by Bryce Taylor
"Do you think we could work it out together?" Leigh asks her.
Em screws up her face, thinking this over.
"I think so," she says with grave consideration.
I make a small noise in my throat, laughter I think and they both turn around.
"Morning," Leigh says dryly, a small smile, joy in her eyes at the sight of me.
"Mummy, mummy, Leigh and I are making you pancakes," Em says, carefully clambering down off her stool with a helping hand from Leigh and running into my arms for a morning hug.
"Leigh said you were tired," Em tells me as I pick her up, "and that we needed to let you sleep."
I make a face at Leigh over Em's shoulder. Whose fault is that?
She grins at me.
"Yours," she mouths.
"Thank you, darling," I tell Em.
"I told Leigh that pancakes are your favourite," she tells me.
I narrow my eyes.
"Aren't they your favourite?" I ask her pointedly.
"No, my favourite is pancakes with ice cream, but we are having pancakes with banana," she announces gravely as if she asked for them that way especially for me.
I'm smiling at Leigh who is looking both amused and horrified at having been tricked into making pancakes by a four-year-old.
Just the luxury of being able to go and have a shower whilst Em is awake is wonderful. The warmed towel that Leigh brings me is next level.
Finding breakfast made, the kitchen cleaned, Em dressed and ready for day-care and cup of coffee next to my plate is unbelievable.
"Do you like your pancake?" Em asks me hopefully as I stare down at the oddly shaped blob on my plate.
"Very much," I tell her.
"Do you know what it is?" she asks.
I wince and glance towards Leigh.
"A pineapple," she mouths.
"A pineapple," I tell Em confidently.
"Yeah," Em says happily, already digging into her pancake in the shape of maybe a snowman, or possibly another pineapple.
"Are we moving into your house?" Em asks Leigh as she picks at her second pancake, pulling what look to be misshapen ears from a bunny head.
"You'll have to ask your mother," Leigh tells her.
Em looks to me.
"It's a bit soon to be talking about moving house," I tell Em.
"Well, I think we should move into Leigh's house," Em tells us both decidedly. "Nana and Daniel already live there and they can't live here, there are no more beds and we don't have go-karts either."
I glance across at Leigh who is trying to hold down a smile.
"So?" Em asks me impatiently.
"We can't just move in," I tell Em lamely.
"Why not?" Em asks.
I sigh.
"Don't you want us to move in?" Em asks Leigh forthrightly.
"Of course, I do," Leigh tells her immediately, apparently not yet having gotten the parenthood memo about it being ok to lie to children occasionally or the very least hold off from telling inconvenient truths.
"You aren't going anywhere are you?" Em asks Leigh worriedly, sensing that maybe that is the problem.
"No, I'm not going anywhere," Leigh tells Em immediately.
"Good," Em says and lets out a long breath.
I exchange a smile with Leigh as Em returns her attention to her plate.
"Will you stay forever?" Em asks returning her gaze to Leigh, wanting to have all the loose ends tied up.
"Forever is an awfully long time, little one," Leigh says, smiling at her.
"Yes, I know that," Em tells her.
Leigh laughs, happiness sparkling in her eyes.
"So, will you?" Em asks again, annoyed that her question isn't being taken seriously.
"Yes, I will stay forever," Leigh tells her simply.
Also by Bryce Taylor:
All For You - A short story
Sometimes it takes your best friend getting married to make you realise all the good times you have shared together.
And all that you are losing.
If you are lucky, fate will intervene.
A short read, that it is never too late.
Remember Me - A short story
Meg has never forgotten her first love.
She might be more than successful, her body more than sinful and enough offers from the right kind of girls to satisfy, yet there has always been something missing.
Until Jo re-appears one day.
In need of a friend.
Pretty Woman – A novel
Peita has spent her life doing the right thing, doing her duty, living the life her father wanted her to.
Twenty-six and running a business in a country town, where being different is a worse fate than any other, the prospect of finding love is looking less and less likely.
The woman of her dreams seems a lifetime away and even a one-night stand is out of her reach.