Christa suddenly felt sick. She wasn’t sure if it was the close proximity to Simon’s ego or the nerves she felt.
‘I need to go outside,’ she said. ‘I need air.’ She pushed past Simon and out the back door.
The boys and Paul and Adam rushed out behind her. ‘Do you need a doctor?’ asked Adam, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
‘No, I just need air,’ she said and sat in the cold, on the bench by the back door.
‘I’ll get you some water,’ said Paul.
‘It’s okay, I promise,’ Christa said, as the boys sat on either side of her.
‘It’s cold out here – go inside,’ she said to them but Seth took her hand and Ethan the other one.
‘Do you want some Skittles?’ whispered Ethan, pulling out a packet and shaking them at Christa.
‘Your mum better not see those,’ she said.
‘Peggy got them for me,’ whispered Ethan. ‘She lets me have things, just like you do.’
Christa pulled him to her in a little hug.
‘Thank you, Ethan,’ she said.
‘Boys, come inside,’ she heard Avian say as she tapped on the window behind them.
Reluctantly the boys stood up. Christa felt the packet of Skittles being put into her hand and Ethan looked her in the eye.
‘Take one every fifteen minutes, and you will feel better soon, I promise.’
27
Marc sat alone at the dining room table. He felt stupid and nervous. This idea of Simon’s was ridiculous. But he knew Christa would win. Simon was one of those men who thought near enough was good enough, and he was sure that Simon wouldn’t put in the same hard work that Christa brought to everything she did.
He had watched her and the boys work on the gingerbread house of Pudding Hall, meticulously icing all the window frames and the front door and then individually icing the slate roof, each slate shingle outlined and then filled in one by one. He wasn’t sure how much he and the boys had helped but she was encouraging of them all.
Hi phone rang and he answered it.
‘Marc Ferrier,’ he said, not recognising the phone number.
‘Hi, Marc, it’s Trent Blake fromThe Hollywood Reporter.’
‘Okay?’ he asked carefully. He and Adam were trying hard to keep their takeover of the streaming service quiet until the sale had gone through.
‘I heard that your ex-wife and producer ofBlind Bakinghas sold her show to Netflix, will this affect the deal for Cirrus?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said and hung up the phone. He called Adam from his phone.
‘We need to talk,’ he said and he soon heard Adam coming into the dining room.
‘Shut the door,’ he said.
‘How’s Christa going?’ he asked, not being able to help himself.
‘She’s okay, had a little turn and we had to take her outside.’
Marc stood up. ‘I need to see her. Did you call a doctor?’
‘She doesn’t want one, just said it was the masculine toxicity from Simon’s ego that was upsetting her balance.’
