Isaac seemed to have no such problem. He leapt from the stool and wrapped his arms around Dane’s middle as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “Hey, Dane. I’m making pizza.”
“Doing a great job of it, too, by the looks of things, my man,” Dane said to him glancing to the pizzas.
“I got to hand the tools to your dad at the service centre before. It was so cool. We fixed the cars. Do you know about the, suck, squeeze, bang, blow principle?”
What did he just say? I was horrified!
What on earth was Isaac talking about?
Dane just nodded completely nonplussed. “Sure do, man! Dad taught me all that stuff when I was about your age. The key principles of how a four stroke engine works. Suck, squeeze, bang, blow.” Then Dane turned and gave me a look that definitely had a whole other meaning. My face heated and I felt totally flustered. Were we talking car engines or was he revving mine?
“It’s so cool how they work.” Isaac was bouncing on the stool excited and his eyes were huge.
“Yep, he picked it up straight away. Asked me a million questions. I reckon he’s about ready to have a go at pulling down his first engine real soon,” Gary said heaping praise on my beaming son.
“Sounds like you were a great help.” Dane moved over to me and dropped a kiss on my cheek. “Hey, Ari.” he said quietly. It sounded more like a caress than a greeting or was that just my over active imagination?
Macey, looked back and forth between us with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows high. “That the best you can do in the way of a greeting for your woman, big brother? Word to the wise, Ari. Kick him into shape up front.”
He turned to Macey and glared. “Mind your manners squirt.”
She ignored his reprimand and squished her nose up instead. “Yeah, on second thoughts, probably best you didn’t give her anything more at the moment. You stink! What the hell have you been doing?”
“I’ve been training with Xan and Reed,” he threw back at her. “And right now I’m about to hit the shower.”
He headed back through the kitchen. “I’m right to use the downstairs bathroom, Mum?”
“Yeah, honey. There’s clean towels in the hall cupboard. You know where they are,” she reminded him.
“Can you set the table please, Macey?” Cathy asked before she helped Isaac with the loading of the pizzas with cheese. She slipped them into her oversized oven and pulled a wok from a side cupboard. It was easy to see she was very at home in the kitchen and had done this many times before.
“Okay, Isaac, why don’t you wash your hands then head on over to watch the game with Gary?” Much to my surprise he slid off the stool and stepped straight up to the kitchen sink where Cathy squirted liquid soap on his hands then passed him a towel when he finished.
“Thanks for helping me with those pizzas, Isaac. That was a big help.”
A beaming smile covered his elfin face and he hurried into the lounge room and plonked himself down beside Gary.
A few seconds later I could hear them chatting and pointing at the football game on the TV and I was amazed at how quickly Isaac seemed to have felt comfortable with Gary.
Cathy must have picked up on my thoughts. “Gary loves kids. He would have been deliriously happy if we’d had a few more boys. Not that he doesn’t love his girls like crazy, but they aren’t really into cars.” Macey just rolled her eyes as she finished setting the table and Cathy gave me a smirk that said it all.
That made me curious. “What about Dane?”
Cathy dumped some chicken breast and veggies into the hot wok and stirred it around. “Oh he likes cars and trucks just fine. He has the skills and the qualifications to work on them, but he’s not that interested in doing it all the time. Martial arts and sports have always been his thing.” Then she looked a little thoughtful. “I was sure he would have done more with his personal training qualifications, but he didn’t. It’s always been the martial arts and well now he has the servo as well.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter he’s doing okay and he seems happy. That’s what matters.”
There was obviously a lot more to Dane than I’d realised. “He seems to be a high achiever.”
Cathy giggled a little. “Ah, Dane’s never given us any trouble. Bless him. He’s just plodded along but when he sets his mind to something he’s quite dogged until he reaches his goals. He’s a good solid boy just like his father.” It wasn’t possible to miss the admiration she had in her voice for both her husband and son.
“Has he always been so into martial arts?” I was curious about this. It seemed to be such a big part of his life.
“Sure has. Ever since he was about eight. It was always about martial arts. I think a big part of it, was doing it with Alexander Todd. They’ve always been as thick as thieves, those two. Once they met and became friends they’ve been near on inseparable. Xander’s like another son to us.”
“You just like taking in strays,” Macey added.
“Oh shush you. We’re just neighbourly.”
Macey was laughing. “Whatever Mum. You and Dad collect people.” Macey gave me a pointed look and I got the feeling she thought we’d been collected.
“We just try to do the best by everyone and help out where we can. That’s the way we were brought up and so were you and your brother and sister,” Cathy reminded Macey with a look that only a mother could give. Things were making a little more sense to me now. This was certainly not the experience I’d had of family life.
I knew the Roberts were inherently good people. There was no pretence, just honesty and warmth.
We chatted for a few more minutes and Dane made his way back into the kitchen. He went to the fridge and poured himself a large glass of iced water.
“You want another beer, Dad?” he called to Gary.
“Nah, I’m good for the moment, thanks. But help yourself.”
“Right, everyone head to the table. I’m about to put the food out.” Cathy was busy slicing pizza and she put whatever she’d been making in the wok into a large bowl.
We moved to the table and I looked at Dane for a hint as to where I should sit. It was a square table that seated eight, but families usually had their seats. I didn’t want to step on any toes.
“Here take a seat next to me,” he said and pulled out the chair for me. Macey took the side to the left of us and Dane sat Isaac to his right. That left Cathy and Gary across from us.
Cathy placed the pizzas on the table and the bowl of stir fried chicken and veggies in front of Dane.
“Thanks Mum,” he said.
“No problem, honey.”
Did Dane not eat pizza—since when? We ate it last weekend? What was I missing?
“Dig in people,” Cathy announced. And we did. The pizza was delicious and we ate in silence for a few moments.
Eventually, Macey broke the silence. “When’s the fight?” she said, nodding her head at the bowl of stir fry in front of Dane.
“About eleven weeks away,” Dane said and continued on eating.
Fight? What fight?
I guessed that explained his dinner choice. Macey nodded as if this was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Cool, let me know when and I’ll round up some people to come and cheer you on,” she offered supportively.
Dane shifted in his chair and looked uncomfortable. “Might be difficult. Fight’s in Melbourne.”
“What?” Macey looked between Dane and her parents. And I had to agree with her—what?
Then Dane looked really uncomfortable, “Yeah, Reed got me a slot on one of his pro-card events.”
Macey looked stunned, but his parents seemed to be taking it all in their stride so I could only assume they knew about this. “But you’ve never fought pro before?”
Dane shrugged. “First time for everything. Xander’s fighting in Vegas in about seven weeks. You know if he’s fighting, then I’m his training partner. Reed and I figured now was as good a time as any to see if I have what it takes. I
’m doing my prep right alongside of Xan.”
Macey looked a bit shocked and turned to her parents. “Are you okay with this?”
Gary wiped his mouth with a serviette. “Dane’s a grown man, Macey. He’s got a great amateur record. He doesn’t need our permission if it’s what he wants to do. So, yeah we’ll support him.”
“I thought Xander retired?” Macey asked Dane.
“Nope. He just took some time out,” Dane qualified, but his back was rigid and there was a look that was exchanged between them that said much more than their words.
“Fair enough,” Macey said. “Just make sure you win.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Are you fighting MMA Dane, like on TV?” Isaac said his eyes huge with wonder.
“Yeah buddy, that’s what I’m doing.” His voice was neutral and I knew it was because he knew my feelings on fighting.
“That’s so awesome. Can we go watch him, Mum? Please can we?”
God, how uncomfortable. I had no idea how to answer this one.
“Isaac, mate. I’m not sure that’s going to be possible. A lot of these events require you to be eighteen. You’ve got a few years before you get there, buddy.” I appreciated the way Dane let him down, even if I was unhappy about finding myself in the middle of this whole conversation.
“Well Mum, you have to go and cheer extra loud if I can’t be there,” Isaac demanded of me. “You’ll do that, won’t you?”
How did I get out of this one? “Well as Dane said, there’s almost three months before the event.” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word fight. “I’m sure we can work something out.” My noncommittal answer seemed to satisfy him, at least for the moment.
Teaching martial arts was one thing, but he’d never mentioned he actually fought in a cage!
And not just any old casual fighting.
Dane was a professional fighter.
He made his living from violence.
How could he not tell me?
Chapter 12
Dane
As soon as we got back to Arianne’s, she put Isaac to bed. I figured I had half an hour before Arianne would be comfortable knowing Isaac was asleep before we had a talk. I could feel the tension in the air. The fact I was dead on my feet wouldn’t matter. This was going to happen tonight even if I felt like I’d been run over by a truck. That truck just happened to be sporting Reed’s number plate. I wanted to be pissed at him, but it was a bit hard when I was at fault.
After he’d tortured me for a few hours this afternoon he’d ripped me a new one. I wouldn’t change what I did but I wasn’t about to explain my situation with Arianne or Isaac, either.
The TV served as a place to park in front of before she joined me again. I boiled the kettle and made her a cup of that herbal tea she favoured. I also found some chocolate in the fridge. Wasn’t that a way to get out of the bad books?
Minutes ticked over slowly as I fought exhaustion. I just wanted to go to bed but that wouldn’t be happening just yet. At last, Arianne came into the family room and sat down on the adjacent side of the sectional sofa.
“Thanks for the tea.” She motioned to the mug, I’d placed on the coffee table.
We sat in a silence for a couple of minutes. I’d swear it was nearly killing me.
“Just say what you want to say Arianne. I need to get to bed.” I inwardly winced how that last bit came out. Why did I add that?
She looked at me and I knew she was just as pissed off as me. “Probably not the best opening line, Dane.”
“No you’re right. I’m sorry that didn’t come out right. I’m really tired and my filters aren’t so good.”
I could tell she was trying to assess whether she should continue or wait for another time. Finally, she made her decision and started. “I can’t say I’m happy about what happened with Isaac this afternoon.”
“Arianne, you’re going to need to be more specific than that. Do you mean the bit where I picked him up from school with a bruise forming on his face because he’d been bullied or something else?”
Her jaw flexed tight. “I’m angry about that for sure. That bloody school is doing nothing to make sure he’s safe in the playground.” I nodded my understanding. That we could definitely agree on.
The school was doing a shit house job of looking after it’s students from what I could see. Something had happened of late, the school would never have allowed this sort of thing to happen before.
“I’m also annoyed that you took Isaac and dumped him on your mum and dad without giving me an option or discussing it with me. He’s my son and I had no say in what happened this afternoon. That’s not on.”
It was my turn to flex my jaw to keep my anger under control.
“Yeah, I can see it from your perspective, but now you need to see it from mine. You called me up at very short notice to help you out of a jam with your son. First let me state, I have absolutely no problem helping out with Isaac at all, any time. But this afternoon I had limited options. I had somewhere I had to be—commitments. I knew he’d be safe and happy with mum and dad. So that’s what I did. From what I saw, he had a ball. So the only real issue is that I didn’t have a big confab with you before.”
“You didn’t leave me with any options regarding his care.” Her voice had an edge to it that I didn’t appreciate.
“And you didn’t leave me with any, either. I was juggling priorities. I did what I thought was best to meet everyone’s needs. Isaac was safe and happy. Where’s the problem?”
I could see the frustration on her face. “It all worked out, probably better than I could have expected, but you left me without a choice. What if Isaac had freaked out?”
“Then, I wouldn’t have left him there. But I knew straight away he was going to be fine. Mum and dad have raised three kids and countless other strays. I knew they had it covered.”
“But I didn’t!” she spat.
“Well then you need to trust me to have a clue,” I stormed back.
“You left him so you could go to fight training for God’s sake. It wasn’t as if you were performing brain surgery!”
“Nope, I wasn’t. Should I remind you that you were gambling? Ms Le Flegg, please state for the prosecution what you were doing on the afternoon in question. How do you think that would go down Arianne?” Her face looked like thunder. If she thought I was going to sit here and let her take pot shots, then she had another thing coming.
“You might not like what I do Arianne, but it’s not illegal. Can you say the same?” It was a low blow, but I was tired and fuck it. I’d done my best in a tight situation this afternoon and I wasn’t going to take shit from her. “Nothing to say to that, Arianne? Good—move on! You don’t like that I fight. I don’t like that you gamble.”
“You’re impossible. Can you not see that you overstepped the mark with Isaac?” She all but snorted at me.
I shook my head in frustration. “Yeah I can see it and I probably did. But fuck, Ari. I made a call and did what I thought was best. I’m sorry you didn’t like it. I don’t know what you do, but when I get in a jam, I go to my family and see if they can help out. That’s what happened. Isaac came home happy. Do I need to remind you that it was me that had to soothe him after his altercation in the playground and sort that out?”
Silent tears started to fall down her cheeks. The anger was morphing into something else. I’d seen it many times with my sisters. They started out all fired up…then crumbled quickly into other emotions. “You don’t need to remind me. I’m doing the best I can. I don’t know what I should be doing anymore…first Marcel, then the school. It all feels so out of control…” she sobbed.
I let her go for a few seconds, before I could stand it no longer. “Come over here, Miss.” She lifted her head and I held my arms out to her. The decision took her no longer than a second to make. She covered the distance and threw herself into my arms.
Her head burrowed into my chest and I closed my arms aroun
d her tight. “Shhh, honey. It’s going to be okay. You’ve just got too much going on.” Her neat little world was being bombed from every direction.
“I don’t know what to do? I’m screwing up everything and I feel so out of control and overwhelmed. I’m supposed to have all the answers and I haven’t got a clue. I know you’re trying to help and I’m sounding like an ungrateful bitch.” I stroked my hand over her head and down the length of her ponytail. Her hair was silky smooth beneath my fingers, and it seemed to calm her a little.
“You’re doing fine, Ari. Give yourself some credit. None of this is easy. But if you ask for help you need to trust me to provide it. You need to understand you’re not alone in this. I’ll help you wherever I can.” That set of another round of shuddery sobs.
“I’ve been alone for years. It’s just been me and…” she struggled to get more out.
Then it sort of all started to make sense. “You don’t know how to ask or receive help, do you?” I prompted.
“It always comes with strings attached…” she trailed off and her eyes were really glassy with tears and memories of another time. I stroked her hair some more. One day she’d tell me where her mind went back to, I was certain.
“Well, I don’t know what you’ve experienced in the past. But that’s not how I roll. Nor is it how my family operate. We kind of come as a package deal and we do stuff because we want to. Not because we expect anything in return. Being able to help you out makes me happy. I don’t have any expectations.”
She looked up at me with weariness in her eyes.
“You don’t need to say anything. I can see you don’t believe me. And it’s a tragedy that life has taught you that you can’t trust people at their word. I’m telling you, you can trust me. But I know it’s going to take more than my words for you to believe it. You’ll get there. I won’t hurt you or Isaac; I promise you. I’d never knowingly place either of you in a situation that could harm you.”
“But Isaac is…”
“I know what Isaac is Ari. He’s a young boy that has a few challenges. Just like all kids, he needs to be able to stretch his wings and do things and achieve things for himself. He’s going to cop a few knocks along the way. All kids do—that’s all part of growing up. You can’t deny him that, regardless of his challenges.”
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