Emotional Rollercoaster

Chapter 6 - Tyler

'Where's mummy?' Ethan asked Tyler, noticing Roxy's bag wasn't where she always left it.
'She went up to Randwick to get something in for dinner tonight. Fancy going to the park for a wee while?'
Ethan covered his mouth with a hand, laughing. His dad did say some funny words sometimes.
'What's tickling you?' he asked, knowing exactly what it was.
'Wee-wee,' he said, snickering. Tyler tried not to laugh. Ethan was at that potty mouth stage and pounced on any word which could be changed into bum, willy, poop and wee-wee; and him using the word "wee" for little wasn't helping. 'C'mon,' he said, refusing to encourage him by drawing attention to it. 'Get your ball, and let's go.'

It was a glorious day. The sun shone in a cloudless blue sky, and Tyler still couldn't believe this was winter. In Scotland, they wouldn't even get a day like this in summer, let alone winter, and he marvelled as people walked past them wearing coats and jumpers, while he and Ethan just wore shorts and tee-shirts.
They walked to the park hand in hand, Ethan not coming up for air as he chattered away, happy now that his Dad would be home every day and wouldn't be working away for weeks on end anymore. He loved his company, and they had a lot of fun together as father and son – something that irked Roxy. She didn't have time for Ethan like Tyler did; she was too absorbed in herself.

Once at the park, they went to their usual spot and began kicking the ball to one another. They were both football mad. Tyler booted the ball extra hard, and Ethan ran after it, controlling it with his foot before booting it back to him.
'Hey, Ethan!'
Ethan stopped in his tracks and looked to where the boy's voice had come from when he saw his new pal Liam crossing the park with his dad. His eyes lit up immediately, and they ran to greet each other.
'Hi Eaths, I didn't know you were going to be here,' said Liam, his face excited as he looked from Ethan, over his shoulder to Lee, and then back to Ethan again.
'No, my mum went to the shops, so my dad thought we should come.'

'Your son's got a good kick on him,' said Lee, stopping to chat since the boys had taken off and begun kicking the ball around.

'Ah, a Londoner,' Tyler noticed with a grin.

Lee smiled, 'a Glaswegian,' he noted in return.

'That's really good for only having said three words.' They laughed before Lee nodded to Tyler's son, 'The Rangers shirt is a bit of a give away!'

'Well spotted,' he said, putting a hand out to Lee.

'Tyler.'

'Lee,' he said in return, shaking his hand.

'You been here long?' Tyler then asked.

'Seven years. I came out as a backpacker, discovered Coogee and never went back. It was easier getting residency back then.'

'You haven't lost your accent at all.'

'Good,' said Lee, with a wicked smile. He didn't want to lose it. 'How about you, how long have you been here for?' he then asked out of interest. For all he knew, he could have been here for years on end, knowing how the Scots never lost their accents.
'Just over four months now,' he told him, glancing around with a look that told Lee he was happy to be there. 'My wife's an Aussie. I met her when she was backpacking around the UK five years ago; had Ethan, got married and the rest's history.'

'Ethan?' Lee then questioned, having thought he'd seen this kid before. 'Does he go to Byron Street Public?'

'Yeah, he's only just started there.'

'I thought so,' he said, recognising him as the kid who had come out of the school when that God-awful female had started talking to him. 'They seem to have really taken to each other; Liam hasn't stopped talking about him since.'