Always Fraser by A. Steel (electronic reader .txt) 📕

He looks hurt, and I realise what I just said. “So, I’m just a fuck-up now?”

“I’m sorry, that's not what I meant. I just want to do this right.” I lean down and kiss him on the lips.

“Okay, but I’m not happy about it! What am I supposed to do, shimmy down the drainpipe? I’m pretty big, you know, and this building is old. It’s not going to go well.”

He’s up pulling on his clothes, still looking very unimpressed with me.

“I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you tonight, I promise,” I offer, fluttering my eyelashes at him, trying to be cute.

“You better,” he mumbles under his breath, not impressed with the whole situation.

“I'll keep her busy in the kitchen while you sneak out the front door.” I kiss him goodbye. “Have a good day at work.” I rush back to the kitchen.

“Wow, breakfast smells delicious, Mum, but you didn’t have to do this.” She's found her way around our kitchen no problems and made scrambled eggs with bacon and all the trimmings. Everything is laid out beautifully, she's even made fresh coffee, I don’t know how she does it.

“It's the least I could do, honey. I know how well you look after yourself when I’m not around. That's why you're so skinny, you need some decent food.”

The front door creaks as it closes and we both look to the hall. “Old places, they're so noisy,” I shrug, and she nods in agreement. Phew. We got away with that one. He’s gone. I take my first full breath since Mum got here, now I can relax. I feel so bad kicking Fraser out like that and about what I said, but I know in her eyes, it will just be another thing I haven’t done perfectly like my brothers.

“What's that delicious smell?” Indie walks in rubbing her eyes.

“Mum’s here with breakfast for us.” Her eyes are wide at me and I can tell exactly what she's thinking.

“Wow, thanks, Anne, this looks amazing. We'll have to get you over every morning if I can wake up to this.”

 “It's my pleasure, Indie love, but it's just a one-off. I'm pretty sure Elly moved out so she can have her own space. She doesn’t want me cramping her style, especially at this time of the morning. You never know who you might run into in the hallway.” She raises an eyebrow at me.

I bury my head in my hands. Great, she knows, and she's just waiting for me to tell her. Whenever I was lying to Mum as a kid, she would pretend she didn’t know a thing, then she’d do something nice for me like take me shopping or to a movie. I’d feel so guilty I would fess up every time! That's what this is. She knows for sure, and she's waiting for me to say something. This time I’m keeping my mouth shut. I'm not ready to burst my happy bubble with family drama just yet.

Fraser 

This will not be happening again, sneaking out before one of her family members sees me. What are we, 16? It's getting ridiculous. She’d better tell Drew soon or I’m going to have to tell him myself. Fuck the consequences!

I arrive at the office after a quick detour home to shower and get ready for the day. This is a big week for us, with our business being nominated for an award, and we're going away to the Gold Coast for the awards ceremony on Saturday night. We also have our new staff member starting in the office, Claudia, our new office manager. Elly’s mum, Anne, found her for us. When she heard we were looking for someone, she knew just the right person. Claudia's kids go to Anne’s school, and she's had a bit of bad luck lately with her husband leaving her and the kids and needed a job and fast. With years of experience in office managing before she had her kids, I’m sure she will be the perfect person for the job.

Blake has organised a meeting for us this morning so we can get to know each other and work out what her exact role will be. As usual, it looks like I’m late. The boys and Claudia are both in his office already, oops.

“Morning, Ash, Blake, Claudia.” I reach out to shake her hand. “Sorry I’m late, it’s been an interesting morning already.” Claudia looks to be in her mid-thirties with long dark hair which she wears pinned back. She looks very professional in her navy-blue jacket and skirt.

Blake is giving me a death stare for being late, but he’s trying to be polite in front of our new staff member. “It's okay. We were just going through a few things until you got here.”

I pull up a seat next to Blake.

Ash smiles.

“Now, Claudia is going to be working school hours. She will finish up for the day at 2.45pm so she can collect her kids from school,” says Blake.

She's fiddling with her hands and looks so nervous. “I hope that's going to work with you guys? It's so hard to find something that fits around school hours, and I don't have any family around to help out with the kids.”

“I can't see why it won't,” I offer, trying to reassure her. “This is a new role for us, so any help we can get to organise this place the better. It’s going to be better than what we had before.” This is obviously a big deal for her. I guess it must be hard having kids, especially on your own. I never really thought about how you would manage all that before, but it's what it would have been like for my dad when Mum left, so if I can help someone in the same situation, I’m going to do what I can to make it work for her.

“Thank you all for the opportunity. Since Anne told me