Gary and Libby; Take Two

"Bye Bye Gra'ma!" Ethan waves a the tiny, frantic hand that isnt encased by mine in a vice grip as the three of us stand at the bottom of our drive, bidding a farewell to the final member of our family to leave this morning. "Goodbye my wonderful boy!" Marjorie grins, looking at Ethan, but waving at me as she ducks towards her taxi. Gary follows, effortlessly swinging his mothers over-night bag in his right hand. "Mum, I would have driven you to the station, you know.." He mumbles succeeding Marjorie to the back of the taxi and opening the car door for her. I nod as Gary plants the beige holdor next to his mother, before moving around to the drivers window to take care of the fare. "We can still run you there if youd prefer Marjorie, its no trouble?" "Nonsense!" Marjorie waves another dismissive hand, leaving it to rest on the car door handle to stop it swinging shut as a gust of wind sweeps down the pavement. "You look ...

A/N; Haven't actually proof read this one so massive apology for any colossal grammatical typos.. "Youre upset..." Gary starts, running a hand through his hair as he looks down at me. "No fucking shit!" I choke, a hot tear breaking free, bypassing my cheek and dropping onto my bottom lip. Gary moves, as though he were going to brush it away, but i jerk backwards as best i can in the little space between him, me and the kitchen island. And then we stare at each other for a while, apple green eyes staring into cerulean blue, neither of us saying anything until i draw in a shuddery breath. "Go away." "No." "You have guests." "No," Garys tone drops, raising slightly for the first time during this conversation. " We have guests. So we have one of two choices; we can both smile and pretend that this conversation didnt happen for now and rejoin our dinner party, or seeing as you were so keen to bring up this tonight ...

"Do you need a hand?" Gary asks, coming up besides me and placing more crockery on the work surface as i stand at the sink, hand washing all of the wine glasses and china plates you only get out on special occasions because theyre too delicate for the dishwasher. Pulled from my thoughts, i take a moment to answer, staring into the foam of bubbles swallowing my hands. "What, with the washing up?" A quiet; "Um-huh." Is my answer, and i can only assume Gary is nodding too. I cant see him though, my hair hangs annoyingly in front of my face, bedraggled and un-kept until i have a dry and soap free hand spare to brush it over my shoulder with; i smirk behind it never the less. "When was the last time you hand-washed a dish?" A long finger from behind me pulls my face free of my hair and i take the moment as a chance to glance across to Gary who is mindlessly running the tip of his left index finger around the rim of a wine glass. "Could be toni...

"He's zonked.." Gary smiles, glancing back into the rear-view mirror to find Ethan fast asleep in his car seat, chubby cheek smushed against the seatbelt and two tiny hands clutching 'Lizebeth the infamous blue rabbit and an orange gifaffe from our day trip to Battersea Park Childrens Zoo -the newest addition to his collection, in a vice grip in his lap.  I twist in my seat to gaze at the toddler, leaning forward as best I can to pull the seat belt away from his face so as not to end up with a red sleep crease across his already pink face. "It didn't take long, did it?" I smile. We've only been in the car seven minutes.  Gary laughs slowly, taking the first left onto Sloane street. "I hope he had a good day.."  "Gary, did you see his face? He was elated." Turning back to face the front, I glance at the time;  5:26pm  "Only issue now though..." I sigh, peeking back at Ethan who is now snoring softly in the back ...