One Constant Holiday

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

   I opened up the the 'My Grievances' card and sighed. It had been four days since the funeral and now I was back at home, I was opening up the last of the sympathy cards. Even though I saw her at the funeral, Alana had even sent me a card with a small reminder at the end to go out with them on a bender, which I doubt will happen. The chances of me going to Manchester willingly now were nil, I was staying at home with my mum and dad and staying there as long as I could.

   "Uncle Kyle!" Ben yelled as he came running towards me at full pelt. I gave him a smile and picked him up, tickling his stomach a little which made him laugh.

      "Hello little man, how you been?" I asked him and he opened his mouth wide to show me his missing tooth. "Did the tooth fairy come?"

      He nodded his head, "yeah! I got 50p!" He screamed. "I got some sweets with it from the shop!" 

      "Did you now? Can I have one?" He nodded his head and shoved his white paper bag of sweets in my chest. I opened it with the one hand I had spare as he held onto the bag and took two cola bottles out. 

   "I only said one!" He cried as he yanked the bag back and frowning at me, which made me genuinely smile. I loved this kid so much. He was like a free anti-depressant.

       "Where's your mummy?" I asked him. He pointed out of the door, so I followed his direction and went into the kitchen where Claudia and my mum were talking.

       As soon as I saw her, she gave me a sympathetic smile and my previous moment of bliss shattered. She couldn't attend the funeral as she was moving house and she wasn't able to find a babysitter for Ben seeing as his dad is the biggest waste of space ever. So this was the first time I had seen her since the funeral.

   Ben leant over to her, so I passed him over and sat down on the dining room chair, looking up at them. "Moved in okay?" 

      She nodded her head. "Yeah thanks, just got to paint Ben's room now, I was just going down to the shops to pick the paint up and thought I'd nip in for a brew before carrying on." She shrugged as she took her brew off the counter and took a sip. 

   "Do you mind if I join you?" I asked her and she shook her head.

      "Not at all." She smiled before placing Ben on the ground. "Go and play with your toys for a bit, honey." She told him and he rushed off into the living room, his bag of sweets in his hand.

      "Good, I need to get out of the house." I told her and she nodded her head before sitting down at the table herself. 

      "Do you want a cup of tea?" My mum asked me and I shook my head, so she came and sat next to me at the table.

      "Where's Josh?"

      "Oh, he went out to his mates, he said that he was mowing his mates lawn, or something like that." She mumbled and I thanked the Lord that I didn't get a brew then because it would have ended up all over Claudia. 

   "Mowing the lawn, eh? In April?" I asked her and she nodded her head which made me smile knowingly. When I was younger, and me and Kelsey first started dating, obviously we had to keep it a secret, so I used to tell everybody I was out mowing people's lawns. What it meant was, I was going to have sex with Kelsey. I had taught it Josh when he turned sixteen, it was nice to know he was using it. 

   Half an hour passed with us just having small talk, before Claudia's eyes flitted to the clock on the wall. "Right, well I best be getting that paint, you coming Kyle?" She spoke and I nodded my head and gave my mum a hug from the side.