“Dad,” I groaned. “Please don’t be so embarrassing.”
“It’s my job. Just be glad you weren’t Eliza when Killian caught her leaving one of his bloke’s houses.” Seph laughed at that. “Although, Killian was more concerned he was going to lose a really good employee.”
“I know about that. I think you had the version told post-rugby after three pints.” I was very aware of what talk was like between my dad and his brothers and brothers-in-law. “Let’s not go into it.”
Carter went over and added bacon and eggs to the baps, adding tomato sauce to mine and his, leaving mum and Seph to do their own.
I was halfway through replacing the calories I’d burned that morning before I realised this didn’t feel strange. Carter had breakfast at my house when we were kids pretty much every weekend. He was around for Sunday lunches and barbecues, having his first beer with my dad because his was at work.
This was a change, a shift in dynamics because an extra layer had been added, but there was nothing hugely different.
“So how long’s this been going on?” My mum gestured between the two of us, halfway through her breakfast with a line of tomato sauce over her face that my dad wouldn’t tell her about until later.
“A few weeks. A week and a half properly, so early days.” It was the truth and a warning. Don’t start planning anything, don’t start making comments about what might happen, but my parents were beyond doing that anyway. In a family as big as ours, they’d seen everything.
“Make the most of them,” my mum said. “When it gets serious, it gets harder. Although given I’ve spent more than twenty years married to that oaf - ”
The oaf was laughing. “You saidharder!”
A cushion was launched across my lounge, successfully smacking my dad on his head.
Carter was trying not to choke on his breakfast.
“They don’t change. Take this as a warning. They remain overgrown teenagers with senses of humour that never develop beyond fifteen. What are you doing today?” She turned her back to Seph and carried on talking to me and Carter.
I went through what I had planned, answering her questions about how Harriet was doing, catching up about Fallon and Erin. I’d already told her about Laurie when I gave her the book signed by Jay, and she’d been in Silversmiths too.
They’d never know about the fake wedding. There was no need to revive that story, now it was dead, the annulment due soon.
“How about you Carter, what are you doing?” Seph put the dishes in the dishwasher and rinsed out the air fryer.
“Gym, washing and then a few beers with a couple of mates while we watch the football. Easy day.”
The conversation continued, more gossip about some of my cousins, some updates about what my parents were doing to the house now my brothers had definitely moved out – mainly preventative work so they couldn’t move back in.
They left without saying anything horrendously embarrassing, my mother whispering into my ear on her way out.
“I’d say he ticks all the boxes, Rose.” The wink that she gave with it made me die a little inside.
“That went okay.” Carter pulled his t-shirt off as soon as they left, exposing his chest which I was pretty obsessed with.
“Give it ten minutes and my phone’s going to blow up.”
“Turn it off,” he said. “We’ve got an hour before you need to head out.”
It was an hour well spent.
CHAPTER 26
Carter
“Ijust don’t feel well.”
I sat on the chair in front of Fallon, my doctor’s head well and truly screwed on. “Talk me through your symptoms.”
“I feel sick. I’m lightheaded – when I stood up before I nearly crashed back down again. I think I’ve eaten something that’s disagreed with me. Do you have anything?”
I did. A medical degree and specialism in gastro-intestinal issues, with a minor specialism in cardiology. Enough to know that this wasn’t something she’d eaten.
