Points Of View

It was 1pm and the driveway was empty but I knew he was in. I knew because I could see his red lumberjack flapping in the wind on the clothesline over the garden fence. Garrett never left the house without his lumberjack.

The breeze was warm and brought little relief to the scalded skin on my nose and the cranky infant wriggling in my arms as it snuck up my blouse and teased the hem of my skirt. I nuzzled her velvet neck and she stopped squirming, grasping a handful of my hair in her piggy fingers and holding it against her face. It was the end of summer, but the sun hadn’t seemed to realise it yet as it seared my skin and wrung every drop of moisture it contained.

Slinging a diaper bag over my left arm and securing the baby in my right, I closed the car door with my hip and clicked the lock. My flats clacked against the sandalwood deck as I hopped up the steps and advanced towards the door, wrapping my knuckles twice against the side panelling. The silence of suburbia closed around us and Kadence struggled, face contorting into a frown. Gurgling, she released my hair and instead reached for the small, spherical cactus balancing precariously on the windowsill.

“No, darling,” I scolded her gently, jiggling her in my arms. She snatched back, scowling, and I hushed her quickly before she had the chance to open her tulip lips.

There was a scuffle in the house and I shifted slightly on the coir welcome mat, arranging my paling face into serenity. The door opened and a tall, shadowed figure shuffled behind the flyscreen, peering forward to scrutinize me through the mesh.

“Kasey?”

The flyscreen swung forward and I stumbled back, hugging the infant to my chest. She let out a sharp wail of protest before shoving her index and middle fingers into her pouting mouth.

“Kase!” John breathed. “What are you doing here so early?”

He chewed on his lip anxiously as he stood barring the doorway, his arms raised and resting on either side of the frame. Hair dishevelled, chest heaving, dishcloth slung haphazardly over his bare shoulders, he looked the very picture of guilty.

“It’s one o’clock, John,” I frowned, adjusting the baby back on my hip. “I told Garrett I’d be
over as soon as Kadence had her afternoon nap.”

John tugged twice on his fringe, surveying the child and the diaper bag in my arms.

“Right.”

He didn’t move.

“Well, are you going to let me in?” I gestured at the hall with a sigh.

“Uh,” he glanced back into the house, “No.”

“No?”

“No.”

I glared, tapping my foot impatiently. “Well, why not?”

The sound of bare feet padded into the hallway as a tall, slender figure stepped up to the door and a startlingly pretty brunette head popped over John’s shoulder. I gaped, viewing the situation with new eyes. She was dressed in nothing but a large v-neck that brushed her thighs and clung in all the right places, accentuating her hips and breasts. Honey-golden legs that boosted her to a good five-foot-ten slunk through John’s guard as enticing russet eyes examined me up and down.

Her gaze paused on Kadence and she smiled, holding out her hand.

“Hey,” she grinned, “I’m Mischa.”

“Kasey,” Shoving the bag into John’s naked chest, I reached out and took her hand.

Mischa stepped back, ushering me inside and with a smirk, I pushed past John and followed her to his living room. I froze in the archway, gawking. The carpet was free of extension cords and Xbox cables, the coffee table removed of cookie crumbs and flat drinks, and the baskets of un-ironed laundry were pushed up neatly against the back wall. I eyed Mischa as she whipped the blanket off the couch and plumped up the pillows before sitting down and settling herself against them.

“Whoever she is, I like what she’s doing to you, John,” I laughed, sending him a wink as he ripped open the curtains. Red crept up the back of his neck and he turned, pursing his lips.

“We’re not together,” Mischa piped in, glancing at John. “He’s just letting me bunk here for a while.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You were making her sleep on the couch?”

Avoiding my chiding eye, John mumbled something about getting coffee and left the room.

“He was still asleep, wasn’t he?” I chuckled, sitting down and bouncing Kadence on my lap.

Mischa nodded, blushing sheepishly. “We both were, actually. I didn’t get a wink of sleep on the bus.”

I cocked a brow, pushing a pacifier into my daughter’s mouth. “You were on the tour too?”

“Yeah,” She pulled a playful face at Kadence who stared wide-eyed, fascinated. “My sister and I were selling merchandise.”

“Oh.”

I cooed at my daughter as Mischa’s gaze wandered out the window, hands fidgeting in her lap. Minutes past before she looked at me again, and from the corner of my eye I could see her dismantling my features.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” she said, grimacing awkwardly.

“Garrett’s-” The word stuck, cold and callous in my throat. “Garrett’s ex.”

Mischa seemed to stop breathing then. Her shoulders stiffened, her jaw dropped, and her eyes bulged out of her head. I eyed her curiously but thought nothing of her bizarre reaction.

“Speaking of Garrett,” I cleared my throat. “Where is he?”

“Out,” She didn’t miss a beat. Her eyes melted into a look of remorse and she stood, smoothing down her shirt. “He’s not here. You should go.”

“But his shirt, his lumberjack is on the line-”

I snatched my arm from her urgent grasp, glowering furiously. Who was this woman –this girl- to kick me out of John’s house? The nerve of her made my blood boil.

“Kasey,” John’s voice was gentle as he ambled into the living room balancing three mugs on a tray. He sent Mischa a warning look that he tried to hide beneath his tousled mane as he bent down and placed the coffee on the centre table. “Garrett’s just gone out, but he’ll be back soon.”

I shot Mischa one last venomous glare before averting my eyes to John as he sat down next to me, nursing a mug in his large hands.

I glanced at my watch as Kadence tucked her head into my shoulder. “I can only stay for ten minutes, I told Linda I’d be back before two.”

John nodded, eyes roaming the carpet. “I’ll give him a call now.”

He patted my thigh before getting up and leaving the room, Mischa hot on his tail. The sound of heated discussion filtered from the kitchen and I strained my ears, hanging on to every inaudible word. Kadence’s breathing evened out and deepened as she fell into a light sleep, her warm cheek pressed against my right shoulder. I kissed her head, revelling in her lush baby scent.

I was so busy adoring my daughter that I didn’t hear two new pairs of footsteps tread up the hall. They paused in the archway, much like I had before, and it was only then that I looked up and met his eyes. It was like everything went into slow-motion then, even my heart dropping, which unfortunately just made the pain last longer. My head pounded with confusion as the girl duct-taped to his side looked me up and down, nose scrunched and lips tight. She was wearing the Rocko’s Modern Life t-shirt I had given him last Christmas. Nothing else.

Garrett looked at his daughter, sweet baby Nickelsen, and his eyes filled with shame.

“Kasey,” he said, licking his tulip lips. “I can explain.”

Yes, he probably could have, but it wouldn’t change anything. Yanking the diaper bag back over my shoulder, I stood up and with one last scorching look, pushed past them to the door. My head was boiling as a thousand-and-one possibilities in Garrett’s defence flittered through my mind.

As hard as I tried, I couldn’t believe a single one of them.