Page 35 of Pelvic Flaws

“I’m guessing your age because of how old your kids are, so unless you were a real young mom, no you’re not. I’m forty-six.”

“Phew,” she said, sitting back in her chair. “That’s a relief, you’re a year older than me. Although, you don’t look that old.”

“What, even with the hair?” I pointed at my head and frowned.

“You look after yourself and the hair is very distinguished, which is quite unfair really.”

“How so?”

“Because if I let my hair go grey, I’d look like my grandma. You look really se-.” She stopped herself and the pink cheeks were back. “Well, let’s just say, it suits you.”

“Thank you, but I think you should know, you look real sexy too and you really don’t look forty-five. I’d have said a least five or six years younger.”

The pink now turned crimson.

“Have you been grey long?” she asked, obviously changing the subject to avoid her own embarrassment.

“I started going quite young, maybe thirty, thirty-one. I reckoned I’d embrace it and go grey gracefully.”

We paused talking as the waitress took away our dirty dishes, and poured Katie another glass of wine, but as soon as her back was turned we started up again.

I learned all about her kids, the fact that her ex, Carl, had a new, young wife and a two-year-old kid and that their divorce, four years earlier, had been a mutual decision.

“There wasn’t anyone else involved? The new wife?” I asked, wondering why the thought that he might have cheated on Katie actually mattered to me.

“No. Carl was a workaholic; a little self-centred and walked around wearing blinkers as to how we were drifting apart, but he wasn’t a cheat. That I’m pretty confident about. No, he met Sophie about six months after we split.”

“How do you get on with her?” I leaned forward, wanting to see more of her beautiful, pale blue eyes. “You like her, your kids like her?”

“She’s lovely actually,” Katie replied, rolling her eyes. “It’d be so much easier if she was a bitch and I hated her, but she isn’t. She adores Carl and is really good with my kids, especially Annie.”

I saw a little disappointment pass over her face and I figured the new, much younger wife, getting along with her teenage daughter made Katie feel shitty.

“I reckon they’re more like sisters,” I said, hoping it might make her feel better.

“Maybe. Annie always did want a sister, so she’s kind of got two now, I suppose.”

A little smile came back to her face and I felt an ease settle over me. I didn’t like the thought of her being upset.

“How about your boys? How did they take the divorce?”

“Charlie misses having his dad around, but he stays there a couple of nights a week as his school is just a few streets away. Isaac, my eldest, well I’m not so sure about him. He’s barely said anything about the divorce, either when it happened or since. He’s become a little distant from Carl, but I put that down to the fact he’s nineteen now and wants to be drinking with his friends more than he wants to go Go-Karting and watching football with his dad.” She gave a soft smile. “To be honest though, the boys are too laid back to care about anything, unless it’s got the letters PS in front of it.”

“PlayStation boys, hey?”

“Yes,” she sighed, with a shake of her head. “I’ve tried to get them to go outside and breathe in some air, but ‘PS is everything, Mum’.”

I laughed as she mocked her sons. “They seem like good kids though.”

“Oh they are. We argue like all families, but generally, we’re happy with each other. Charlie does like to play football and Isaac loves drawing, as you know, so I’m not too concerned. So, what about you, do you have any children?”

I shook my head and poured myself some water, then topped up Katie’s wine glass.

“Nope. Never married. Thought about it a couple of times, first time I was just a kid and it didn’t work out. The second, well, it just wasn’t right.” As well as my high school girlfriend, I had nearly asked Cherry to marry me, but when I thought about her saying yes, I felt a little freaked. I knew then our relationship wasn’t as it should be, and so that was when I started to think about leaving.

“You ever wish you’d got married and had kids?” Katie asked.

“I don’t know. Sometimes I do, when I see dads with their kids, or when families are all out together, but I’ve had a good life, so maybe it just wasn’t what was planned for me. What about you? You wished you’d had more than three?”

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