When We're Together (Damon Albarn)

Chapter Seven

Sunday 3rd September 2006

"Are you sure we go back to school tomorrow? I don't think I do" Missy questioned me, sitting up in bed as her brown eyes looked up at me expectantly.

I laughed as I gently pushed her down, bringing her duvet up to her chin before placing a kiss on her forehead.

"I'm absolutely certain" I told her with a smile, placing one more kiss onto her cheek before walking out of her room "I love you Missy, sleep well"

I gently closed her door and looked across the hallway to see Damon doing the same to Primrose's door. I walked across to him, letting him wrap his arms around me before placing a kiss onto his lips.

"Three kids in bed, three sets of uniform ready for the morning, we've done it" He laughed, I nodded my head, resting it on his chest as I hummed in agreement.

We'd had an incredible summer together, as soon as Damon and I returned from LA, we went to Colchester and picked the kids up before heading down to Devon, where we stayed for almost a month. We spent day upon day on the beach, swimming, crabbing, building sandcastles and just spending time together, as a family. We were so caught up in our little bubble that we did become slightly lax with bedtime, which had caught up with us as it was now almost nine o'clock and we'd only just got them all settled in bed. But the constant laughter and smiles we had from them all summer made it more than worthwhile.

Damon and I made our way downstairs and into the lounge, the house felt oddly quiet, but I couldn't help but smile as I sat down on the sofa. I moved across to Damon, letting him wrap his arms around me as I rested my head on his chest and watched as he flicked aimlessly through the TV channels. The kids going back to school meant that Damon was going back to work, he'd only snuck off to his makeshift studio a few times whilst we were away and it was so lovely to be able to spend so much time together without him jet-setting halfway across the world.

With him going back to work, it meant that it was just going to be me, alone in the house again, just waiting for the children to finish school. My manager, Chris, had phoned me a few more times asking about the Loose Women job and whether I was going to do it. I couldn't give him an answer, I still hadn't discussed it with Damon. I'd been deliberately putting it off, I knew that he wouldn't be too keen on the idea and the more I had thought about it, the more I had actually liked the idea of doing it.

"Lyla" I looked up to see Damon staring at me, his eyebrows furrowed "I asked what you wanted to watch"

"Oh" I laughed lightly, shaking my head "Sorry Dames, I was miles away, I'm not fussed put whatever you want on"

"What's on your mind?" He asked, his face softening into a smile as he gently played with a loose strand of my hair. I sighed, closing my eyes slightly as I shook my head. It was now or never I suppose.

"I erm, I had a call from Chris" I quickly looked across to him to see his eyebrows furrowed again as he tried to work out what I was going to say next "He erm, he's asked me if I want to erm, want to go onto Loose Women, they're quite keen for me to be on it apparently"

"You've said no though, surely?" He responded quickly, I shrugged my shoulders as I bit down nervously on my lip.

"I'm not sure I want to say no" I mumbled, dropping my attention down to my hands as I waited for his response.

"Why?" He questioned, his hand dropping to gently stroke my cheek.

"I don't know, I just, I haven't really done anything for such a long time, which has been fine because the kids have been small but now Missy and Fox are both at school and Prim is starting full time nursery and I just feel like I need to do something again, you know?" I rambled, taking a deep breath before looking up at him. His face had softened again and he was nodding slowly, attentively listening to every word I was saying.