Belsize Park || Kate & Leo

☆ Fifteen ☆

We’re going back home today. Back to Belsize Park. Back to reality. We have been in Vancouver for a week now, and we’ve had a lot of fun, seen a lot of cool things, and I’m glad we went. I feel closer to the kids, and like I can actually talk to them now.
You’re still on my mind, but positively. Instead of dimming my eyes when you’re mentioned, you shine. Just like you used to when you were alive. People mention Kate, and I beam, my lips stretch from ear to ear, and I feel the same butterflies in my stomach that I got when I first met you. It’s like I’ve fallen in love with you again.
We check out of the B&B at 10am, met with a few grumbles from Joe because he had to wake up early, but overall the mood is pleasant. Crystal meets us at the door with a bag full of chocolates, and a warm smile, and a hug.
“Take care guys! It was nice to see you again, Leo, Mia, and Joe! Nice to meet you Bear! Be good.”
“I will, thank you for the chocolates, Crystal.”
“You’re welcome.” Her smile is warm and comforting. It’s the same smile from when we came here before. It’s older, with more lines, but there is more sunshine, more worldliness. She picks up a plate of golden muffins which are splotched with chocolate chips. “Would you like one each for the road? Take one for your driver too?” I nod, pressing the tip of my tongue against my bottom lip as I take one. Crystal has always made the nicest muffins ever. We leave moments later, and Mia hands the room keys back to her. We will come back here one day, we will.
Martin meets us outside and helps put our suitcases in the car in a way that resembles tetris.
“Leo, how was your trip?”
“Very good, Martin, thank you.” We shake hands, and he smiles politely, closes the trunk, and I remember the muffin. “From Crystal… the B&B owner. She makes the best muffins in all of Canada.”
“Better than Kate’s?” Your name rings in my ears. Kate. Kate. Kate. I grin, and walk around to the passenger side. “I said in the whole of Canada. Kate makes— made the best in England.”
I close my door, making sure the kids have their seatbelts on, and I lean my head on the door, closing my eyes as Martin puts the key in ignition and we trundle down the driveway.
Ten minutes later, we arrive at a park where millions of trees soar upwards, touching the sky with eager branches. It’s powder blue skies, and white periwinkle clouds as far as the eye can see. The flowers are a myriad of beautifully vibrant colours – reds, oranges, pinks, yellows – warm, summer colours with fragrant petals. Perfume. Your perfume. If we had enough time, we would spend the whole day here, walking around, taking in the sights, and the smells, and the tastes of the burgers from the grill. But we only have an hour and a half at most, and there is only one true thing we came to see.

“The Capilano Suspension Bridge!” I exclaimed, raising my hands, and grinning. I was standing at the top step of the bridge, with a smile that some might categorise as one belonging to a child. My fingers were stretched, jazz hands sweating in the hot summer sun. You stood at the top, arms crossed across your chest. A smile grew across your face, and a chuckle escaped your lips.
“A bridge?” You giggled. “You wanted to show me a bridge?”
My smile nearly faltered but I wouldn’t let up. “It’s a very beautiful bridge I’ll have you know, Miss Winslet. Come on.”
Your smile grew wider and you hitched your dress up, and took my hand. Your eyes shone brighter than the sun, and I ran onto the middle of the bridge, where it was the lowest, and watched as you leisurely walked towards me. I pressed my back to the bar, and took your hands. “Look.”
You turned to face away from me, and together we both looked out. The Capilano river rushed beneath us, carrying with it a strong current. It meandered through the trees, and disappeared beyond the horizon. I wrapped my arm around your  waist, lying my head on your shoulder.
“It’s so beautiful,” you mused, never averting your gaze from the sparkling river. I moved my hand to cup your face, my thumb on my cheek as I tilted you to look at me. Your eyes flickered across mine, your lips parted. “Not as beautiful as you, sweetheart.”

“This is the Capilano suspension bridge!” I exclaimed, still with the same enthusiasm from two and a half decades ago. Mia and Joe knew this story all too well, but to Bear this was brand new. He ran to the middle of the bridge and looked out to the exact point we had, and I felt a shiver wash across my entire body, like a ghost passing through me. You’re here with us.
“Daddy, can we play pooh sticks?”
Pooh sticks? I blink. What the hell is pooh sticks?
“You remember, the game where you throw sticks off a bridge and see whose gets to the other side first? It’s named after Winnie the pooh!” Bear explains, and it all comes back to me. Yes, pooh sticks. Winnie the pooh.
“Uh… sure, if you can find a stick then—” and he’s gone, running back past Mia and Joe and returning moments later with four sticks. He hands them out and we all make our way to the rail.
“On the count of three,” Bear instructs, his eyes narrow, focusing on winning. “We drop the sticks, and then we wait… One…”
“Two…” Mia and Joe drawl.
“Three!” I finish, and we all drop the sticks, watching them crash into the fizzy water below.
“Run!!” Bear exclaims, running over to the other side. We all decide to walk. It’s not that far across, and we can get over quicker in one step than if we ran. His hands crash against the bar, a metallic clang ringing out across the valley. A second later, the sticks rush under the bridge, and Mia cheers, throwing her hands up into the air.
“Is that yours?” Bear asks.
“Yep! I’ve always won pooh sticks. “Always!” She sticks her tongue out to Joe, and he holds his fingers in the shape of an L on his forehead. Bear hangs his head.
“I wanted to win!” His eyebrows crease together, and he pouts, holding his hands to me. I take his hand, and smile, leading them to the other side of the bridge. “Did you have fun playing though?”
He nods. “I did. I love playing pooh sticks.”
“Then that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”
At one o’clock, we stand in the departure hall, waiting with Martin. The pre-boarding announcement for our flight was ten minutes ago, and we are all saying goodbye. He shakes Mia and Joe’s hands, and Bear bear hugs him, grinning.
“Daddy, will we see Martin again, I like him!”
I nod, my eyes fluttering open and closed. “Yes, and we’ll come back to Vancouver one day.”
“Next week?”
“Maybe not next week.”
“The week after?” My eyes soften, and I ruffle his curls.
“One day, Beary.” I turn to Martin. “When’s your flight to LA?”
“Actually… I’m staying for another week. Daisy and our son are flying in now, should be here in…” He checks his phone, smiling down at the photo of this brunette woman and a curly haired little boy with the largest grin on his face. “An hour, so I’m gonna hang around.”
“You have a son?” Mia asks.
“Yes, Mia. His name is Brodie. He’s six.”
“Congratulations.” I offer, holding out my hand. Our final boarding call rings out through the hall, and we nod, taking our hand luggage, and leaving him there to wait for his wife and son.
At two o’clock, our plane taxis off the runway, increasing in speed until the road blurs and we become suspended once more into the sky, and we start our journey back to Belsize Park.