Free Gone Again by Doug Johnstone Page B

shook his head. ‘She’s only been gone a day. Maybe she just needed time away from your paranoia.’
    Mark could hear kids shouting and giggling inside, clumpy footsteps on solid stairs.
    ‘Nice family you’ve got,’ he said.
    Taylor was backing into the house. ‘Go home, Mark. And don’t come to my house again.’
    ‘Are you threatening me?’
    Taylor had the door half shut. ‘Just go.’
    The door closed. Mark stared at the etched glass and imagined how easy it would be to get a stone and smash the window.

14
    It wasn’t a bath night, but he hustled Nathan into the tub anyway. Anything to keep occupied. Little ducks and submarines, a drinking straw they took turns with, seeing how big a bubble they could make. Nathan had carefully placed the sea glass on the edge of the bath.
    The boy had already asked about Lauren, of course. Mark said she was away working for a few days. It had happened once or twice before, conferences or properties at the other end of the country to visit, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch. Nathan wanted to know why she hadn’t called, though. She always called before bedtime. Maybe her phone needed charging up, another familiar scenario, she was always forgetting. With each little lie, he felt the universe closing in on him, the wind outside trying to make him pay for what he said by pushing their windows in.
    ‘How’s your tooth?’ he said.
    Nathan put a hand to his mouth, gave a shoogle. His eyes widened and became watery as he pulled his fist away with a tiny milk tooth in it. Blood was pooling on his tongue and dripping off his lip into the bathwater. He made a gurgling sound. There was a lot of blood. Why the hell was it bleeding? Surely they just came out no problem, didn’t they?
    Mark grabbed some toilet roll and spun a wad into his hand, holding it against Nathan’s mouth. The boy’s eyes were blazing with surprise.
    ‘Daddy?’ he said through the paper. ‘Why’s it bleeding?’
    ‘It’s fine.’ Mark folded the blood-soaked side of the paper under and reapplied the wad. ‘It’ll stop in a second. Sometimes baby teeth bleed a little when they come out.’
    Nathan shrugged. Matter-of-fact. Still young enough to take what Mark told him on trust.
    The bleeding had reduced to a trickle already, and Mark dabbed the paper against the gum and lip, mopping up what was left. The bathwater had a few swirls of red amongst the bubbles, little threads of life through the soap.
    He checked the bleeding had stopped. Nathan was still holding the tiny tooth like a diamond between thumb and forefinger.
    ‘How much do you think the tooth fairy will give me for it?’
    Mark sucked his tongue. ‘Well, it’s a cracker, so quite a lot.’
    He had no idea what the going rate was, this was Nathan’s first and he didn’t have any comparison.
    Nathan scrambled out of the bath, still clutching the tooth, and Mark began drying him. The boy could do it himself, but Mark wanted to. He ran his eyes over Nathan’s body. There was something unbearably pure and beautiful about it, the skinny ribs, the slender limbs. His knees and shins were covered in bruises, Nathan had the typical little-boy tactic of running until he hit something. Looked like abuse if you didn’t know better. Mark rubbed him dry then patted his bum.
    ‘Go get your jammies on, Big Guy.’
    Mark stood with the damp towel against his face for a minute, imagining being suffocated, then got Nathan’s toothbrush ready and went through to his bedroom.
    The boy was already in bed with his tooth in one hand and the piece of sea glass in the other. Like a witch doctor with a pair of ancient talismans. The Cat in the Hat was lying on his lap.
    Mark handed over the toothbrush.
    ‘Just gently, and leave the front, no point making it bleed again.’
    Nathan was buzzing with excitement about the tooth. ‘Just wait till I tell Ahmed tomorrow. Did you know, Daddy, Ahmed got two pounds for his tooth last week.’
    At least Mark knew