The next week rolled by in a similar fashion as the first couple of days with Eloise around: she would scold Zach for his errant behaviour whilst instructing him on how to be a parent. In a relatively short time, Cameron was eating vegetables without being coerced and was very receptive to toilet training, which Zach had feared would never come about.
Eloise was rapidly becoming the linchpin of his entire home life. She wasn’t just taking care of Cameron; she was fashioning Zach into a proper parent, and he marvelled at how she had done that despite his kicking and screaming.
It was Friday, and as Zach sat at his desk at Dolman & Markle Accounting, grinding his palms into his eyes to scrub out the need to sleep, he thought about the upcoming weekend. Eloise was not going to come over at all, leaving Zach solely in charge of Cameron’s care for the first time since the boy arrived.
Zach idly drummed the tip of his quill on the stack of parchment in front of him, ignoring the ink splattering on a client’s ledger. Something weighed on his mind more than the numbers scrawled all over the page. Something that he was certain was insane.
He was going to miss Eloise.
She had so quickly embedded herself into his daily routine. Every morning at eight, she would knock on the door before letting herself in. If he was not awake when she arrived, she would swat him with her purse — more than once saving him from being late to work due to child-inflicted bouts of exhaustion, no matter how many profanity-laced tirades it caused. He had even started eating breakfast at her urging, which was one particular mealtime that he had quit observing after Hogwarts.
With an unusually heavy train of thought, Zach absently cobbled together the rest of the numbers for his current client. He was nearly done for the day, and once he was finished, he quickly turned in his work and fled for the exit.
However, just as he was about to exit, Mr Markle called, –Smith!â€
Biting back an annoyed sigh, Zach turned to address his boss. –Yes, Mr Markle?â€
Markle smiled. –There’s something different about you, lad. You seem less . . .â€
Bored? Disinterested? Not in possession of a damn to give about financial contracts? Zach’s mind offered up.
–Drunk,†Markle finished.
Zach raised a brow in surprise. –I, um, don’t know what you mean.â€
Markle shook his head. –You’ve gone a week without coming in hung over. Maybe parenthood is agreeing with you.†The older man nodded approvingly, his pointed hat sliding down his brow and onto the bridge of his nose.
Turning around, Zach fled the building before he started laughing at the man who signed his paycheques. He tossed a curt ‘see you’ over his shoulder almost as an afterthought, hoping that his employer would resume their previous relationship based entirely on mutual disinterest.
As Zach headed towards the Apparition lane in Diagon Alley, he contemplated swinging by Honeydukes and picking up some Pineapple Pixies, the sweets Eloise had brought home from her shopping excursion. Though she had purchased them for Cameron as a gift for being good whilst they were out, Zach had seen her snatch one and pop it into her mouth. He couldn’t remember ever seeing someone enjoy something so thoroughly.
His mind made up, he turned down the side street that led to the main thoroughfare of Diagon Alley and breathed a sigh of relief that Honeydukes had not yet hit the Ministry after-work rush. Inside, he waved down one of the shop attendants and pointed towards the barrel of tiny yellow, fluttering confections.
The young woman who approached him, whose badge indicated her name was Shellie, smiled widely and asked, –How much would you like today?â€
–Uh . . .†Zach stared at the barrel before digging around in his pockets for loose coins. He realised that he hadn’t been to Gringotts all week, as the change from Eloise’s excursion had been enough for lunch since then. All he had was a couple of Sickles. –What can I buy with this?â€
Shellie’s smile tightened. –The Pineapple Pixies are a premium product, as they’re out of season. I’m afraid the most we can do for that much is five.â€
With a heavy sigh, Zach grumbled, –Fine.†They proceeded to the checkout, and as he handed over the only two coins in his robe pocket, he said, –I don’t suppose you do gift wrapping.â€
Seeing her opportunity to alleviate the awkward nature of the transaction, Shellie asked, –So, who are you buying for?â€
–My, uh, son’s nanny, actually,†Zach stuttered, curiously defensive about his reason for purchase. –She’s been great, and I wanted to say ‘thank you’.â€
–Aww,†Shellie crooned. –Aren’t you a peach!†She held up a finger for him to wait, but before he could ask where the hell she was going, she flitted off. About five minutes later, she returned with a purple box, complete with a flowing pink ribbon tied around it. A white tag jutted out of the bow sitting on top, which had a blank ‘To’ and ‘From’. –What’s your name, love?â€
–Zach,†he replied, now wishing he hadn’t asked. The box looked oddly romantic, and he didn’t want to give Eloise any reason to shout at him. Not that night. –And her name is Eloise,†he chimed without prompting.
Shellie swished her wand, and both the names appeared in a flowing, elegant script. Zach was impressed by the perfection of the wrapping, and as he inspected the box that Shellie handed him, he was glad he had asked, after all. –Thank you,†he said honestly.
–And I tossed in a couple extra Pixies, since you’re such a gentleman.â€
With a chortle, Zach answered, –I don’t believe I’ve ever been accused of that before.â€
Giggling, Shellie patted his hand. –Shame on everyone for that, then.â€
Zach came to the uncomfortable conclusion that Shellie was flirting with him, which even in his perspective was tactless considering he was buying a gift for another woman. –Yeah,†he said quickly before backing away, nearly toppling over a stand of Spanish Marziposas. –Thank you, Shellie. I, er, appreciate it.â€
Zach nearly sprinted out of the shop once he was out of eyeshot of the checkout counter. Though he didn’t find Shellie’s soft, blonde curls or relatively attractive face unappealing, he simply was not in the mood for mindless courtship rituals. At that thought, he abruptly stopped walking in the middle of the pavement, looked down at the elaborately-wrapped package in his hand, and started laughing.
Eloise stared at the package that Zach, who watched her expectantly, had just given her. Her jaw mimicked speech, but no sound came out. Zach nervously drummed his fingers on his hip. For one startling moment, he worried that she thought his gesture had been interpreted as romantic and was off-putting.
–Just so you know,†he said hurriedly, –this is just a thank you for being so, um, dependable.â€
Brow raised, Eloise hummed, –Right.†She gently untied the ribbon and rolled it up into a tidy spool before removing the lid. A shriek Zach would not have expected popped out of her mouth. –Pixies!â€
Zach stared at his feet. –Yeah, um, you seemed to like them, so I picked up a few for you.†He didn’t dare look up; he could practically feel her staring at him.
He never expected her to smack him.
–You really think I’m that easy?†she spat, her brows knit into a solid line of disapproval. –That you can swoop in with some posh little sweet boxes and I’ll just fall down at your feet?â€
Still clutching the box, Eloise span around and stomped off to the loo. The door slammed behind her with a spectacular thud, jarring the Arrows poster framed above the sofa. Zach stared after her with a wide-eyed stare. That hadn’t gone remotely like he had expected. Of any of the reactions he had anticipated, being slapped across the face was not one of them. He had been aiming for something more along the lines of mild surprise with a touch of gratitude.
Cameron, who had been playing in his room, walked up to Zach, his fingers in his mouth, and said, –Ellie-weeze is sad.â€
Zach swooped and picked up Cameron, settling the child’s weight on his hip. Approaching the loo door with caution, he leant his ear against it to listen. The muffled sound of sniffling met his ears, and suddenly, he felt a wave of shame and wasn’t even sure why.
–Ellie,†he called through the door, punctuating his hail with a couple of soft knocks. –Ellie, whatever you think it is, I promise it isn’t like that.â€
–Don’t call me Ellie!â€
–I’m sorry, Eloise!†Zach growled, becoming increasingly unhappy with the need to apologise for a simple gesture. –I wanted to do something nice for you because you’ve done such a great job. I know I’ve been an arse in the past —â€
–Don’t swear in front of your son!â€
He ignored her reprimand. –— but I should at least get the benefit of the doubt here!â€
Setting Cameron down, he pointed the boy towards his bedroom and said softly, –Go play for a bit while Daddy and Ellie chat.â€
Cameron looked ready to object, but Zach squared his jaw and any idea of mutiny appeared to stop in its tracks. When the sounds of childish Quidditch commentary came from the adjacent room, Zach turned his attention back to the other childish tantrum. –This is ridiculous, Eloise. You said you thought I’d changed, but you’re treating me like I’m some sort of slick git who’s only interested in climbing up your robes.â€
The door flew open, and the harsh whoosh of air was the only thing that warned Zach to step back and avoid a blow to the face. –Why are you being so crazy?â€
–I —†Eloise stopped and looked Zach in the eye. When he frowned at the evidence that she had been crying, she looked away. –I thought you didn’t have the power to hurt me anymore, Zach.â€
With an irritated grunt, Zach put his forefinger under Eloise’s chin and angled her face so they were once again face to face. –This has nothing to do with that thing in your third year, and you know it. I’m not that guy anymore, and if I hadn’t been a ridiculous prat over a decade ago, I wouldn’t have done it.†He dropped his hand and walked away to slouch onto the sofa. –I suppose I owe you a bit more than an apology, but do you really think either of us would be here right now if I really needed to keep on paying for what I did when I was bloody fourteen?â€
Eloise cast a worried glance at Cameron’s door, which was open and well within earshot of their argument. Lowering her voice, she hissed, –You really have no idea what you did to me, do you? I haven’t even been on so much as a coffee date since that day.â€
–Really?†Zach asked, genuinely surprised.
–Really!†Eloise sat heavily next to Zach. –Do you have any idea how hard it is to know that the only boy who ever looked at you twice — the only one who ever asked you to Hogsmeade, who kissed you behind The Three Broomsticks — did it on a dare?â€
Zach rolled his eyes. –Oh, please. It can’t be any worse than my former escort dumping a kid off on my doorstep without much more than a name.†He had never told Eloise about Mitzy, even though she had expressed interest in Cameron’s parentage more than once.
When her head jerked towards him in surprise, Zach shrugged. –It’s been hard to find someone who doesn’t remember me like you do. Mitzy just . . . didn’t care. I paid her monthly to be my date once a week and for the occasional shag.â€
Blinking, Eloise stared at Zach before bursting out into laughter. –We are a pair, aren’t we?†she said when she could finally breathe, only to laugh once more. Once she finally calmed, she said, –I owe you an apology, Zach. You’re right. I jumped to conclusions because of me, not because of you.†She swiped at the wetness on her cheeks and exhaled resignedly. –You have changed, and the Pixies were a really nice thing to get. I just . . . you probably don’t remember, do you?â€
At his vacant expression, she continued. –That’s what you got me at Honeydukes that day. ‘A Pixie for my pixie’, is what you said. They were my favourite.â€
The event started to come back to Zach. –And when Cameron wanted them, you probably had to bite your tongue not to set me on fire when you got home.â€
–A little,†she confessed. –I hadn’t had one since that day in Hogsmeade. The one I had last week was the first in a long time, and I’d forgotten how much I loved the flavour.†She rubbed her eyes. –Gods, I am so sorry. Cameron shouldn’t see us fighting, and I shouldn’t be acting like such a shrew.â€
Zach wanted to nod in agreement but thought better of it. Instead, he patted her shoulder and said, –Let’s just put this behind us. I’ll get started on tea, you enjoy your Pixies, and we can forget this ever happened.â€
–Fair enough,†Eloise said, her face clearly wrought with relief. –I’ll start on the chicken, then.â€
More than a bit shocked at her statement, Zach stopped in his tracks. –You’re staying for tea, then?â€
Eloise nodded. –I think I will.â€