“Unless it's to do with what we're having for dinner, or booking a holiday, what colour you want me to paint something, don't make my decisions for me, Georgia. You don't need to try and protect me, and I know they're only words, but I promise I'll do whatever I can to protect you and Rose.” I wanted to add after that “and any other children that we had” but maybe I was getting too far ahead of myself.
Her lips pressed to my chest. I felt a little nip and then a slight pull as she sucked the skin, probably leaving a mark. “I get it,” she said. “I'm going to make mistakes too. I'm going to be moody, I'm going to get stressed when I feel like I can't juggle everything with you and work and Rose and Olivia's upcoming meltdown. But I want to try at this. With you.”
“Good.” I inhaled deeply, trying to stop the nerves that suddenly rattled through me. “I love you, Georgia Marston. I wanted to tell you weeks ago, but I wasn't sure how.”
Her arms tightened around me, and this time the nip she gave my skin was a little bit harder. “I love you back, Joseph Callaghan.”
She shifted up to me on the bed, her lips found in mine and this time we could kiss without the eyes of my family on us. It was easy to forget with the sun blaring through the open patio doors and the faint sounds of laughter coming through from the pool, that there were people close by, and we did forget.
I felt myself begin to be lost in her as my lips trailed from hers, down to her collar bone, and down to the top of the loose shirt she wore. I started to undo the buttons, fiddly things, and I understood why in previous times I would have just ripped them off. But before I could do that, there was a knock at the patio door and a cough; not the sort of cough that someone would make when they were ill, the sort of cough that someone would do as a form ofentry noise.I recognised its tone; I'd heard it plenty of times in both real life and my nightmares.
We parted slightly, and I shouted for Maxwell to come in.
“Sorry to interrupt.” He stood at the doors wearing exactly the same pair of swimming shorts that I was. Nobody had bought them for us but somehow, we’d managed to pick out the same ones. “Rose was asking where you were and we just about managed to stop her from coming to find you, and Marie wants to know if Georgia would like to join in gin o'clock.” He purposely kept his eyes away from us which made it even more awkward. “You know, I think this is the first time I've actually ever caught you in bed with a girl, Seph.”
I sat up and shook my head at him. “Wish I'd only ever caught you the one time.”
He smirked, a broad shit eating grin crossing over his face. I'd make sure he fell backwards into the pool later, preferably while he was fully clothed.
“We'd best get out there.” Georgia sat up too. “Could you check on Rose while I get changed?”
I nodded, gave her a long kiss to the side of her head and got off the bed. “Take all the time you need, unless you actually do want gin. You can never guarantee how long it'll last around here.”
I walked out of the room with Maxwell, heading towards the pool, where I could see Rose on an inflatable with one of the other little girls. Killian was in the water with Eliza, taxiing her around in a large rubber ring and keeping an eye on everyone else.
“I take it you've got everything sorted?” Max asked.
Rose waved furiously over to me, a big beaming smile across her face.
“I think so.”
We sat down next to each other, our feet dipping into the deep end of the pool.
“Thank fuck for that.”
“I'm glad I've made everybody happy.” I couldn't help but smile though. I knew how much everyone liked Georgia, and I knew how much everyone liked me being with Georgia. She provided the pieces that made my jigsaw complete.
Max slapped me fairly hard on the back. “I don't think I need to tell you not to fuck it up, because I don't actually think you will. But do you want a piece of advice?”
I nodded. “Go on then. Share your gleaming pearls of wisdom.”
“Never forget how shit you felt when you didn't think it was going to work out. When you argue, because you will; when you find out how much she spent on a pair of shoes (because your head will implode), and when she tells you she wants to completely redecorate the house and you've got three days to do it (because trust me, women think that we can do things in that sort of time scale), you need to remember how crap it is when you don't have them.”
“That sounded like a lot of experience speaking then.” I knew Victoria had a massive penchant for buying expensive pairs of shoes. She’d had a couple of boxes of them delivered to Max’s office before now, and the look on his face when he opened them had been priceless. The look on his face when he'd seen the invoice that came with them had been even better. He’d sent Victoria a text afterwards, confirming their delivery. Whatever promise she'd text back to him had completely changed the look on his face and put a smile where there’d been a scowl.
“It's a fair bit of experience,” Max said. “But I don't think I've learned everything yet. Being married to Vic is like living the life of a Secret Service agent, continually waiting to be assassinated in some way. Always be prepared.”
We both stood up, facing the pool, still standing at the edge of it. Rose was shouting to her mum, so I guessed that Georgia was now on her way out. This was a priceless opportunity, possibly not one I'd get later on in the day. I patted Max on the back, much in the same way as he patted me on mine before, and then pushed. He fell, ungracefully, into the water.
It was the little things about family that made them worth keeping around.
Payton:So can I have some confirmation here of what's happened?
Claire:Seph and Georgia are back together. That's the short summary.
Seph:We were never actually apart.
Claire: Then why were you sulking so much then?
