Page 95 of All Right No

“She’s disentangling herself from him so that she can be with you. She’s certainly not been in an active relationship with him for some time. Not for years if Dani’s unaware of his existence. Doesn’t that clue you in to the fact she cares about you? Isn’t all the evidence that’s stacked up since the summer enough? Ginny loves you, Ash. Did you even hear her out properly, or was your mind stuck on the fact she couldn’t dive into a church with you immediately?”

Paul put a hand down hard on Spook’s shoulder, knocking Spook off balance and his stride. “Jan,” he said quietly, making both Spook and Ash’s ears prick. None of them ever used Spook’s given name, most times they had trouble even recalling it. “It’s too soon. Give him a break. He’s still in shock.” Rock Giant kept his voice low, but the sound still carried over to Ash. It was odd hearing himself referred to.

“He’s blatantly screwing himself again.”

“Perhaps. You can’t expect him to be reasonable or logical about things at this stage. Would you be? Of course not. No one would. You saw how giddy he was last night. He was farting rainbows, and scaring everyone with his Gene Kelley grin. Whatever the reasons for it, she’s flung him out of a plane without a parachute. He needs us to be here to catch him. Are you getting me?”

The blaze in Spook’s eyes paled, and he gave a juddery series of nods. What he refused to do was look straight at Ash. “All right, sure.”

“You ought to get your facts straight too,” Ash muttered, finding his voice again. “She’s not divorcing him. He’s divorcing her. I have the paperwork to prove it.”

“Divorce proceedings are rarely straightforward.”

“Jan,” Paul warned him again.

Spook backed down with his hands raised. “Sure, I know nothing, and it’s none of my business.”

The three of them stewed for several moments, none of them speaking. Paul and Spook shuffled about uncomfortably, until Paul eventually said, “Come on inside. I’ll make us breakfast and we can see if Yule Father has been.”

“Santa,” Ash mumbled. He’d left his case at his parents place containing all the presents he’d bought.

“Odin,” Spook corrected them both. “Reckon he can be bothered with us?”

Paul shrugged and turned towards the door. Spook followed, but only for a couple of paces. He tapped Rock Giant on the back. “I’ll follow in a few, just need to…”

“You realise there’s nothing any of us can say right now?” Still, he left them and headed inside the bolt hole.

Spook wearily squinted at the morning sky, then sat on the grass beside Ash, who pushed himself up into a sitting position.

“If you say that you knew I’ll never fucking speak to you again.” Some things were big enough they ended chapters, maybe whole sections of your life. This was one of them.

“I didn’t know, Ash. I had no idea she’d spring something like this, none.” And yet there were clearly cogs and gears inside his brain working.

“None? She didn’t confide during one of your many post-midnight conflabs.”

Spook vehemently shook his head. “I listened when she needed to let off steam, that’s all. Don’t start inventing conspiracies. I’m sorry I snarled. I’m just trying to look out for you and figure out how to make it right.”

“Yeah. Let’s not go there.” There was nothing and would never be anything right about this situation. It was a long steaming pile of shit, destined to make a stink for a significant amount of time.

“I guess we now know what all the phone calls were about.”

“Guess,” he agreed.

***

When Ash finally stumbled back inside a few minutes after Spook, he discovered three of Paul’s most threadbare socks had been strewn across the front of the kitchen island. His name had been pinned to the centre most one.

“Looks as if we were good boys this year after all,” Paul boomed from across the room. The sound left Ash’s ear’s ringing. He peeked inside the sock and found a satsuma, some vegan chocolate coins, an assortment of nuts, a bleeding candle, and tube of hemp scented hand cream. Great if he wanted to smell like a stoner.

“Thanks.”

“They’re from Yule Father—”

“Odin,” Spook interjected.

“—not me.”

“Thanks, Santa.” Ash raised one of the coins to him in a sort of salute, before scoffing it. “Say, is there any actual food in this place?”