Unsuitable

by Ainslie Paton

  “I bet you were a good statue.

  “I was a lady beetle.”

  Audrey laughed. She smoothed Mia’s hair again. “We keep kindy gym. Give playgroup another couple of weeks. Wiggle time is still a big hit. Any trouble with going to the toilet or getting her to eat?”

  “I eated it all, Mum.”

  He’d bear hugged Cameron when he discovered Mia was completely toilet trained. Accidents he could cope with, but no nappy changing, that was a bonus.

  “Mia was no trouble at all. Is there anything you need different for next week?”

  Audrey reached for her bag and pulled out her phone. She consulted the screen. “I have a late meeting Wednesday, could you cover an additional hour, till seven instead of six?”

  “No problem. Do you feel comfortable with me giving Mia her bath and getting her ready for bed?”

  “Read me a story in Mum’s bed. But no monsters, only wibble wobble, trundling, and fairies.”

  Audrey frowned and he braced for an objection. If it came it would be a problem, it meant he hadn’t won her trust and she wasn’t going to be comfortable leaving him with Mia overnight. Then she kicked off her killer heels.

  “Sorry, my feet are wrecking me and it’s been a shocker of a week at work.” She was so much more Ms Bates in her fitted dark suit, she made him twitchy and anxious but shoeless, she was more the Audrey he could relate to again.

  “I had big problem with a major project. I managed to make my boss’s boss notice me, not a good thing, and I had my first serious disagreement with the other female manager on the team. I’m exhausted. I hope the tumbling fairy here is as well. Can I think about bath time and let you know?”

  “Sure. There’s leftover spaghetti sauce in the fridge. There’s a baguette and dessert. Not jelly.”

  Audrey opened the fridge. “Really.” She pulled out the bottle of wine and gave him a smile that not only wiped the layers of tiredness from her face, it made him feel like doing the propeller dance. “You’re a hero.”

  He stepped sideways to let her move around him and get a glass and there might’ve been a bounce in his step. He was inordinately pleased about making Audrey happy. The week had gone without a hitch if you discounted playgroup where he’d felt like a which of these doesn’t fit puzzle; a vegetable amongst pictures of fruit, and pleasing his employer was a good way to keep his job.

  “You know you don’t have to provide for me.” Audrey pulled the covered bowl of meat sauce out of the fridge. “But this is heaven. Thank you, that was very thoughtful. Can I pour you a drink?”

  “Can I hab a drink?” said Mia.

  “Have,” he said. “Please.” Shit, it was reflect. Had he overstepped? He flicked a glance at Audrey.

  “Can I have a drink, prese.”

  Audrey smiled at him and put a glass of milk in front of Mia.

  He answered her earlier question. “I won’t, thanks.”

  He put a magnetic dress up doll and its wardrobe of outfits in front of Mia, taking a seat beside her. He was taking Sky out for dinner at the new Mongolian BBQ place, but he had time and he wanted this, to learn about the mother like he’d learned about the daughter.

  “Will you be able to fix your problem at work?”

  Audrey sat opposite Mia at the table with her wine glass. They both watched while Mia changed Princess Olivia’s sparkly dress.

  “A contractor defaulted. It’s a big four-letter word problem.”

  He grinned at her replacement word strategy. He was conscious of having to clean up his language after months on the job with Polly where four letter words were nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Sometimes in the same sentence. Sometimes they were a whole sentence.

  “I keep wondering if I should’ve seen it coming. If I could’ve prevented it. It puts my whole project in jeopardy right at a time when I didn’t need to screw up,” she said.

  “Don’t strew up, Mummy.”

  Audrey reached over and adjusted Princess Olivia’s crown. “That’s upside down, isn’t it?”

  “No.” Mia put the crown back the way it was.

  It might’ve been upside down. Reece found it hard to tell. He was better at Barbie. There was nothing flat pack about Barbie. All woman, even if structurally unsound. If a tradie defaulted on a Pollidore Homes job the shit hit the fan. From what he understood, Audrey managed large infrastructure builds, mostly for government and big companies. She wasn’t dealing with one pissed off family but a family tree of trouble.

  “What can you do?”

  “Crisis talks. I have to come up with a workable alternative and fast.”

  “And if you can’t, what’s the worst case?”

  She groaned. “My COO asked that question too. It’ll be like a group of hungry and riotously tired three year olds with the means of hurting themselves and each other without any adult supervision. Just about everyone will get hurt and there will be tears before bedtime.”

  He laughed. “I’ll stick with Wiggle time.”

  “Better you than me.”

  Mia slid off her seat and ran into the other room. Reece leaned back in his chair to watch her. He’d distract her if she started pulling out too many toys.

  Audrey did the same thing, looking into the next room at Mia. “I love her to bits, but she wears me out. I’m exhausted after the weekend. I don’t know how you manage five days.”

  “I get my evenings off remember, and I don’t have to worry about politics like you do.”

  “Playgroup?”

  He grinned. “Yeah, that might test me.”

  “Don’t let Junna get to you. She’s desperately single, but she’ll travel with the Sinclairs when they go to London. And don’t let Carrie frighten you off either.”

  Audrey left the table and poured another glass of wine, asking again with a gesture if he wanted one. He shook his head. She returned to the table. “Don’t let her proposition you.”

  He made a sound of surprise and turned it into a call to Mia to put the farmyard back in the toy box. Junna had been obviously interested, but Carrie, Jesus.

  “Oh my God, Reece, she already did.”

  He grimaced. “I don’t know if that’s what it was.” He didn’t know if Carrie was a good mate of Audrey’s, best to play this down, ignorance was security.

  “If she asked you to her place, that’s probably what it was.” Audrey groaned. “Her husband is twenty years older. He’s a bigwig in aviation. He’s never around. She’s so terribly lonely and so terribly horny. I’m so sorry, Reece. I’ll tell her to lay off. Unless you’re...in your own time...she’s very attractive...ah.”

  Colour rushed into Audrey’s face. There was a timely crash in the other room and Reece stood. Mia had upended the toy box. “I’ll just, um,” he gestured towards the mess. Anything to get out of this conversation.

  Audrey groaned. “Gah, give me a work crisis any day.”

  He righted the toy box and started to repack it while Mia helped by putting stuff in the box then taking it out again. It was a toss-up as to which of them was quicker.

  “Leave it, Reece. I’ll do it. You should get on with your night.”

  He got to his feet. Audrey was standing in the doorway. “I wouldn’t with Carrie.”

  “If it’s not on my time, it’s none of my business, Reece.”

  “All the same. I wouldn’t.”

  “You’re serious about Sky.”

  He picked up the head of a doll and a block with a piece of rope like a tail and chucked them in the box. “We’re living together.”

  “Sounds serious.”

  It was different, that’s for sure. Early days, they were still navigating around each other, much like what was going on here, but with more tension, which now he thought about it, was frustrating.

  “It must be wonderful.”

  He picked up a black and white cow loose from its plastic herd. That’s how he felt, as though he’d wandered away from a relationship he should’ve felt secure in and g
otten lost in the bush. He had drawers and wardrobe space. His Monaro was in the garage, but it didn’t feel like home yet. He was a neat freak and Sky was into minimalism so that should’ve worked, but they were irritating each other. He missed the girls. And he couldn’t tell Sky that, she wouldn’t understand.

  “I bet the girls miss you.”

  That made him smile. “They’re still fighting over who gets my room. Charlie has threatened to get a boarder.” He glanced at the clock on Audrey’s mantel. He was late. That wasn’t going to play well. “I should go.”

  “Right. So same program next week, with the addition of the extra hour on Wednesday night. In two weeks time, on the sixth, I have an overnight. Will you be okay for that?”

  He grinned at Audrey. An overnight, that was good. “I’ll put it in my calendar.” He bent to look at Mia, she was stacking coloured blocks. “See you Monday, Mia.” She stayed focused on the block stack, bound to topple any minute. She was tired enough to be deliriously unhappy about that.

  Audrey walked him to the front door. “Thank you for this week.”

  “No problem.” They heard the blocks scatter then Mia throwing or kicking them.

  “And especially for my dinner.”

  His face got hot. He hoped it didn’t look red. He gave Audrey a smile and Mia appeared. “Don’t go. Stay wif us.” Her bottom lip was tucked under her top teeth and her chin was crinkled. It might’ve been about the blocks, or bedtime. It might’ve have been about him leaving. Cameron had let him take the bulk of the contact with Mia during her handover so they were already mates.

  He went to his knees in front of her. Audrey’s bare feet, her neat legs in his view. He had a sharp vision of running his hand over her instep and cupping her calf and had no idea where that came from; all that talk about Carrie and being propositioned, or his nagging fear he’d done the wrong thing moving in with Sky. Whatever it was, it was a good thing it was in his head and not his hands.

  “On Monday we’ll have so much fun. We can build more blocks. But you’ll have fun with Mum too. I’ll see you soon, okay.”

  Mia sniffed. “Okay.” She buried her face in Audrey’s hip and Audrey touched his shoulder so lightly, it might’ve been accidental, except it was like Princess Olivia’s clothing—magnetising. He had to stop himself leaning towards her.

  “I’m so glad Mia and I found you.”

  Sky wasn’t.

  He was an hour later than usual. It made for a terse meal. Sky liked people to be prompt and reliable and she had very little tolerance for spontaneity. And that was something he’d only learned in the last month. He was a fool to think he didn’t need to work at this relationship, to think it would be easy, and he’d been coasting on the high of this new phase of his life; the job, getting out of home. He needed to pay more attention to Sky, to where they were going as a couple. Well, that’s what she said, anyway.

  He ate ribs seasoned with unreasonable resentment and resolved to do something to make things better before he got Sky’s turned back in bed, and his phone rang.

  Sky said nothing as he dug it out of his pocket, but she didn’t have to, her discontent was evident in the set of her jaw, the way she swung a hunk of hair over her shoulder like it was a weapon. He didn’t look at the screen, just sent the call to message bank. He didn’t get it in his pocket before it rang again. Sky breathed heavily and he glanced at the screen. Etta. He sent it to message bank.

  “Don’t hang up on your boss for me. If she needs advice on putting her kid to bed you’d better snap to it.”

  He took the last piece of bread in the basket without offering it to her. “Was Etta.”

  Sky got like this sometimes, begging for a fight. He wasn’t going there. She didn’t mean to disparage Audrey or knock him in the process. His phone peeped, the text sound. Etta again. Pick up. We’re in trouble. Need you.

  That was harder to ignore. He texted. Don’t F around. I’m busy. That should stop any nonsense. He put the phone back in his pocket. It rang.

  “Oh God, Reece, answer it.”

  It was Polly. “Mate, you gotta talk to Etta.” He mouthed Polly to Sky, but needn’t have bothered, she was doing something with her own phone.

  “She rang you?”

  “She fucked up, her and the twins.”

  “Anyone hurt? Where’s Flip?”

  “Flip’s at a sleepover. The girls aren’t hurt.”

  “What did they do?”

  “Got themselves kind of arrested.”

  “What?” he said too loudly.

  Sky looked up with curious eyes.

  “Skateboarding in the Food Plus car park.”

  “What?”

  “Security guard picked them up, fined them. Dude is holding them for a parent to collect. Etta wants you, not Charlie.”

  “Fuck.” Charlie was out on a girl’s night. Something she rarely got the chance to do. At least Etta didn’t wreck that.

  “I’d help out, but—”

  “I’m on it. Thanks, Pol.”

  He disconnected. Sky was standing, wallet in hand. “I’ve got this. Go. Do what you have to do.” She smiled. “It’s all right. I’ll see you at home.”

  “You hate me.” She was remarkably calm given the night was ruined and she’d need to get a cab home.

  She shrugged. “You’ll make it up to me. Bring ice cream.”

  He left her settling the bill and drove to the Food Plus, dialling Etta’s phone.

  “Reece, Jesus, were you just going to leave us to rot?”

  Etta sounded freaked out. “Thought about it. What’s going on?”

  “This fascist mall cop is holding us because we can’t pay the fine.”

  “Where are you? Is the fascist mall cop listening?”

  “We’re in his office, and yes.”

  “What did you do?”

  “You’re not supposed to skateboard here, but we came late when it’s quiet so it wouldn’t be a problem, but he wants $600 before he’ll let us go.”

  “Holy fuck, Etta. $600. You’re supposed to be home, the three of you. Charlie’s going to go ape and tie you to your beds for the rest of eternity.”

  “Which is why you can’t tell her.”

  He could hear the twins arguing in the background. “Which is why you’ll be paying me back with interest.”

  “Yeah, yeah, we’re bored, how long will you be?”

  He disconnected. Let them sweat for another fifteen minutes. He was already in the largely empty car park and he could see the security office. On the wall was a large sign that read: No skateboards. No bicycles. No scooters. Riders will be fined $200. He dialled Sky.

  “Sorry, babe. Are you home?” He heard the sound of the security door of Sky’s block of units closing.

  “Yeah. What happened?” There was no trace of animosity in her voice.

  “Etta and the twins didn’t run fast enough. They got caught skateboarding in the Food Plus car park.”

  “That’s badass.”

  “They need $600 for bail.”

  Sky laughed. “Is that even legal?”

  “I’m thinking of telling the mall cop he can keep them.” She laughed again and he heard her keys jingle, she was almost inside the apartment. “If he doesn’t take credit card, he’ll have to keep them.” He heard the door close. She was safe inside now.

  “I’m sorry about before, babe. I bugged you about moving in with me and now I feel like my space has been invaded. It’s made me crabby with you. I don’t want to be that way. Do what you need to do and come home. I’ll make it up to you.”

  He smiled out at a cement pillar that said B2, reversed out of bright green. Understanding tasted good. “What flavour?”

  “You.”

  Sex with Sky tasted a whole lot better.

  10: Sudden Comfort

  Audrey took her shoes off outside the front door. Creeping into her own house was appropriate when it was this late. 12.30am, a lot later than the 8pm she told Reece to expect her, b
ut the meeting had gone on and on, and the only woman on the team, she didn’t want to be the first one to leave, because that’s what they all expected.

  She’d offered to call Merrill to relieve Reece, but he’d said it was no trouble to stay. He’d done bath time with Mia on a couple of occasions now as well as putting her to bed, and the one overnight so far, so he knew the routine, and every time she’d texted to check in, he sent a smiley face back. The last check in was an hour ago.

  She could hear the TV down low. She dumped her bag and shoes and tiptoed down the hall to check on Mia. She was curled up with Growly Ted and Paul the giraffe, cosy and safe, if a little crowded. She stood there a minute and tried to fight off the return of the bad mother feeling. The giraffe’s name wasn’t Paul, it was Harold or Harriet or Herbert, some uncommon H name, she wondered how Mia had learned, and a paid employee had spent all day, all week with Mia, and put her to bed tonight.

  There was a part of her that hoped Mia played up for Reece, cried and carried on and got out of bed a dozen times for obscure inventive reasons: her toes hurt, her throat was thirsty, her bed was too cold or too hot, or too lumpy, just so he didn’t think it was too easy to be her surrogate parent.

  He’d told her the story of how he’d had to bail out three of his sisters. They’d sat in the kitchen while Mia played with Lego, and laughed about Etta’s indignation at being caught, Neeva’s excitement and Gin’s fear, about how Reece had one over them, keeping the adventure secret from Charlie, and had them doing all sorts of chores in the house and garden without complaint. He admitted to being a big sook and missing them. And she liked him even more for that.

  He’d filled Cameron’s shoes in an unexpected way. His care of Mia was exemplary. But in so many unobtrusive ways he found time to extend that care to her as well. She regularly came home to a pre-prepared dinner. On Friday nights there was a chilled bottle of wine in the fridge. They talked through the week, how it was for Mia first and foremost, then how Audrey’d faired at work.

  Reece didn’t talk much about himself, but he revealed things just the same. Living with Sky wasn’t as easy as he’d thought it would be. He didn’t say it, but he wasn’t rushing off at night to be with her either. If anything he dawdled about, always one last thing he wanted to do, to set up for the next day. She should’ve pushed him out the door except she enjoyed his company.