Chapter Forty Seven
I woke up from my light slumber and winced when I realised it was because my legs had gone to sleep as I was sat on them.
“I keep telling you not to do that,” he said looking over at me and I just mumbled something, I didn’t even know what I was trying to say. “What?” he asked.
“Nothing, how much longer till we land?” I asked stretching my arms out.
“Couple of hours,” he answered going back to what he was doodling on and I closed my eyes again but I knew that sleep wouldn’t come, especially when the person behind me kept pushing my seat. We were in business class so there was plenty of room for people to move around, this person was being an ass on purpose.
“Will you stop it?!” I groaned as I unclipped my seatbelt and knelt on the chair so I could look over at Jay.
“Erm, no,” he replied and went back to doing it again.
“Your thirty years old,” I reminded him.
“Age aint nothing but a number,” he began to sing and I had to laugh. “Willow I’m bored,” he whined.
“Yeah well I’ve just woken up so I’m not really up for entertaining you,” I said turning back round. I caught a glimpse of what Nick was drawing then, it was a characture of him and me.
“What are you doing baby? I asked looking at it more closely.
“Just working on an idea I had,” he said not taking his eyes off what he was doing.
“Care to share what that idea was?” I yawned.
“Invitation,” he replied.
“As in wedding invitation?” I asked and he nodded yes. “Let me see,” I said pulling his arm.
“It’s not done yet.”
“Please,” I whined and he relented picking it up and showing me it. It looked really good at the moment it was our heads with big cheesy grins, with the date along the bottom. “I love it,” I said.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Yep, it’s great but you better get a move on if your going to draw two hundred in time,” I joked and he just rolled his eyes at me, “That was funny,” I said.
“Yeah, whatever,” he replied, “Only four months to go baby,” he said grabbing my hand.
“Don’t I still have so much to do and I don’t have a dress yet,” I replied.
“It’s all cool, you’ll meet your Mom tomorrow and you’ll find it,” he said.
“That’s easy for you to say, all you have to do is turn up in a suit.”
He turned away from me then, going back to what he was drawing singing lightly to himself. It took a few moments but I realised he was singing one of the songs I had written for him.
“You listened to it?” I asked.
“Yep, and I loved it even more because it was you singing them,” he said still concentrating on what he was doing.
“You didn’t think it was a corny idea?”
“No, I loved it and I love you,” he said leaning over to give me a quick peck.
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“I hate it,” I shouted through the door to my Mom and scowled at the reflection of myself in the mirror.
“Just let me see,” She said but I was too quick and grabbed the handle before she could open the door.
“No I look like I’m about to give birth,” which was ironic seeing how I couldn’t have children. She relented and I removed the dress and began to put my regular clothes back on, jeans and a tank top that was what I was comfortable in, not some huge white dress which made me look like a meringue, I envied Nick, it was so easy for him all he had to do was get a suit and he already had a million of those, lucky bastard. Shoving my sunglasses on top of my head I exited the dressing room and met my Mom in the centre of the studio.
“Don’t look like that, you’ll find something,” she said.
“We’re not getting disheartened are we?” Matthew asked handing me another glass of wine.
“It’s hard not to when my wedding is three months away and I don’t have a dress, maybe I should just turn up in a bin liner,” I said feeling sorry for myself.
“I’m sure Nick wouldn’t care,” My Mom said and I glared at her, “What? He wouldn’t. Nick would be happy to get married in jeans and a football jersey,” she said and I knew what she said was true, he would get married in a baggy t-shirt n shorts if I let him.
“I am not Britney Spears, I am not getting married in sweats,” I said.
“I agree, that’s not the best look, even if it is comfortable. Right okay the first two haven’t worked, so I know you were kind of against a corset but I think we should try one, I think it’s going to really enhance your shape, it will pull you in at the waist, and will lift your boobs,” he said looking through the racks he had bought along to the hotel room with him.
“But I want to be able to breath and eat,” I whined.
“You will be able to, here try this,” he said handing me a corset.
“I think its missing something, unless I’m going to be walking up the isle in my underwear?”
“That’s the beauty of the corset, you can add whatever bottom you want to it,” he said as I walked into the bedroom again and then quickly walked back out, “ I think I am going to need some help,” I said and he laughed motioning for me to turn round as he did me up. “Jesus,” I said as he pulled me into it.
“It’s not that bad,” He said.
“Yeah your not wearing it.”
“Wow,” My Mom said when it was done up, “Your boobs look huge,” she said and I laughed.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah. That’s does look nice sweetie, it’s good at defining your shape.”
“Yeah but I really don’t want a two piece,” I said turning to Matt.
“It wouldn’t have to be a two piece, when we find what type of skirt you want I can make it all into a one piece,” he said rummaging through the rack again. “Now I really think we should avoid a train because of the sand issue, you could have as hoop but I think that may be a bit much.”
“What are you thinking then?” I asked as I tried to sit down and was pleasantly surprised as it was quite easy and comfortable.
“Well we could just use a bit of netting under the dress to give it more definition. We could go for the same material as the corset, or we could use a netting for the whole skirt but I would put some sequins on it. Try this on for a second,” he said handing me the skirt.
I pulled it on over my jeans and then realised that due to the corset it was going to be difficult to get the jeans off from under the skirt. I sighed, pulled the skirt off followed by my jeans, Matt was gay anyway.
“See I like that,” he said looking at me, “What do you think?” He asked turning to my Mom, when she didn’t say anything I looked in her direction and sure enough she was crying. “It passes the Mom test so I think we have a keeper,” he said handing her a box of tissues which she gladly accepted.
“Why are you crying?” I asked as she stood up to get a better look.
“Because you look gorgeous and I never thought I was going to see this day last year,” she said pulling me into a hug.
“So this is a keeper then?” I asked her and she nodded. “Okay so we have the dress,” I said as I looked in the mirror.
“Right, colour?” Matt asked.
“Aren’t they supposed to be white?” I winked at him.
“There are different shades of white. I was also thinking of having something in there that was the same colour as your bridesmaids, then again you said you were going for wine red didn’t you?” he asked and I nodded,” I think on ivory that might look too much. Have you ordered your flowers yet?” He asked and I shook my head no. “I think what you should do is have your bouquet in the colours of your bridesmaids dresses, and then they could all have ivory in theirs,” he suggested and I liked it.
“Yeah that sounds good.”
“Now I am going to put some sequins of the skirt, I’m thinking we could do with some on the corset as well. I don’t want to put too many on because I think that would take away from the skirt, so how about a band along the top? That will also draw people to your boobs,” he said.
“I don’t think many people are going to miss them,” I joked looking down at them.
“So all that sounds good?” He asked and I shook my head. “Great what I will do is do a few sketches so that you definitely know what I mean and send them to you, is email ok? He can’t get into your account?”
“Email is great,” I said.
“I’ll do that over the next few days and then we’ll get you back for the first fitting next month, are you okay with coming back to New York or do you want me to come to Florida?” He asked.
“No New York is fine, thank you so much Matt.”
“No Problem.”
Chapter Forty Eight
“Yeah three o’clock is fine, I yeah I have to go,” He said into the phone when he noticed me. He hung up quickly, looking like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Who was that?” I asked as I placed my bag on the kitchen counter and went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.
“Nobody,” he said avoiding eye contact with me, a sure sign he was lying.
“So you were talking to yourself? Who was it?” I probed again.
“It doesn’t matter who it was, do I ask you every time you get off the phone?” He asked becoming slightly defensive.
“There’s no need to bite my head off, I was just asking,” I said sitting down at the breakfast bar.
“Well don’t,” he snarled as he walked out of the room leaving me slightly shocked at his outburst, shocked and also a bit pissed off. I sat there for a few more seconds, picking at the label on the bottle before I got up to look for him.
I didn’t have to go far, he was sat clicking away on his laptop in the living room, chewing on his bottom lip.
“Sorry I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that,” he apologised when I sat down next to him.
“I shouldn’t have been nosey,” I said flicking on the TV with the remote. “You ok?” I asked leaning my head on his shoulder.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” he asked.
“You just seem on edge that’s all, your not getting cold feet on me Carter are you?” I asked only half joking.
“Course I’m not,” he said finally looking at me.
“Good because I have spent to much energy on planning this wedding, what are you looking at?” I asked noticing the website he was on.
“It’s a realtor that Kevin’s used in the past,” he said clicking on a link.
“A realtor? Why do you need a realtor?”
“I just thought it would be nice to move somewhere new. You know we’re getting married and I just thought it would be nice to move into a house where both our names could be on the deed,” he said clicking off the link.
“I like that idea, so are we thinking around here or what?” I asked.
“Definitely Florida, the whole LA scene just isn’t me and everyone we know is here, unless you want to go somewhere different?” He asked putting his feet up on the coffee table.
“No definitely here. Hey what about that one?” I said pointing to the screen when he was quickly scrolling through.
“Your not serious?” He asked perplexed.
“Why not?” I asked.
“That’s like next door to Aaron, I love him dearly but I nearly killed him when we lived together for six weeks, I couldn’t live next door to him permanently,” he said.
“Okay,” I relented, “Well why don’t you give her a phone call and set up a meeting,” I said and he nodded his head as I went back to watching the TV.
Chapter forty Nine
I knew from the look on her face that she was pissed off at me and when she wouldn’t hold my hand as we were walking around the grounds of the resort where we were going to get married I knew that I had annoyed her by being late.
“Are you going to write your own vows?” Suzanne asked.
“That’s the plan,” Willow answered. I still had no idea what I was going to put in mine, I wanted it to be from the heart but I didn’t want to sound stupid or corny.
“That’s fine just so we know, now if you follow me we can look at the seating arrangement and make sure that is all ok,” she said as she walked ahead of us.
“Sorry I was a little late,” I said.
“A little late? Forty five minutes is not a little late,” she hissed quietly pulling away from me again when I went to grab her hand.
“I said I was sorry,” I replied.
“Just leave it, we’ll talk about it later,” she said as she turned to Suzanne and smiled sweetly when we reached the reception hall.
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“Are you going to stay pissed at me all day now?” I asked when we were back in the car. She had be quiet towards me since I had turned up late, only turning to me when my opinion was needed and even then I could tell she didn’t really want to ask. She remained quiet. “So I’m getting the silent treatment?”
“The silent treatment is a lot better than what I want to say to you at the moment,” she said as she just stared out of her window.
“Well I want to hear what you have to say,” I said making a left.
“You’ll hear soon enough, I just want to go and see Kev and Kris before I get into this with you,” she said as I pulled into their driveway and she was out of the car before I even turned off the engine.
“I see your in the dog house, whatever it is you’ve disagreed on about the wedding just go to her and say you were wrong trust me makes life a lot easier,” Kevin said when I walked through the door.
“I was late for a meeting,” I said walking into the kitchen.
“School boy error Nicky,” he said hitting me on the back.
“Yeah I know, uh no I’ll have a soda please,” I said answering Kristin when she asked if I wanted a beer.
“Where is my godson? I want to see him walking,” Willow said looking around.
“He’s napping but he should be up soon,” Kris said handing me my drink. “You guys all ready for the big day now?” She asked.
“One of us is,” Willow answered sarcastically and I was just about to open my mouth when Kevin swooped in.
“Hey Nick, I need your advice on a track, we’ll be in the basement,” he said pulling my arm.
“Okay what’s going on with you guys?” Kris asked when they had both left.
“I think he’s getting cold feet,” I answered honestly.
“What makes you think that?” She asked sitting across from me at the kitchen table.
“He’s just being really distant, he’s been late for two appointments about the wedding, I don’t think he wants to marry me Kris, I think he did it because he felt he had to and now he’s regretting it.”
“Your talking shit he wants to marry you. Your just over analysing stuff that’s all, Nick never shows up on time for anything, they think the world runs on backstreet time,” she replied taking a sip from her drink.
“So this is all in my head?” I asked.
“Your stressed out about the wedding, this is all normal sweetie,” She said her head turning when she heard Mason’s cry on the baby monitor, “Someone’s awake, come on lets go and get him,” she said pulling my arm so I would follow her.
“mamamamama.”
“I know your awake. Look whose here Mas,” she said pulling him out of his crib when we reached his room. It was unbelievable how much he looked like Kevin, the dark hair and the amazing green eyes.
“Hey gorgeous, you going to come here for a hug?” I asked holding my arms out for him. He snuggled in close when I took him from Kris and then followed her downstairs. “You’ve grown again sweetie,” I said bouncing him on my knee while he woke up properly.
“It’s hard to believe that this time last year he was still tiny,” Kris said handing him some juice.
“I know. You going to show me what a big boy you are now?” I said setting him down on the floor. He stood up and took a few wobbly steps before he fell on his butt. “Wow your such a clever boy,” I said clapping my hands as he got up and tried again.
“Are you going to come to Nick Mason?” He asked when he walked into the room and crouched down. It took a few tumbles but he finally made it and Nick scooped him up in the air making Mason giggle. “You so clever,” he said bouncing him a bit making him laugh even more.
“Mason? what’s this?” Kevin said handing him a gift bag. “Give it to Aunty Willow,” Kevin prompted when he began to suck on the handle. Nick walked over and handed me Mason.
“Are you going to help me?” I asked pulling out one of the presents and tearing the paper. “Aww thank you sweetie,” I said when I took out the picture of me and Mason.
“Happy early birthday,” Kristin said handing me a card, “We had no idea what to get you and I know how much I needed to relax before the wedding,” she said explaining the gift certificate for a spa day.
“Thank you I am definitely going to cash this in ASAP,” I said making her laugh.
“You guys looking forward to the Bahamas?” Nick asked setting Mason down on the floor so he could play.
“Oh yeah,” Kevin replied.
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“I’m sorry I was nasty earlier, I shouldn’t have snapped at you I guess I’m just a bit stressed out,” I said when we pulled out of Kevin and Kristin’s drive.
“I should have made sure I was on time, or I should have called you to let you know I was going to be late,” he said putting his hand on top of my one that I had rested on his thigh.
“So we’re good now?” I asked and he turned to me smiling.
“Of course.”
“So where were you?” I asked and he moved his hand from mine.
“I uh, stuck in traffic, and I dropped a CD to Beej and got stuck in traffic coming back,” he said avoiding eye contact with me. He was fidgety too and that was a sure sign that he was lying. It was then I realised that he smelt like a perfume that I didn’t own.
Chapter Fifty
I looked at my watch and grimaced I was three hours late and I knew this was going to be difficult to explain, I needed to get to a shower before she could smell the perfume on me, or at least cover it up with some after shave, hopefully she would be in the kitchen and I could make an excuse of needing the bathroom before I saw her.
I realised as I opened the door that I had no such luck, she was sat on the stairs, in the dark and she was pissed.
“Sorry I know I’m late,” I said throwing my keys into the bowl beside the door. She stayed silent, shit this was going to be bad. I looked at her for a minute and then walked into the kitchen.
“You’re just going to walk away without an explanation?” She exploded following me into the kitchen and then I snapped.
“Sorry I forgot that’s your speciality isn’t it? How many months did you leave me hanging or have you conveniently forgot about that?” I asked and she recoiled like I had hit her.
“That was different and you know it,” she almost whispered. “Four times Nick, four times in the past month you’ve left me hanging on appointments we were supposed to go to together. Do you know embarrassing that is?”
“I lost track of time, I was round Kevin’s,” I said.
“Kevin’s?” She asked and I nodded. “I thought they were still in the Bahamas?” SHIT!
“I realised when I got there so I played golf with Alex,” I said thinking on my feet as I went to the refrigerator to get a soda.
“Don’t lie to me,” she hissed.
“I’m not,” I said turning to her and it only registered that she had slapped me when I felt the burning sensations across my cheek and I stood their stunned.
I felt the burning in my hand and saw my hand print across his face and instantly felt sick. I had no idea what had driven me to do that, I had never hit anyone in my life and if felt hot tears burning my eyes.
“I was with Alex,” He said again as he bought his hand up to rub his cheek and instantly any remorse I felt was replaced with anger again.
“No you weren’t because I called him and he left here ten minutes before you got home Nick,” I screamed as I turned and walked away from him and stormed into the bedroom.
I some how knew exactly what she was doing. I found her in our room a suitcase on the bed and she was wildly throwing her clothes in to it.
“Willow stop,” I said grabbing her but she wriggled free and continued packing.
“You bastard Nick I trusted you, you know what its my own fault I knew what you were like before I got into a relationship with you, but well done you’ve managed four years of being in one relationship,” she said angrily hiccupping her tears back.
“You think I’m having an affair?” I asked.
“Don’t fucking insult me Nick its pretty damn obvious now, I don’t know what more I expected you’ve never been able to commit to anything,” she yelled throwing clothes in to the case in an untidy heap, occasionally stopping to wipe the tears that flowed from her eyes. “You come home late, you make excuses that don’t make sense, you reek of perfume that’s not mine… you… you I can’t believe you would do this too me when a year ago you had the choice of not being with me anyway,” she said walking into the bathroom to gather the stuff in there.
“You think that little of me?” I asked when she reappeared and she just glared at me. “So you’re not going to give me a chance to explain things?”
“Why should I? You’ll only lie your way out of it,” she snapped and then so did I and threw the suitcase across the room, knocking a lamp off a cabinet which went crashing to floor. She froze for a moment and then ran out of the room; I heard her grab a set of keys but didn’t move till I heard her tare out of the driveway.
Great, just fucking great.
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I knew this relationship was going to come back and bite me in the ass. Apparently there were things Nick had been keeping from me but it wasn’t what I thought according to Chris and now as well as throttling Nick I wanted to do that to him too.
“What do you mean you can’t tell her?” Autumn yelled at him when he said it was up to Nick to tell me.
“Because he trusted me with it and I’m his best friend.”
“Yeah well she is my best friend Chris so tell her, for fuck sake she is his fiancé,” she yelled as she paced the room but he remained calm and ignored her turning to me instead.
“Look I promise you he isn’t seeing anybody else, he’s not that good of a liar and this is nothing sinister but he’s my friend and I cant break that trust, if it was the other way round I know you wouldn’t tell me stuff she asked you to keep secret,” he said and I nodded because I did understand.
“Who is she, the cats fucking mother?” Autumn asked still visibly angry at Chris.
“I know your right Chris but what am I supposed to think? Every time he’s on the phone and I walk in he hangs up, he’s secretive, he’s not himself…”
“He is not sleeping with anyone else Willow, is he at home?” He asked standing up.
“That’s where I left him after he threw the suitcase across the room,” I said
“He hurt you? I’ll fucking kill him,” Autumn yelled seething.
“Will you shut up shouting? He didn’t hurt me, he was angry and…”
“I’ll go talk to him,” Chris said as he left the apartment and we sat in silence for a few minutes.
“I hit him Autumn, slapped him across the face,” I said still shocked at what I had done.
“Sounds like he deserved it,” she said sitting next to me.
“If what Chris says is true then he didn’t. How am I going to put that right?” I asked and she looked at me but said nothing.
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“In here,” I yelled when I heard Chris call my name. I turned back to the suitcase and carried on putting her clothes back where they were before she started packing.
“Dude you have to tell her, this has gotten way out of hand,” he said as he walked into the room.
“I know, so she still doesn’t know? You didn’t tell her?” I asked.
“Not my place but I told her you weren’t sleeping around,” he said as he sat down on the love seat in the room.
“Thanks I think, will it be safe for me to go to yours considering Autumn has probably got a plot to kill me?”
“I think if you come back Willow will meet you outside. She wants to know what’s going on. She was angry earlier and your crap lies pissed her off even more dude.
Chapter Fifty one
I heard the passenger side door open and looked across at her when she slid into the seat next to me. I looked into my mirror to check there was nobody behind me and then pulled out into the road.
“I’m sorry I got angry but you wouldn’t listen to me,” I said but she didn’t look at me or say anything so I kept quiet and drove to the nearest restaurant which happened to be Koi. She finally looked at me when we stopped with questioning eyes. “Neutral ground and I’m starving,” I said getting out and giving the valet the keys.
This has been the last place I had expected to come but I understood why, he knew here I wouldn’t make a scene, we wouldn’t scream at each other, it would be civil. I just hated that once again all the paparazzi were going to get photos of us but it didn’t seem to bother him as we walked past them and into the restaurant.
Even after we ordered it was strained and when I glanced over to him I could see a small bruise starting to form on his cheek that would be all over the internet tomorrow.
“I’m sorry about your face,” I said, “I don’t know why I did that,” but he just shrugged it off, like it was normal and I guess it was for him and how he grew up, he had told me more than once that he had seen his mom hit his dad.
“I swear to god I’m not sleeping with anyone else Will, I wouldn’t do that to you, but I… I know I have some explaining to do.”
“Then tell me what you’ve been doing, why you’ve been so flaky on me,” I asked. He was about to answer when we were interrupted by Aaron and Angel.
“Hey guys mind if we join you?” Aaron asked sitting down on the spare chair and I inwardly sighed.
“Actually yeah I do mind,” Nick answered. “We’ve got some stuff that we need to talk about in private guys, any other night and you know it would be cool but just not tonight okay?” He said making Angel frown.
“Everything alright?” She asked me and I nodded and then she looked back to Nick, noticing the bruise on his face. “What happened to you?” She asked.
“Nothing, look I’ll call you guys later, your coming round tomorrow anyway right?” He asked.
“Yeah, come on sis,” Aaron said puling at her arm.
“See you tomorrow,” I called after them.
“So,” he said looking back to me.
“So,” I echoed. He was quiet for a few seconds, playing aimlessly with the napkin in front of him.
“I’ve uh…I’ve been seeing my Mom,” he finally said looking up to me.
“Oh,” was all I could say because that had never even crossed my mind.
“Yeah…”
“God now I feel so stupid, why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“Because I didn’t know how it was going to turn out, I didn’t want people telling me I told you so if she stabbed me in the back again,” he said softly avoiding eye contact with me.
“I’d never do that,” I said taking his hand in mine and squeezing it. This all finally made sense, why he had been moody and distant, Jane always did that to him. She knew how to shatter his confidence and make him question everything. “How’s it been going?” I asked.
“Good. We’ve actually been going to family counselling together and I’ve finally been able to tell her how I really feel. I know I shouldn’t have hidden it from you but I… I don’t know am I just giving her another chance to stab me in the back?” I asked looking up to her.
“I’d like to think that everybody has the chance to change and maybe this time she will. The counselling sounds like a really good idea, maybe what you’ve said to her has made her understand how you feel.”
“I’ve told her this is it, this is the last chance, I don’t want to go through my life fighting with her all the time,” I said playing with the napkin again.
“What did she say to that?” She asked taking a sip of her water.
“Not a lot really which surprised me. Do you think that was too harsh to say that?” I asked.
“No I don’t, she needs to know that she cant screw around with your life anymore, I just wish you had come to me about this before Nicky,” she said leaning forward to stoke my cheek and I winced slightly when her hand brushed against the sensitive skin of the bruise that was forming. “Sorry,” she whispered taking her hand away.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“No it’s really not. I had no right to do that no matter how angry I was,” she said and I just shrugged, “ Why aren’t you angry with me Nick?” She asked and I shrugged again. “ I hit you and your acting like its normal,” she said.
“I grew up around it I guess.”
“You don’t hate me?” She asked.
“No I don’t hate you, I fucking love you,” I said bringing her hand up to my mouth so I could kiss it.
“I love you to Carter,” She smiled back.
“You better your marrying me Abrams,” I smiled back to her.
“Then you’ll have to call me Carter,” she said her smiling widening.
“Would you mind if my mom came to the wedding?” I asked.
“She’s your mother Nick of course I don’t mind, she should be there.”
“I guess I’ll have to sit her and pops down and get them to agree to be civil towards each other,” I said sighing.
“We’ll do it together,” I said squeezing his hand before I smiled a thank you to the waiter who bought us our dinner.
Chapter Fifty Two
She looked at me with confused eyes when I turned left instead of right at the lights.
“Where are we going?” She asked.
“Home.”
“Home is in that direction,” she said pointing out the window.
“So I’m taking a scenic route is that alright?” I said turning again.
“Your up to something,” she said looking at me.
“No I’m not.”
“When your up to something your lips curve up into a sly smile, you seem to forget how many pranks I planned with you,” she said looking to me out of the corner of her eye.
“We’ve not planned anything in ages,” I said changing the subject.
“That’s because we are now mature adults,” she said, “well one of us is.”
“That’s mean,” I said after I had stuck my tongue out at her.
“TUNE!” She yelled turning up the radio as she started to sing along. “Mama, just killed a man, Put a gun against his head, Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead, Mama, life had just begun, But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away-Mama ooo, Didn’t mean to make you cry- If I’m not back again this time tomorrow- Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters.”
I sat and laughed at her as she added her won actions to the song, belting it from the top of her lungs. It was coming up to the big central verse of the song, the part that was always so much to sing on karaoke when you were tanked.
“But I’m just a poor boy and nobody loves me-
He’s just a poor boy from a poor family-
Spare him his life from this monstrosity-
Easy come easy go-,will you let me go-
Bismillah! no-,we will not let you go-let him go-
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let him go
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go let me go
No,no,no,no,no,no,no-
Mama mia,mama mia,mama mia let me go-
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,for me,for me,” she yelled and then began to wildly play air guitar. When I first met her she had been teaching herself to play this rift and now she had it down pat. It was one of her favourites to play at sound check and always got everyone energised and happy no matter how tired they had been.
“That’s the best song ever,” she said as it ended and I pulled to a stop, thankful that the song had kept her occupied. “Why have we stopped?” She asked.
“Because we’re home,” I said taking the keys out of the ignition.
“No we’re, oh my god you didn’t?” She asked as everything falling into place when she saw what was in front of us.
“Escrow closed at five, Happy birthday baby,” I said leaning over to kiss her.
“My birthday is tomorrow,” she said when she finally pulled back.
“My watch says that its twelve o two,” I said.
“But you hated this place, you said it was too much work,” She said as she got out of the car and walked towards the empty house. It did need a lot of work, at the moment it was basically a shell, and it only had one floor, it was probably as big as the apartment that we were currently living in. The surroundings were amazing though, so much land came with this property it was unbelievable, there was also a really nice woodland area with a huge lake not five minutes away, which would be perfect for walking the dogs.
“I figured we could renovate it, design it how we want it and I know how much you loved it here,” he said taking my hand in his as we walked up to the front porch.
“I do. I really wasn’t expecting this you had me fooled,” I said leaning up to kiss his cheek.
“I can keep a secret when I need to,” he said walking up the steps.
“There is no denying that,” I said looking through the window, turning quickly when I heard a huge crash and him yell. This place DID need a lot of work, I started laughing to myself and couldn’t move to help him up because the laughter had grown so hard.
“Thanks for your concern,” he grumbled puling himself up off the floor and dusting himself off. “Damn porch swing,” he said kicking it with his foot.
“Aww poor baby, did you hurt your butt?” I said wrapping my arms around his waist.
“Yeah. I can tell this place is going to be more trouble than it’s worth,” he said looking it over.
“But I love it and I love you and all you really need is love.”
“Yeah cause who needs oxygen, or food?” he said raising his eyebrows up at me sceptically.
“You know what I mean,” I scowled at him playfully when he ruined the moment, “So when are we m moving in?” I asked.
“When the building work is complete, there is no way I am moving in now,” he said pulling the keys out of his pocket and putting them in the lock of the door. The inside was no better than the outside, it was completely bare, not a stitch of furniture anywhere, the wallpaper was peeling from the walls and there was a smell of damp, the light even flickered and threatened to go out when he flicked the switch.
“Are we totally in over our heads?” I asked turning to him when we walked through the small living room and into the even smaller kitchen.
“Yeah probably, if worse comes to worse we could always bulldose this and start again,” he said shrugging his shoulders as I hopped up onto one of the work surfaces only to have it crash to the ground a few seconds later.
Now that was what you called poetic justice and I was just about to tell her that when I saw a real look of pain cross her face and realised that she had really hurt herself.
“You okay?” I asked crouching down to her but she remained quiet with her eyes closed taking short shallow breathes. “Willow?” I asked again.
“Yeah can you help me up?” She said putting her hand out to me which I took so I could pull her up. Her crying out in pain made me stop quickly though, “I’m calling an ambulance,” I said reaching into my pocket to pull out my cell.
“No, no I’ll be fine in a minute,” she said trying to push herself up. I could tell she was in agony but she was trying to hide it and when I saw the tear escape her eye I crouched down to her level.
“I’m calling an ambulance, you can barely move,” I said stroking her cheek as I dialled.
“That’s what I’m scared about,” she sighed as she closed her eyes and breathed through her pain not seeing the look of worry that had crossed my face sharing her fear that she may have done some real damage.
