Page 75 of Pelvic Flaws

“I know, I’ll sort it in the morning. Anyway, what did you want to chat about?”

“We’ll talk more in the morning too, but safe to say I’m done with staying clear of your kids, darlin’. I want in and we need to tell Carl that my probation period is over. You okay with that, Katie Cat?”

I nodded and reaching on my tip toes, kissed him gently.

“Yep,” I replied. “Definitely.”

“Good,” Dex sighed. “Now go to bed before I pull you onto that couch with me.”

“I have a spare duvet upstairs, I’ll get it for you.”

Dex shook his head and grabbed the now clean of vomit, wooly throw from the chair. “This is fine. I’ll keep my sweats on. Now go.”

“I just need to say something.” I took in a deep breath as I looked Dex up and down.

“What is it darlin’?”

“You look so bloody hot in that outfit.”

Dex grinned and rolled his eyes. “You’re fucking killin’ me, Katie Cat. Go to bed.”

One more kiss to his cheek and his large palm smoothing over my hair, and I left the lounge, giving him a last look as he settled down before I went upstairs and had a few hours of blissful sleep.

Katie

Carl took the news about Dex not staying away from the kids much better than I thought, especially when he heard how he’d gone to pick Isaac up in the early hours of the morning. Also, that Isaac told him that Dex had said he should speak to his dad, made Carl realize that Dex was actually a good man.

“I feel like shit,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “How the hell could he think I didn’t want him, want any of them, but him especially?”

I sighed, passing Carl a cup of tea. It was early in the evening after Isaac had been arrested and Carl had called around to see him. They’d talked for ages and by the time Isaac left to go and meet his friends, he looked much happier. Carl, on the other hand, looked devastated.

“That’s what divorce can do to your kids,” I replied. “It puts all sorts of strange thoughts in their heads.”

“So you think we were wrong to split up, too?”

“God no,” I huffed out on a laugh. “We definitely did the right thing there.”

“What, so you could meet Mr. Perfect?” Carl rolled his eyes, taking a drink of his tea.

“And so you could meet Sophie.” I replied, ignoring his sarcasm about Dex. “Don’t tell me you’re not happier with her.”

Carl shrugged. “No happier than when we first married.”

I rocked slightly on my stool at the breakfast bar, because that was probably the nicest thing he’d said to me in years. Don’t get me wrong, Carl had never been cruel or horrible to me, he was just indifferent.

“Come on Carl,” I replied. “She’s gorgeous, she’s young, she’s sweet, and Jessie is adorable. You have more money than when we first married and you’re secure.”

“Wasn’t that half the fun though,” he said, looking at me with a wistful expression. “Living on beans on toast and cheap minced beef because we couldn’t afford anything else?”

“Wasn’t fun for me, your farts were hideous.”

We both laughed and reached for the biscuit packet at the same time. Our fingers touched and as I snatched mine back, Carl looked at me in a strange way. I couldn’t pinpoint what the look meant, but it was a mixture of melancholy and shit…love. It was all too weird.

“How’s the potty training going?” I asked, quickly changing the subject.

Carl shook his head, as if banishing thoughts from his brain and smiled. “Really good, she’s a natural. I think we’ve pretty much bagged it.”

“That’s good.”

---