Page 34 of In This Together

‘Sorry,’ they said in huffy unison.

‘Now, why were you eating Shake Shack for dinner? Where’s Dad?’

‘In the garage doing weights,’ Luke said.

Sure he is. What else would he be doing after picking up our three children from school and putting them on a trash-food high?

‘Okay, I’m going to find him. You guys… Be nice.’

With TJ in tow, she made her way to the garage, where Rod had his headphones in his ears, doing shirtless pull ups on his multi-gym.

Sure, she was mad at him but that was pretty much the normal state of play, so why couldn’t she take a moment to enjoy the way his abdominal muscles flexed, his quadriceps tensed, his biceps bulged? That his artwork was framed in sweat was somehow even more of a turn-on.

Wait, why had she come to see him again?

When he caught her looking, she raised a hand but she would not smile,no siree.She was cross with him, after all.

She glanced one last time from across her shoulder as she walked away and received a ‘Hey baby’, accompanied by a knowing grin, in return.

The next time she had seen Rod, he had been leaving the house smelling of cologne, heading for beers with the guys. Apparently, Hannah’s one night off in seven months warranted Rod’s one hundredth.

Naturally, his beers had led to him snoring all night and Hannah getting up every hour or two, thanks to TJ teething.

Now, she was standing on the sideline of one football field with TJ strapped to her front, cheering on Luke, whilst Rod was standing on an adjacent football field cheering on Jackson. They switched kids on a weekly basis to ensure they both got to see each child play without being accused of favouritism (this had happened in the past).

This was her life – football, arguments, sleepless nights. Thank heavens for mommy friends, who knew how much fellow mommies needed coffee.

‘White, no sugar,’ one of the school moms said, approaching Hannah with a tray of mugs from the clubhouse.

‘You’re my angel,’ Hannah said, taking the cup and wrapping both hands around it.

After football, they went to see Granny – Rod’s mom – in her care home. That was a long hour of mixed-up names, snarling at the kids, and repeatedly asking everyone to stay quiet.

Then they’d gone to a panini chain, where they spent a small fortune on sandwiches she could have made at home, apples and juice boxes. She and Rod broke up a fight between the eldest one and the middle one over the banana that Hannah tried to feed TJ but that he turned his nose up at.

Now, they were headed home in the car she called a bus, which they’d been forced to buy to fit in a teenager, a lanky middle kid and a child-seat kid, with trunk space big enough for groceries and a hand-me-down pushchair. TJ and Jackson were sleeping. Luke had his headphones stuck in his ears watching something she probably wouldn’t approve of on his iPad.

These fleeting moments of calm and quiet were what she lived for. She leant back in her seat and turned her head to look at Rod. He glanced to her then placed his hand on her thigh. She took hold of it and closed her eyes.

‘Han. Hannah. Light of my world.’

She opened her eyes to see Rod standing at the passenger side door on their driveway with TJ in his arms.

‘Oh God, I fell asleep,’ she said.

‘Yeah, I got that when you were drooling and calling out my name. Rod, oh Rod, take me to bed, baby.’

Despite herself, she laughed. ‘In your dreams.’

‘No, baby, in yours.’

‘Jackass,’ she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear as she climbed out of the car.

He held a hand over one of TJ’s ears. ‘Not in front of the kid.’

* * *

‘Homework time, please,’ Hannah called up the stairs to Luke and Jackson. It was the usual routine – an hour’s stint on spellings or math on either a Saturday or Sunday, depending on plans. In Luke’s case, she wasn’t sure she and Rod could even help any more.

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