Love Redesigned (2 page)

‘I see you two have already met,’ Holly muttered as she went to work straightening Harry’s attempt at putting his school uniform on. Left to his own devices he’d actually done a pretty good job.

‘Have you brushed your teeth?’ she asked, smoothing back his hair from his face. Harry’s response was to give his mother a wide grin with only a few bits of cereal still caught in his smile.

‘Good enough,’ Holly said, deciding to forgo oral hygiene just this once in order to get her son off to school. That was her priority.
Harry
was her priority, not going tit-for-tat with Daniel. That could wait. Hopefully until the end of time.

‘Okay, I think you’re ready to go,’ Holly said, for a moment almost forgetting that there was a tall dark presence loitering in her hallway.

‘It’s okay, Dad is taking me to school today. I’ll show him what to do,’ Harry said, looking up at his mum earnestly whilst slipping into his school shoes and wobbling only a little. Holly stood there flabbergasted, her mouth gaping open. She was completely and utterly lost for words. Two thoughts ran through her brain. Number one: When had this plan been decided upon? And number two: Where had her little boy gone—the one who couldn’t pour his own cereal? He seemed to have been replaced by this teenager wrapped in a child’s body, who was telling
her
what to do.

‘Let’s go,’ Harry said in a tone reminiscent of his father’s. Like there was no room for questions or negotiation. Harry then picked up his school bag, grabbed Daniel by the hand, and led him a few steps closer to the front door, where Holly was now pinned, unable to move. That hurt. The handholding hurt.

‘I don’t think so, buddy boy,’ Holly said, shaking her head and continuing the conversation with Harry, pretending as best she could that Daniel wasn’t there. She was conscious that she’d done a complete mental U-turn. Just minutes before, she’d been desperate to get everyone out the house—and now all she wanted to do was keep everyone where she could see them. To hell with the blasted late board and Mrs Clarke.

‘I can take him, Holly,’ Daniel said softly. ‘I’d like to spend some time with him, and then I’ll come back and we can talk properly.’

‘Well, you’re five years too late,’ Holly snapped bitterly at her ex.

‘Please, Mum,’ Harry said, relinquishing his father’s hand for his mother’s while simultaneously throwing some award-winning puppy-dog eyes in her direction. Holly looked at her son closely and saw that the inner corners of his eyes were starting to moisten. She knew she’d lost when he did that. She hated to see him cry, and she especially hated to be the reason for the waterworks.

‘Okay,’ she exhaled wearily, ‘but I’m coming with you.’

‘Oh Mum, but you’re a girl,’ Harry moaned. Out of the corner of her eye, Holly clocked a wry smile developing on Daniel’s mouth.

‘Please, Holly. No funny business, I promise,’ Daniel said, giving her his own version of puppy-dog eyes. For some reason, Holly was inclined to believe him. One thing she’d never known Daniel to be was a liar. A schemer and a master manipulator, yes. But she didn’t think he would lie to her face. Not about Harry. She hoped he wouldn’t, anyway. Feeling beaten and heavily outnumbered, Holly felt herself not so much being persuaded, but merely conceding a point for now. And she sensed that she might need to save some of her energy for a bigger fight later.

‘Fine. But I need your car keys, wallet, and phone,’ Holly demanded, holding out the palm of her hand, ready for item collection.

‘For f—Christ sake, Holly,’ Daniel exclaimed, stopping himself from swearing at the last second. ‘I’m not going to disappear with him,’ he finished, his words laced with meaning.

‘Glad to hear it. Car keys, wallet, and phone,’ Holly repeated, not budging an inch.

‘You’d better do what she says,’ Harry piped up. ‘I think she’s serious,’ he added in a conspiratorial whisper they could all hear.

After a brief staring competition, Daniel made his own concession and fished out the requested items from his pockets, all the time muttering to himself about it not being necessary. He dumped the whole lot down loudly onto the hall table rather than handing them to Holly, then he grabbed Harry’s hand again. Daniel took another step forward into Holly’s personal space and leaned into the curve of her neck as though he were about to kiss her.

‘I’ll see you later,’ he practically growled at her, his breath tickling her neck.

Holly finally moved away from the door, keen to claim back some of her own airspace. She turned to Harry and stooped to give him a quick kiss.

‘Be good, Harry, have a great day, and remember to say sorry for being late to Mrs Clarke,’ Holly said, ushering them both out the door.

‘Love you Mum,’ Harry called as he led his father by the hand down the path.

‘Love you too, munchkin man,’ Holly returned, feeling anxious that a stranger was taking her son away from her. ‘It’s a five-minute walk that way,’ Holly shouted at Daniel, pointing down the street. He didn’t say anything. Just gave her a hint of a smirk and walked off down the road with the most precious thing in her life.

Holly spent the next twenty minutes in a whirlwind of activity as she tidied up the lounge, slapped on some war paint and finished getting dressed. She felt so much better with her slouchy sweater on over her tank top, giving her some more coverage and security. Holly also dropped Chloe at the office an urgent message to cancel all her meetings and work commitments that morning on account of a family emergency. This was something she found hard to type. Daniel was not her ‘family’, but she had to say something half-plausible if she was to completely abandon her morning schedule.

She had only the breakfast things left to clear up when she got distracted as she was coming down the stairs. Holly clocked the personal belongings that she’d made Daniel abandon on her hall table, and sank down onto the bottom step, her inner angel and devil having a heated discussion. She wanted to look, to nose through his wallet and check his phone. Of course she did. She was only human. Holly was desperate for some clue as to what Daniel wanted, what had prompted this early-morning visit so out of the blue. She was convinced he wanted something big—this was
not
purely a social nicety.

But as tempted as she was to look through Daniel’s things, she would always know she’d done it. She’d never be able to take the higher ground legitimately if she knew she’d rifled through his belongings. As a consolation, Holly settled for getting a closer look at Daniel’s car keys—without touching anything, of course; for all she knew, Daniel had memorised their exact position on the table, to test her and see if she’d been snooping when he came to retrieve them. Closer inspection showed that the keys belonged to an Aston Martin. So Daniel was still doing alright then, Holly thought to herself as she scanned her tiny home from where she was sitting. She loved her home, but she suddenly felt a feeling of inferiority knowing that Daniel’s house would be so much bigger and grander than hers.

Holly checked her watch and was alarmed to see that nearly thirty minutes had passed since she’d waved her son off to school. Where was Daniel? Perhaps he
had
lied to her face and he
had
abducted Harry. Perhaps it meant nothing to him to abandon his keys, phone and wallet, just like that. He could probably afford to replace all of them in the blink of an eye. The more Holly thought about it, the bigger the panic inside her started to develop. What the hell had she done, relinquishing her son to a stranger? What kind of a terrible mother was she? She was just about to phone the school when she heard the doorbell chime.

‘Thank God,’ she said to herself as she rushed to the door.

‘You certainly took your time,’ Holly snapped when she clapped eyes on the source of her annoyance.

‘I didn’t know you were so desperate for my return,’ Daniel said casually as he strode into the hallway and shrugged off his jacket. Uninvited, he walked through to the back of the house and into the kitchen, slinging his jacket over the back of Harry’s chair.

‘Was Harry alright?’ Holly asked, ignoring his banter and following in his footsteps down the hallway.

‘He was fine,’ Daniel said, turning abruptly and halting Holly’s progress in mid-step. He just looked at her.

‘What?’ Holly asked, uncomfortable under his gaze.

‘You’ve changed,’ Daniel said plainly.

‘We all change, Daniel,’ Holly responded, pushing past him. She busied herself around the kitchen, putting clean dishes away. ‘It
has
been over five years.’

‘I meant your clothes. You changed your clothes,’ Daniel clarified.

‘Oh,’ Holly replied, tugging at her jumper and realising her mistake.

‘I liked you more before,’ Daniel said, sounding disappointed.

‘I’m sure you did,’ Holly muttered as she turned and put the kettle on. Hopefully she would manage to get to drink her tea this time.

‘Yes please,’ Daniel said as he sat down, nodding in the direction of the kettle.

‘Make yourself at home,’ was Holly’s sarcastic response. She proceeded to make tea for them both in silence, concentrating on the task at hand.

Even after all these years, she still felt jittery around him. Of course, it didn’t help that he looked well. Very well, indeed. He was a good-looking man even at the worst of times—and now, sat there in her ordinary kitchen, looking all shiny and expensive, he had the effect of making Holly feel more of a dowdy struggling single mum than a yummy mummy.

Daniel broke the silence as she placed a mug of tea for him down on the table. ‘I’m glad to see you’re feeding our son marshmallows for breakfast.’

‘
My
son, Daniel,’ Holly said sternly. ‘Your silence over the years has spoken volumes,’ she added, hoping her words would dig the knife in further and make her viewpoint crystal clear. Holly began to clear the offending marshmallows and Harry’s empty cereal bowl away, but Daniel caught her hand and wouldn’t let go.

‘What’s this?’ he asked jovially, inspecting her fingers. ‘A naked hand. You’re not wearing your wedding ring! My my my. Moved on, have we?’

Holly tugged her hand out of his grasp. It was the first time in more than five years that this man had touched her, and it startled her that she should be so viscerally aware of such a casual touch, considering how highly physical and charged a relationship they’d had in the past. Clutching her hand was positively tame in comparison to—well, that—and yet she’d noticed it the second it had happened.

‘What do you want, Daniel? Why are you here?’ Holly asked plainly, ignoring Daniel’s blatant attempt at snooping into her private life. Holly put some distance between them and found refuge at the sink. This would reduce the chance of any more unexpected touching.

‘I wanted to meet
my
son,’ Daniel replied. Holly couldn’t tell if he was actually being sincere or just taking the piss. She found herself once again getting riled by his emphatic use of the possessive
my
. But rather than rise to the bait and take issue with the little things, Holly tried to make herself sound more like an adult and less like a first-grader.

‘Why now?’ she heard herself asking in a detached way, as she sloshed the dishes around in the sink.

‘Why not?’ Daniel replied rhetorically. ‘Whatever you may think of me, he is
my
son as well, and I have a right to get to know him. There’s no hiding from that fact, Holly. Plus, judging from today’s events, I’d say he wants to know me too.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, Daniel,’ Holly said, unable to hide her irritation or stop her volume from rising. ‘How can you be so arrogant as to think he wants to know
you
? He’s a little boy, for Christ sake. All he wants is a dad like his friends at school have. Someone to play fight with in the garden and gang up with against their mums. In fact, I’m convinced that
any
man could do that with him and he’d be happy. He doesn’t need his biological father to fulfill that role for him. Especially one who couldn’t give a toss and for some unknown reason has now decided to complicate our lives with his presence.’ This little rant was accompanied by a series of disgusted and dirty looks. Shaking her head, Holly looked down to see a nice wet patch across her stomach from where she’d splashed the washing-up water in her anger. She lowered her head and concentrated on washing the dishes in silence. Maybe Daniel would do a disappearing act if she concentrated on her scrubbing efforts hard enough.

‘Any man could be Harry’s father, could he?’ Daniel said softly. Holly remained at the sink, not even deigning to turn around and look at him. ‘Do you really believe that?’ Daniel continued. ‘And what about you, Holly? Could any man make you blush as quickly as I can? Could any man make you feel as good as I can?’

Daniel whispered this last question directly into her ear. Holly jumped at the realisation that he was so close. She hadn’t heard him get up off his chair, the sneaky bastard.

Holly felt trapped. Literally. If she moved or turned around, she’d have to touch him—and she definitely didn’t want to do that. That could lead to a whole chain of events that Holly would
not
be in control of. Daniel was playing one of his favourite games: using his sizable physical attraction against her. Back in the days after she first met him, she would have melted in this scenario, and they’d have been in bed together before any more words could have been spoken. Sex was Daniel’s number one weapon when it came to women. If he wasn’t getting his way, then he simply turned up the pheromones, got whoever was being argumentative between the sheets, and that was the end of the discussion. Well, that’s what he’d done with Holly, anyway—on more than one occasion. She presumed it was a similar situation with the other women in his life.

‘Could you step away from me, please?’ Holly asked politely, turning her head slightly towards him. She could smell him. He still smelt the same. Clean, with a citrusy scent from his aftershave.

‘Why would I do that, Holly? Unless I’m very much mistaken, you’re still my wife, and that means I can stand where the hell I please.’