Forever Mine

STEPH

“I’m off then.” Justin shouts over the sound of the hoover.

I turn it off and look him up and down in his crisp white shirt and navy suit. I’m not used to seeing him dressed like this. The suit seems to fit him better than it ever has, especially as he’s been working out a lot lately.

“Okay, see you later.”

He walks over to me and lifts my chin, pecking my lips. “See you later. I’m not sure what time I’ll be back. Don’t wait up.” His blue eyes twinkle as the sun shines through the window.

“Have a good time.”

He nods, forcing a blonde strand of hair to flick over his forehead before he spins around and walks out the door.

“Mum, can we do something fun today?” Cairen slumps on the sofa, flicking his legs over the arm and points the remote at the TV. “I’m bored.”

“Play with your sister and Chloe.”

“I’m not playing with girls.”

I wheel the hoover into the utility room and grab my phone from the worktop. Googling things to do, I check out what activities are near Callum’s house. I’m verging on stalking now.Not verging, you are stalking. You’ve been at his house every night this week.I drove by to see if he was home, that’s all, but I haven’t been able to catch him. I’m not even sure what time he finishes work.

“Would you like to go bowling or ice skating?”

“Ice skating,” he shouts and jumps off the sofa, running upstairs. “Cassie, do you and Chloe want to go ice skating?’

Within minutes, they’re all downstairs getting their shoes on.

I lock the back door and grab the car keys and my purse. We all jump in my Suzuki. I still haven’t upgraded. It’s been all right since the battery died on me last winter, so I don’t see any reason to spend money on a new car when this one is perfectly suitable. “Buckle up kids.”

Turning on the radio, I listen to the latest chart music while I drive down the street, heading towards the leisure centre near Cal’s house. The girls natter to each other in the back seat.

Cairen sits next to me in the front. “Are you ice skating with us, Mum?”

“No sweetheart.”

“Mum, you never skate with us.” His lips turn downwards and his eyes well up like a basin filling up with water.

“You’ll be okay. You have Cassie and Chloe to skate with.” I ruffle his hair.

“But I want to skate with you. Last time you watched while Dad took us on the ice.”

The thought of skating terrifies me, making my palms clammy. I can’t skate. The last time I skated, I was about nineteen. I was with Cal in London. There was a temporary ice rink set up near the tower for the winter period. It’s only because I read about it in his journal this week that I remember it. I continue to drive and my mind drifts back to that time.

Cal kisses my cheek and nods towards the ice rink. “Fancy a skate?”

“You know I can’t skate.” I giggle.

“I’ll hold you up, or I can get you one of those little penguins to hold on to.” He chuckles and bumps my shoulder. His breath materialises in the cool crisp air, and he takes a drag on his cigarette before stubbing it out into an empty flower bed next to the wall we’re sitting on.

“Come on” He stands and pulls me with him, interlacing his fingers with mine as he leads me towards the rink.

We’ve been together for almost a year, but I still get tingles when he holds my hand. I glance at his face and his rough unshaven jaw and can’t stop my lips from pressing against his cheek; they have a mind of their own, wanting to kiss him all the time.

The bristles on his skin prickle against my lips and it sends a flicker straight to my centre. My hand squeezes his, and he smiles, turns his head and takes possession of my mouth as we wait in the queue for the skates.

Once on the rink, I daren’t let go of his hand. He laughs as I cling to the railing, then he skates off doing a solo like Christopher Dean. Well, maybe not quite that good, but he skates effortlessly around the rink. He’s fearless.

My bum was bruised after falling over a few times. He caressed each bruise with his mouth when we got back to the hotel. I would gladly bruise myself every day if I could feel his lips on me like that.