exactly aren’t I getting?’ Aiden shouted back. ‘That you are so vacuous that you want to leave somewhere just because they don’t stock an overpriced fashion magazine?’
‘It’s all of it!’ Isla wailed.
‘You are so selfish!’ Aiden seethed. ‘I genuinely thought that your concerns were legitimate. That maybe you were just really struggling here but, actually, you’re getting upset about something so minor, something so insignificant!’
‘It’s significant to me,’ Isla told him coldly. ‘But then you don’t seem to care about what matters to me. You’re too busy either working or taking Meegan out. You don’t take me anywhere.’
‘So now you’re jealous of our daughter?’ he asked in disbelief. ‘You’re crazy, you know that? I’d take you out but you refuse to go anyway around here.’
‘I’m miserable and I want to leave here!’ Isla cried.
Aiden stood up to leave, tired of arguing over something as trivial as a magazine, though he did make a mental note to set up a standing order of Vogue online for Isla, for his own sanity as much as hers.
‘Why can’t we go back to Chicago?’ Isla demanded. Aiden was almost through the door when she added bitterly, ‘it’s because she’s there, isn’t it? God, Aid, you’re just so infatuated with her it’s pathetic!’
He immediately knew she was referring to Brandy. Was he really that transparent with his feelings?
Aiden turned to look at her, his eyes watering. He needed to say something, to reassure her that Brandy wasn’t an issue between them. As he stood, dwelling on what to say, the plaintive sounds of crying came filtering down the stairs. Their shouting had awoken Meegan. Aiden glanced upwards and then back at Isla who was now weeping gently at the table. It made him feel sick to think that he’d upset her like that.
‘I’ll go and see Meegan,’ he told her, his voice soft, the hostility of the argument melting away. Isla didn’t answer.
It took Aiden a while to calm Meegan down.
‘Daddy, why you yell?’ she asked him repeatedly through her floods of tears. He rocked her gently in his arms, reassuring her that everything was okay.
‘Mommy and Daddy are just tired,’ he told her, ‘people shout sometimes when they are tired. You know how grumpy you get when you don’t nap?’
This seemed to make sense to Meegan and she rested her head on Aiden’s chest, feeling sleepy once more.
‘We go to the game?’ she asked before putting a comforting thumb in her mouth.
‘Yes, sweetheart, we’ll go the game tomorrow.’ Since Aiden had become aware of the football scene in Avalon following his involvement with the Brandon White case, he’d tried to attend as many games as possible, soaking up the community spirit and enjoying the jovial atmosphere.
Meegan especially loved it, always insisting on being purchased a foam hand – she now possessed quite the collection, along with popcorn. It was a fun night out for them all. Although Isla only sometimes joined them, she found the games too rowdy.
After putting Meegan back to bed, Aiden walked into his own bedroom to find it in darkness. Isla was already lying beneath the sheet, her back to him.
‘She’s okay now,’ he updated his wife on their daughter but she didn’t answer. ‘Look, I’m sorry,’ Aiden sighed, always trying to heed his mother’s advice and not go to bed on an argument.
‘For what?’ Isla challenged, turning to face him. Even in the dim light he could see that she had been crying, her cheeks were red and puffy.
‘For making you doubt things.’
‘Is she an issue?’
‘No, of course not.’ Aiden leant forward and kissed Isla on the lips. ‘I know you hate it here,’ he whispered to her, ‘but I truly believe that this is the best place of us. Please just give it a bit more time and if you’re still desperately unhappy we can discuss moving again.’
‘Okay.’
‘Why don’t you come with me and Meegan to the game tomorrow? You know how much she loves them.’
‘The thought of her growing up wanting to be a footballer scares me,’ Isla admitted.
‘She can still do beauty pageants to keep you happy,’ Aiden teased. ‘And pageants are big business here. Think how much fun you’ll have when you can put Meegan in for those!’
Isla managed a smile at this.
‘So will you come to the game?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Earlier you were moaning that I don’t take you out enough.’
‘A high school football game wasn’t what I had in mind!’ Isla objected but her voice was warm.
‘It’s better than nothing,’ Aiden laughed.
‘I suppose.’
‘And I will order you Vogue,’ Aiden told her as she nestled into the nook between his arm and chest. ‘I’d hate to deprive you of all the many fascinating things occurring in the world of fashion.’
‘Don’t tease,’ Isla told him. ‘One day you’ll have two women in this house demanding the finest couture.’
‘I didn’t know they made designer football helmets,’ Aiden teased.
*
Avalon was always at its most lively whenever there was a local high school football game. It didn’t matter how significant the game was, everyone would always turn up, wearing the team colours to show their support.
As Aiden parked up near the football field, the revelry was already in full swing as people all around were singing merrily. The air was electric with excitement and it was easy to see the appeal of attending the games.
‘Football! Football!’ Meegan chanted from her car seat, sensing where they were.
‘Yes, sweetheart, we are at the football game.’ Isla turned around and smiled her. ‘I swear she gets more and more excited each time we come here.’
‘Finger!’ Meegan’s chant quickly changed when she spotted someone with a foam finger walk by the car.
‘Finger!’ she demanded again.
‘What do you say?’ Aiden turned to address his daughter.
‘Finger!’
‘No.’
Meegan scrunched her little face up in frustration as she tried to remember what she was supposed to say.
‘What’s the magic word?’ Aiden prompted again.
‘Please!’ Meegan exclaimed gleefully, proud that she had remembered.
‘Okay, good girl, we’ll go get you a foam finger.’
Aiden carried Meegan into the stadium as Isla went to purchase yet another foam finger. They had tried making Meegan take one of her existing foam fingers, but it seemed that part of the draw of them was the fact that they were newly purchased at the game. It seemed that each finger represented a different game and that was what Meegan liked.
It was already busy in the bleachers and Aiden had to sit quite far up to secure a seat. He spotted a few familiar faces around which he found comforting. Not so long ago everyone in Avalon had been a stranger and, whilst he was far from popular, he no longer felt quite so alienated.
A hand waved in his direction from close to the field and Aiden looked down to see Edmond and his brood settling down to watch the game, each of them dressed up and already well equipped with snacks.
Aiden waved