Emotional Rollercoaster

Chapter 2 - Denial

Lee was sitting on the wall outside Coogee Bay Primary School on Byron Street when Claire rounded the corner, dragging a dawdling Liam behind her by the hand. He seemed more interested in an NRL footy card he'd found in the gutter than making steps at getting to school on time.
The bell had already rung.
Even at that distance, Lee could see a down-turned mouth and a deep frown on Claire's tired-looking face – the frown deepening further the moment she reached the gates and found him sitting there.

'What're you doing here?' she so charmingly asked in her usual hostile manner.

Liam glanced up from the card, and on seeing Lee, his eyes lit up, and he broke away from Claire's firm grip, reaching up to high-five his dad.

'Alright little buddy?' said Lee, slapping his son's little hand.

'Alright,' he replied, mimicking his dad and Uncle Bob's north London accents to a tee, causing Lee to laugh and Claire to turn her scowling face away, resentful of their bond.

Lee studied his son's smiling face, his cheeks all rosy from the five-minute walk on the cold but sunny winter's morning. And seeing him so bright-eyed and cheerful, felt sure that whatever had kicked off at the Guest House last night had either gone right over his head or had been that minor that it hadn't bothered him in the least – although it had hardly sounded that way to him.

'So how did you sleep last night,' he asked, putting a subtle feeler out to see if Martyn's bellowing had disturbed him at all. 'I bet you slept well after that big weekend.'
'He had an extra early night,' said Claire, butting in. 'He was exhausted. He went and sat up in our bed at half five to watch the TV, and by six, he was out for the count. I had to carry him into his own room, and he slept right through.'

'That's good,' said Lee, ruffling his son's shaggy blond hair. 'Well, you'd better run on in,' he said, nodding towards the school. 'The bell has already rung.'
Liam adjusted his little backpack on his shoulders, and as he went to run off, Claire said, 'hey, aren't you forgetting something?'
She tapped herself on the lips with her forefinger and bent down to let him give her a quick kiss before running into the schoolyard.

'I'll be back at three to pick you up,' she shouted after him, then the moment he had disappeared into the building, she turned a guarded eye on Lee saying coolly, 'so what brings you here at this time of the morning?'
Lee wasn't one for beating around the bush and didn't intend to now. 'I just wanted to see that you were both okay after what sounded like a bit of drama at your place last night.'

Claire snorted down her nose as she looked at him mockingly. 'Drama!'

'Well, what would you call it?' he asked, having spared her the embarrassment of calling it what it had sounded like to him.
'Nothing,' she told him indignantly.
'No? It sounded to me like Martyn went right off his nut, and
was pushing you around a bit before you quickly hung up.'
'Yeah, I bet that's what you'd like to believe - well, you're wrong, it was nothing like that at all,' she lied, taking on a defensive stance. 'And I didn't hang up. What actually happened was, we'd been out in the garden having a few drinks, and when I went in to get another one, I decided to give you a quick buzz since you hadn't replied to my texts. He just happened to come in after me, and when he found me on the phone to you, he just sort of lost it. You know he can get very jealous. He doesn't like it when I have to talk to you for any length of time, especially if he thinks it's unnecessary.'

'Well, you're the one who called me, darlin', I didn't call you,' he reminded her very simply.

'Yeah, right, whatever,' she said, uninterested in going into a who called who slanging match. 'Martyn just wasn't happy because I'd already spoken to you earlier when you dropped Liam off, and he couldn't understand why I had to speak to you again - and if you'd have told me your "news",' she said, highlighting the word news by using finger quotes, 'it wouldn't have happened. Anyway, that aside,' she went on to say, dismissing it with a flick of a hand, 'he just suddenly shouted at me to put the phone down. He wasn't pushing me around, and he wouldn't. We don't have the same sort of relationship as he and Stacey had! It probably sounded like he was pushing me around because when he shouted at me, it made me jump, and as I swung around, I dropped the phone!'