
“Tell me about your growing up; about playing here at Marj’s.”
“Are you trying to find out all my dark secrets?” I asked him.
“Are there other dark secrets?” He said gently.
“Yeah.” I confessed. “Things I’m not ready to talk about.”
He placed a hand on my arm. Goosebumps erupted all over my arms and up my neck, and a shiver ran up my back despite the intense heat of the nearby fire. “You don’t have to say shit to me. You can sit there quiet if you want. I’m a good listening ear though and can keep a secret.”
“Thanks.”
He moved his hand away and I felt its loss. Had enjoyed the comfort from that simple gesture.
“I didn’t have the most stable upbringing and my mum would bring me around to my nan’s when she couldn’t cope with me or wanted to go meet her friends. This house seemed huge to me then. Nan always had her sheets airing on one of those wooden airers and I’d use it as a den to play inside. She’d bake apple pie, and when she cooked us all a dinner it always had mint sauce on it made fresh from the garden.” I pointed to the corner, a foot away from the window where you could still see a sprig of mint even though Milo had hacked away with the strimmer.
Waiting For Milo: THE WAITE FAMILY - BOOK ONE Page 7