Gamble a.i

29. "Like, like like him?"

"Macky, we need to talk," Mum says when I reenter the house with a sleeping Miranda in my arms.

She appears around the corner, still dressed in her work clothes, but her heels are tossed on the floor with all the other shoes. I nod quietly, signaling that I'd be back down in a minute. Without making sound, I sneak up the stairs to Miranda's room. My mum and Phil's door was thrown open, bed made on one side but not the other, showing that Mum hadn't been sleeping in her bed for a while now.

Still, Phil was no where to be seen.

I lay Miranda down in her bed, tiny jeans and all, before creeping down the stairs into the living area where my mum was seated, nursing a cup of, what I assumed to be, cocoa.

I sigh and sit, noticing another big, steaming cuppa on the table. Sipping slightly and wincing at the heat, I prepare for the ass-chewing of a life time, but still, Mum doesn't speak.

"Phil and I are getting a divorce," she states blankly a few minutes later.

"Can't say I didn't see it coming," I frown, displeased at the lack of emotion on my mother's face. I'd expected her to be sad, or maybe angry, but instead, she's absolutely nothing.

"He, um- he left... earlier," her voice is hoarse from obvious attempts of screaming to either make him stay or to make him leave.

"And how do you feel?"

"Relieved." She looks up, surprised as well as ashamed. "Is that bad?"

"If you weren't happy, then no, definitely not."

"I just wanted it to work, but I knew it couldn't. We rushed into it too soon. I don't even know if I love him anymore."

I apologize to her, but not for her loss. No, I apologize because this news just made me the happiest girl in the world.

We sit in an awkward, tense silence, waiting for one or the other to speak. I decide it would be me.

"Am I still babysitting Friday?" I ask, hopeful.

"Yeah. I work nights on Fridays now."

I nod, looking around the room.

"How's Ashton? I barely ever see him anymore," Mum comments.

"He's good," I snap my focus to her before blushing and veering away from her gaze.

"More than good, it seems," she chuckles, leaning forward. "Do you like him? Like, like like him?"

"Nope," I lie too quickly.

"Liar!"

"I don't-"

"You can't lie to me. You came out of my vagina!" she exasperates, throwing her hands into the air.

"So you're now a lie detector?"

"Always have been. Anyways, I like him. He's good."

"Yeah, he's good," I smile softly, finishing my drink before saying a final goodnight.

"Oh, Macky?" she calls before I clamber up the stairs.

"Yeah?" I answer automatically.

"I meant, he's good for you."

I blush and run up the stairs.

I didn't go to school the next day, claiming that I was sick. Ashton showed up twenty minutes after my mum left for work.