The Learning Curve (58 page)
Oscar shook his head and sniffed.
‘We could watch
Johnny English
again,’ suggested Mark.
Another shake and sniff and they lapsed into silence as they approached the end of the learning-curve path. On the squidgy tarmac, Mark suddenly stopped and knelt down, holding Oscar’s arms with his hands.
‘Osc, don’t cry, sweetheart,’ he said. ‘She didn’t mean to upset you. She still wanted to dance with you. She loves you. It’s me she doesn’t love.’ But Oscar kept crying and shaking his head. Eventually he leant on his father and mumbled into his father’s neck, ‘Is it because I spied on her that she doesn’t want us?’
‘Oh, no!’ Mark took his boy in a hug as Oscar started sobbing.
Nicky didn’t see what happened to Rob after the chocolates hit him, because she sprinted out of the hall across the playground, down the learning-curve path and towards the car park. She missed Miss James announce ‘the wonderful Miss Hobbs’ as her successor, missed Amanda leave smartly by the side exit without a backward glance, and thankfully
missed the sight of Ned and Martha getting it on in the canteen on top of the custard creams.
She yelled Mark’s name until she was hoarse.
Silence.
She started to run again, and by the time she reached the G for Gnu (which she’d change to Goat if she ever got to be Head), she had to pause for breath. She heard a car engine start and began to run again, sobbing as she went. When she reached the car park, she saw a car drive out. It wasn’t Mark’s. She scanned the car park desperately. There at the bottom was Mark’s car and there were Mark and Oscar, about to get in. She yelled their names, her voice now tinny and high. They stopped and looked over to her. She waved pathetically at them. They stared. She walked slowly towards them, her legs unstable, her breath too loud for her to hear herself practise what to say. When she reached them, Oscar came and stood next to his father. She looked at them both.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she offered, in a cracked voice. ‘Oscar, I’m sorry!’
Oscar ran forward and they met in a fierce, somewhat squeaky hug, Nicky kneeling on the ground, their heads almost level. They leant their foreheads together. Eventually, she moved away.
‘I think you owe me a dance,’ she said, tearfully.
‘Miss Taylor!’ he rushed. ‘She overheard –’
‘I know,’ said Nicky, stroking his hair. ‘I know everything, my love.’ Mark had wandered nearer, and was now standing about a foot away, his frame shadowed by a gentle summer sunset. She looked at him as she said, ‘Miss James has just read out your son’s detention essay to the entire school.’ She held Oscar’s hand.
Oscar took in a gallon of air and Mark whooped. They all started laughing.
Then Mark stopped laughing and stepped towards her.
‘So you know I was telling the truth,’ he said quickly. ‘About Rob. About me. And how I feel about you. How we both feel about you. You know I love you – we love you – we both love you –’
‘Da-ad!’ cried Oscar, blushing fiercely. ‘Da-ad!’
‘Actually,’ Nicky stood up, a sob of laughter escaping, ‘Oscar said it even more eloquently than you. If you can imagine that.’ She was still holding Oscar’s hand, partly to stop her own from shaking. ‘I’m so sorry, Mark,’ she said and she felt Oscar’s hand squeeze hers. She squeezed it back as she asked his father quietly, ‘Can you forgive me?’
‘Yes! Yes, oh yes,’ he said and they all met in a hug in the playground, Mark making a slight hiccupy noise from his throat. And then the three of them started laughing, swaying and hugging more. And Nicky learnt another lesson, that it was possible to love two people this much at the same time.
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Epub ISBN: 9781407097459
Version 1.0
Published by Arrow Books in 2006
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Copyright © Melissa Nathan 2006
Melissa Nathan has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
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ISBN 9780099504269