Ninja School Mum

by Lizzie Chantree

  ‘Did he stay overnight?’ said Zack in a deathly quiet tone, his fists bunching at his sides.

  ‘Of course he didn’t, you idiot,’ yelled Skye, trying to shove Reece indoors and step outside to speak to Zack.

  Reece ambled inside looking pleased with himself and flexing his wet muscles. He’d just got out of the shower, having lied to Skye that the one at his hotel had broken the night before. Evidently he thought it had worked a treat, but she’d called Zack and told him Reece was there and why. Zack hadn’t expected to find him half naked and still here though. How many showers did one man need?

  Reece had been to see Thea the previous night for a couple of hours and met Flo, too. He wouldn’t be able to think about that now, though, as Zack was threatening his position with Skye. Zack understood from Thea that it would take minutes to destroy his business, with Recce’s contacts. The way Skye was shouting at him suggested that she would side with Zack, so Reece would be more of an idiot to cause extra friction.

  Reece would have to bide his time and wait this one out if he had any sense. Undoubtedly he was banking on the fact that the more time she spent with him, the more she would remember how things used to be. Not a chance, thought Zack. Reece smiled tightly at Zack, who was still standing outside, and gave him a patronising little wave to wind him up.

  Zack’s muscles knotted up in annoyance. He wanted to plough in and slap the stupid smile from Reece’s face. He didn’t know what game he was playing, but he’d soon learn that he had left it too late to fix things with Skye. Now that Zack was cooling down and thinking more rationally, he realised he had got to know Skye pretty well over the last few months and she wouldn’t take Reece’s, or Thea’s, betrayal lightly. She would be devastated and hurting, but she had mastered how to be strong over the last eight years on her own. She would survive this and come out tougher than ever.

  Zack leant in, his eyes never leaving Reece’s, and took Skye by surprise by kissing her on the lips, making her jump slightly, then sink into him and kiss him gently back. She’d been so confused these last few days, she’d forgotten how good it felt to be kissed by Zack. Zack smiled in triumph as he watched Reece walk away in disgust.

  ‘Are you back together?’ was all he asked, breaking away from her and taking a deep breath, ready for a deathly blow, but needing to know the truth.

  ‘It’s more complicated than that.’ Skye looked into Zack’s eyes and seemed shocked to see how run-down he looked.

  ‘You haven’t been at the site. It’s due to open to the public officially in a few weeks. I need your help to get it ready.’ Zack knew he sounded desperate and she wouldn’t know what to do to make him feel better. This situation was hard on all of them. So far, she hadn’t let Reece meet Leo. She didn’t know how the hell she would break it to her son that his dad had returned from the dead and he didn’t know what to advise her, either.

  ‘Are you okay?’ she asked, tears of frustration filling her eyes, taking his hand in her own.

  ‘I miss you,’ he said simply, gently turning her wrist over so that he could kiss her pulse, which was racing erratically at his touch.

  ‘I miss you, too,’ she said quietly, not pulling her hand away and resting her other hand on his arm, making him tense up and then draw her to him, while shielding her from prying eyes with his body.

  ‘Are you back together?’ Zack asked again, his voice cracking with emotion.

  ‘No. That part of my life is over.’ Skye seemed to realise that it was true as she said it and she suddenly looked like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

  ‘Does he know that?’ Zack ground out, hugging Skye even harder, before she squealed slightly and he let go.

  ‘We kind of talked about it. He’s not happy, but he’s coming to understand that he’s too late,’ she smiled gently up at him and he swooped down and captured her lips with his, uncaring who saw them now. She pulled the door shut, leaving them standing on the doorstep, and melted into his arms. The relief of holding her near again made him weak with happiness. Whatever happened now, they would get through it – together.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  It had been a few weeks since Reece’s reappearance. Leo was so delirious with joy at meeting his father, he had very quickly forgotten that he hadn’t been around for the first eight years of his life, much to Skye’s disgust. Although she was happy that Leo was excited and hadn’t made a scene, she wasn’t sure Leo really understood where his dad had been. They had kind of explained that something awful had happened with their work that had kept them apart all this time. Leo had looked to her for reassurance and, with a nod of her head, he had flown into his father’s arms. Seeing them together broke Skye’s heart, but filled it with joy too. Sitting in her usual place behind the school gates, tucked behind the bike shed, she sat in a world of her own, glad she’d managed to avoid seeing Thea so far. Zack had just given her a chaste kiss and left to talk to Mike and Marlo, so she had some time with her own thoughts.

  Reece had met with her a few times and explained that Thea had been eaten up with jealousy, and Skye could grudgingly admit that maybe Thea had tried to turn things around at the end, but she wasn’t ready to forgive her yet.

  Skye spotted Thea not far away and she looked up from her position in the playground. Their eyes clashed. Skye wondered if she had decided to face up to her part in this and approach her. Had she seen Zack quickly kiss her before walking away? A few other parents had noticed and they were whispering about it, not being very subtle, as they kept looking her way. The school playground soon started to buzz with excitement at this fantastic bit of gossip about the new couple snogging behind the school bike sheds, of all places. She knew a few of them had seen Reece coming out of her cottage too, so the school was awash with scandalous glee. She bet they wondered how a boring and unglamorous woman like Skye could have such an exciting love life.

  Thea had stepped back to give her some space and was glaring at anyone who was staring, until they turned away and left them alone. The school bell rang and Skye turned to see Thea had changed her mind and was behind her on the grass. She sucked in some air and stood up, brushing her jean shorts down and preparing for battle. This wasn’t really the place to talk, but it seemed that the universe had other ideas.

  Leo and Allie came bounding out of school together and then stopped short when they saw Thea and Skye looking at each other. They had both spoken openly about the arrival of Leo’s dad and had mentioned to Skye that they couldn’t work out why this would cause problems between Allie’s aunt and Skye. Skye felt bad for them, but didn’t want to elaborate. Allie had seemed excited to meet Leo’s dad, who they explained had been working away. Leo had originally said to Allie his dad was dead but he had been found alive and well and had been looking for them for a very long time, Skye explained. She had held her breath and waited for the barrage of questions, but they hadn’t materialised. For once she was glad at the simplified view some children had of the world.

  Leo was so happy and couldn’t stop talking about Reece, but she’d overheard him confiding in Allie that he thought his mum had been missing Zack. His dad had told him that, for now, his mum and he were just friends, but he had a feeling that there was more to it than that. Thea had stopped coming round and his mum had said it was because the assault course would be up and running soon, so the after school club at their house was on hold for now. He wasn’t stupid, though, and could tell his mum was tense when his dad was around, which made him a bit nervous too. Skye felt like her heart was in her throat as she’d listened, knowing she should move away, but finding her limbs were frozen to the spot.

  Leo continued solemnly that his mum had been alone for so long now. It had taken him a while to accept that she might like Zack, but he was getting on really well with Emmie and they had played together with Allie a lot while the new business was being set up. The adults had included them and asked for their help with the design, and they’d had great fun exploring the area an
d deciding what other kids would like to play with. Now his dad had arrived, things had changed and they didn’t go to the estate as much. Skye had berated herself for being such a useless mum and for letting her son feel this way. She felt tears sting the back of her eyes and had been about to turn back down the stairs when Leo spoke again. ‘I only get to play with Emmie and you at school now and haven’t seen Flo for days; even though she’s a baby, I’ve got used to having her and Thea around. We had one big mixed-up family, and I’d been enjoying not being alone with mum all the time, much as I love her. Now dad’s back, I feel a bit weird. I love having a real dad, as I’ve never had one before, but there is tension in the house. Mum says dad is still going to be travelling a lot, and will only be around from time to time.’ Allie didn’t say anything, but Skye had heard her get up and go to give Leo a hug. Skye had quickly turned around and run back down the stairs before they realised she’d heard every word.

  ‘Kids,’ said Skye. ‘How would you like to go to the park for an ice cream?’ The kids looked a bit uneasy at first, glancing from Skye to Thea, then jumped for joy at the thought that they were allowed to play together after school again, and they grabbed each other’s hands and ran along the school path before the women had a chance to change their minds.

  Thea looked like she had spent the night in a field, as her hair was sticking out in every direction, and Skye could almost have felt sorry for her if she didn’t hate her so much. Skye nodded towards the park and Thea walked alongside her in silence, her shoulders hunched over as she pushed the pram in front of her like a kind of shield. Skye could see by the look on Thea’s face that she couldn’t believe Skye wanted to talk to her after all she’d done, but she knew she would have to hear what Skye wanted to say and couldn’t run and lick her wounds even if she wanted to. Skye could crush her if she chose to and Thea couldn’t blame her if she never spoke to her again. She should be ashamed of what she’d done, and Skye didn’t care if she had her reasons and no one cared about how she felt in all this. Skye had only relented slightly as Flo had only just met her dad too and, although she was a baby, she was just as important as Leo.

  As they neared the park, the kids saw the ice cream van and squealed in delight. Skye reached into her pocket and realised she’d lost weight as the waistband of her shorts was hanging around her hips. She dug around until she found a couple of pound coins and sent the children to get ice cream and play. Seeing how happy they were to be together again broke Skye’s heart. She wondered how they would feel when they found out they were now related, and hated Thea and Reece for putting her in this position.

  Thea slumped into the seat they had sat on months ago, when they first met beside the big oak tree, and watched the children run to the play area with huge, melting ice creams that dripped over their fingers as they ran.

  ‘They must have spent the whole pound each. Little monkeys!’ exclaimed Thea without thinking.

  ‘You lied to me,’ said Skye levelly, not taking her eyes off her son as he licked the side of his ice cream while trying to climb onto the swings.

  Thea trembled at Skye’s tone and stared at the floor, gently rocking the pram to lull Flo to sleep. ‘I know I did. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Hasn’t Reece, or Zack, told you?’ Thea asked bitterly. Daring to look up, Skye gave her one of her ‘are you kidding me?’ stares and Thea blushed at her own outburst.

  ‘You love him?’ asked Skye simply.

  ‘Do you?’ Thea parried, wringing her hands in her lap. Skye watched Thea’s body language and could see she was flustered. She really wanted to know who this woman was. The woman who had befriended her and wormed her way into her life, who had used years of training to break down barriers and get information from her. Skye really had been suckered. It was a good job she wasn’t working for LUCAN any more or she would have been thrown to the wolves for mistakes like this.

  Skye thought carefully about her answer. ‘Yes,’ she admitted, making Thea cringe. Skye saw her mark hit home and felt a small sense of victory. ‘You want him back? Is that why you brought him here? You pushed me towards Zack and then brought the knife down?’

  ‘That’s not why I brought him here,’ said Thea angrily, kicking out at a tuft of grass and sending mud flying. ‘I wanted to know if you still loved him.’

  ‘Why bring me here? Why not just tell him about Flo?’ asked Skye in exasperation. ‘He would have come and you could have had him to yourself. He wouldn’t have known about me, nor I him.’

  ‘I would have always felt like second best. I did anyway,’ Thea said sadly.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  ‘He saw other women,’ said Thea. She watched Skye flinch, but carried on regardless. It all had to be out in the open now, and she wanted Skye to know he wasn’t the perfect man she made him out to be. He didn’t treat women that well and Thea was finally seeing the light herself. Maybe Reece wasn’t all she needed to get a life of her own and move on. It would be ironic if Skye and Reece settled here and she had to move away. Then she remembered Skye kissing Zack and felt a flicker of hope flare in her heart.

  ‘Reece did try to find you at the beginning. You were too well hidden,’ Thea admitted. ‘Then new technology came to light and I found a way. I wanted to meet you, to meet Leo,’ she admitted. ‘I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.’ She couldn’t help herself from sneering slightly.

  ‘So you plotted to bring me here. How?’

  ‘I sent a team to track you. They found out where you went, what your daily routines were, although, with your training, you made it pretty hard for them. I told them you were a potential recruit. They were new and hadn’t heard of you before. I then set you up to come here. I put posters of the estate with Zack’s granddad all around you. How you missed all of them except for the one in the library is beyond me. I thought you’d be drawn to his eccentric style as he’d remind you of your dad.’

  Skye winced. ‘You knew about my dad all along, but said nothing as I poured my heart out to you? All the times I confided in you?’ she stood up and almost spat at Thea in her rage.

  ‘I didn’t know much,’ protested Thea, tears dropping from her eyes at the betrayal in Skye’s. ‘I knew Zack had cottages to let and the timing was perfect. I rerouted the calls to one of my team.’

  ‘The old guy? I knew it didn’t sound like Zack.’

  ‘I put off other people who called the ad and set you up to move here. I dropped messages into the papers and magazines you bought and put ads on your computer to draw you in.’

  ‘I can’t believe I didn’t see it. I didn’t see how you were setting me up. I finally let my guard down and you manipulated our friendship from the start for your own end. My God, you are such a bitch!’

  ‘You could never have seen my deception, Skye. I keep telling you. I’m as well trained as you are and I know how to recruit, delete the history of, or track someone. I wanted to see what I was up against before I told Reece about Flo. He said he didn’t want a child with me, but he wanted yours.’ Skye didn’t look convinced. Thea could tell she thought this was another lie, as why wouldn’t Reece want another Leo?

  ‘You should have been in my team,’ said Skye sarcastically. ‘You could have lied with the best of them. They would have given you a gold star.’ Thea took the verbal hit, but didn’t flinch this time. Skye deserved the truth, however much it hurt.

  ‘I was going to tell Reece. I just didn’t expect to like you. I wanted to get you here to cause him as much pain as he’d caused me. I wanted him to see us as friends and despair about what to do. I didn’t really care how it would affect you or Leo. I didn’t know you then,’ she said quietly, her eyes misting in shame.

  Skye stared at the woman before her as if considering if she was telling the truth. She looked around to check that the children were still happily playing and saw that Flo was starting to wake.

  ‘I wish now that I hadn’t brought him here as I realised, too late, that mayb
e I was just infatuated and he would never love me like he loved you. Then when I started to like you, I wanted to keep you for myself and not involve him.’

  Skye looked flabbergasted and as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  ‘I hadn’t had a real friend in years and you understood me,’ Thea continued. ‘Whatever you believe, our friendship was real. When I saw how involved you were becoming with Zack, I couldn’t keep Reece away any longer. Suppose you fell in love without knowing Reece was alive?’

  ‘So you decided to interfere and mess up my life again?’ accused Skye. ‘Do you know how difficult it is, having my son’s dead father practically living with me, while the man I’ve just started dating lives just round the corner?’ Thea giggled a bit at this and Skye raised a small smile too. Before they knew it, they were both laughing.

  ‘I haven’t forgiven you,’ said Skye, when she caught her breath.

  ‘I know,’ sighed Thea. ‘But it’s a start.’ The children ran over to see them, hopeful of another ice cream, but Skye beckoned them closer and they all walked home together, the children chatting noisily and Skye and Thea walking side by side in an uneasy silence. At the top of the road the women half smiled at each other, before turning towards their separate homes.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Finally, the day had arrived and they were officially opening Skye-Safe. Skye sighed with joy and smiled at Reece, swatting his hand away from her backside and kicking him in the shins for his efforts. He’d been popping in a bit more lately and Zack, although uncomfortable with it, had little choice but to accept it for now. After the debacle of the ball, they had decided that a small party with all the children from Leo’s and Emmie’s class would be appropriate to open the site.

  So far, there had been loads of smiles and squeals of delight from the children as they explored the new climbing apparatus. The parents who had been at Skye’s club had been invited an hour early and given six months’ free membership to use the course, which had made them super-excited. They had all hugged Skye, which she had taken good-naturedly before backing away, as soon as politely possible, to hide in the staff room.