Page 82 of When We Are Old

Ewan shrugged and eyeballed the dustpan and brush. “What happened?” he asked.

“That dog was on the table.”

Ewan’s lips curved into a smile. “That drives Mam mad.”

I stiffened at the mention of Julie. We still hadn’t heard from her. I could only assume she’d gone to France to her family’s place for Easter—nice for the heads up. I pushed her from my thoughts.

“Did you tell him off?” I asked Ronnie, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear and marvelling again at the fact she was here.

“Yes, once I got him down. He’s the size of a horse, Matthew, he shouldn’t be on the kitchen table.” Her eyes shone. “Seriously, why didn’t you take him for behaviour lessons? He’s like a mutant out-of-control toddler.”

Talk of the devil, the blonde maned demon strode in, sniffing the air, working out what he could steal next. “It wasn’t the best time to be dog training.”

I watched Ronnie mull on this and then she must have realised what I meant as realisation dawned in her eyes. It hadn’t been a suitable time for dog training because the stupid four-legged table hoover had been bought as a ‘don’t divorce me bribe’. There had been little chance I was going to attend Thursday evening doggy lessons with Julie at that point.

“Dad!!!” Jack ran into the kitchen, stark naked. “All the towels are wet on the bathroom floor. I was trying to wash at the sink like you showed me.”

Ronnie and I both turned to Hannah, but she didn’t bother lifting her head from the table and just groaned an “Uuughh,” instead.

Later the boys were shouting at the TV in the front room and Hannah was upstairs somewhere. “Is she always like that?” I asked as I reeled Ronnie into my arms. She snuggled straight in and I smoothed her with my palm. We’d kept things chilled for the first time since they’d arrived and announced their impromptu holiday. No sight-seeing or being talked into a 'Carling Event'.

Today felt like the first day of forever.

Seeing Ronnie in the kitchen, her hair shoved up in a short and messy ponytail, her feet just in socks and her face scrubbed clean and shining with laughter, was close to perfection. Add to that the fact she had on a shirt that gaped every time she bent over to do something and it was near on close to heaven.

Excluding Hannah and Ewan's early morning war over the bathroom, it seemed to be going well. I never wanted it to end, but at the same time I knew that at the weekend Ronnie would have to take Hannah back to London.

Ronnie sighed into my kiss. I loved the fact every touch of our mouths began with a slow exhalation from hers, like our kiss was the only conversation she was interested in having.

“No. But it’s just hormones when she’s like that.”

I kissed up her neck, tugging on what was left of her ponytail. “How do you know?”

“What I’ve learned, and I’m not expert in these things, is the more noise she makes, the more groaning and ‘Ugghhhhing’,” Ronnie perfected an impression of Hannah’s morning eloquence, “the more hormonal it is.”

I studied Ronnie, searching her face for more. “You told me the other week she’s like you.”

Ronnie’s gaze dropped. “She is. It’s the silence you have to watch for. When she’s silent, it means there’s a storm of the unspoken inside of her.”

I nodded, distracted for a moment by my thoughts, my fingers running over the skin of her cheek, dancing around her ear. “I know about storms.”

Her lips turned down. “I know, now.” She flickered on a smile. “Are you feeling stormy now?”

I laughed, chuckling and pulling her against me. “Stormy or Stormzy?”

Ronnie chuckled against me, her chest pushing against my sternum. I wanted to pick her up and devour her. “Is that a popular culture reference? BBC Radio 4 only in our house.”

“Stay here with me.” The words slipped out and once they were free, I couldn’t disguise them with a cough or a sneeze. Their intensity carved engravings of doves and rainbows around us as we stood in the kitchen. I pressed my lips into the top of her head.

“What?” Her hands smoothed against my chest, pushing me back. “What do you mean?”

“You and Hannah, stay here, with me.” My heart thudded with the pound of a thousand hooves crashing into my chest.

It was like asking for the biggest prize with doing very little effort to deserve it.

“Matthew.” My name gasped from her lips.

“Ronnie,” I quirked a smile, trying to switch the sun onto the darkness that spread with her silence, “Don’t make this awkward. I’ve just asked you to live with me.”