Three Years Old

Chapter Twenty-One

Heya, so I'm VERY happy right now :) Three Years, Five Months and Eleven Days just hit 100 thousand reads :O :O I want to dedicate this chapter to ameticia even though she's not reading this book yet (I don't think) because she helped me get there! 

Other causes of happiness: check the video on the side. It's the first official music video by this band made of six sisters who I've followed and loved on youtube for a while and it came out today and I love them so much!!! Don't go and watch it if you're not into pop/girl groups though... but if you do, I know you'll love it! Anyways, enjoy this chapter and remember to comment :)

***************************************************************************************

     ‘Where’s Debby?’ Flick asked me immediately upon my arrival. She stared up at me with her big brown eyes, exactly like Debby's, and made me feel strangely guilty for the fact that Debby was gone.

     ‘I’m sorry babe,’ I told her. ‘She went home with Michael.’ Flick just turned back to my mother’s TV, less bothered than I was expecting. I’d let myself into the house, knowing the door would be open, and found Flick alone in the sitting room, watching something on the telly. ‘Where are Blake and grandma?’ I asked her. She looked back out at me and put her little hands out on either side of her, shrugging at the same time, almost comically.

     I smiled and went over to the kitchen, hearing voices on the other side of the door. I opened it to find my mother on the chair against the empty wall with a glass of wine in her hand and one leg crossed over the other. Standing at the counter, chopping away was James, her incredibly hunky, fifty-year-old boyfriend.

      ‘Oh, hi there,’ I said, slipping Blake’s camera from around my neck, and placing it on a counter. ‘Blake said I should come for dinner.’

      My mother smiled at me and stood up to give me a hug. ‘Oh yes, it’s going to be great,’ she told me, letting me go. ‘James is an even better cook than me.’ I looked at him with raised eyebrows as my mother sat back down.

     He gave me a stunning grin and shrugged. ‘I guess I am pretty good,’ he said jokily.

     ‘What are you making?’ I asked, getting myself a glass from one of the cupboards.

      ‘Salmon topped with honey and mustard,’ he said, bending down to the oven to check the timer.

      ‘Sounds good,’ I commented, helping myself to a glass of water. ‘Where’s Blake?’

      ‘Oh, she’s just in the bathroom,’ Mum told me. ‘Did things go okay with Debby?’

      I sighed at this and shook my head. ‘I wouldn’t call it okay,’ I muttered. ‘But yeah, she went with Michael. He arrived, they screamed at each other forever, I had a bit of an emotional chat with both of them, and finally they left. It was like a marathon of feelings, I’m properly exhausted now.’

     James turned around and gave my mother a questioning look, showing that he didn't know what had been going on today. ‘Debby’s always been a difficult person,’ she explained to him. ‘And Blake was telling me earlier that it turns out Debby was only here because she was avoiding her long term boyfriend. So yesterday Beth called him and he came to pick her up.’

     He nodded at this and carried on what he was doing, as if this made complete sense. Just then Blake appeared, from through my mother’s bedroom, presumably having used her bathroom as it was the closest. My mother’s house had a very odd lay out in which there was a bedroom at either end of the house, separated by the kitchen, living room and dining room and another one upstairs, and all three bathrooms were en suites, so to get to any of them you had to go through a bedroom.

     ‘Hey babe,’ she greeted me, coming over to stand next to me.

     ‘Do you realise that our three-year-old daughter is out there by herself and the front door is unlocked?’ I pointed out. ‘Anyone could walk right in and kidnap her.’

     Blake just laughed at this. ‘Oh come on, when was the last time someone was kidnapped in St. David’s?’ she teased. I laughed at this, having only been half serious, but suddenly she grabbed my hand and said, ‘Sorry Dee, we’re off to look after our daughter.’

     Both James and my mother laughed as she led me out of the kitchen. We went through the living room past Flick, but instead of stopping and sitting down with her we carried on to the dining room just on the other side, leaving the door open so as to keep an eye on her anyway.

     Blake sat down at the table and let me take the seat next to her. ‘So, what happened?’ she asked, facing me and taking my glass of water out of my hand to have a sip.

     ‘They argued,’ I told her. ‘And after that I talked to each of them separately about it. And as it turns out, there’s quite a lot of stuff they never told us.’

     ‘Like?’ Blake urged me on, knowing full well that she would get the whole story, personal or not, because I hated keeping things from her.

     ‘Debby’s spent the last three years having up and downs about giving up Flick,’ I told her. ‘But recently she’s been having therapy and she feels much better about it. She told me that being with us this week actually helped because she saw how happy Flick is.’

     ‘Woah,’ she muttered at me. ‘Just… that’s a huge thing. I guess it must be sort of difficult to admit that to the people she gave her child to.’

     I shrugged, taking back my glass. ‘Yeah, it’s understandable,’ I agreed. ‘That’s what Michael thought had made her decide to leave, but she claims it’s not. She said she’s not sure if she loves him any more.’

     Blake’s eyes widened noticeably at me. ‘Are you serious?’ she asked, completely gobsmacked. I nodded at her. ‘I can’t even understand that,’ she told me. ‘I mean, as long as I’ve known them they’ve loved each other. I first met him when he was trying to get back together with her.’

     ‘Don’t worry,’ I reassured her. ‘I’m pretty sure she does. It’s Debby, she just has moments of weakness and her other feelings cloud the way she feels about him.’

     ‘Phew,’ she sighed in relief. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if those two broke up.’

     This made me laugh. ‘Nothing, probably,’ I pointed out.

     She laughed too. ‘You’re right, it’s not like I’d actually do something,’ she agreed. ‘But I’d be upset all the same.’

      ‘Well, I think they’ll be okay,’ I told her. ‘And now, we can get back to our normal lives.’