Hailing a taxi, I give the driver my parents’ address. I don’t need to call ahead; Penny and Frank Jackson have a schedule like clockwork. They’ll have had their dinner and are probably arguing good-naturedly about who’s going on top tonight. God help me.
Outside the house, I ring the buzzer, I’ve been caught out with those two nymphomaniacs before. Not an experience I’d ever want to repeat. Even if it is ‘what makes the world go round’. Yuck.
It’s one thing knowing your parents are still sexually active, and a completely different thing to walk in on them on the job.
I stare at the mistletoe wreath responsible for kickstarting things between Cillian and me. There are some benefits to having super-open parents, at least.
When the front door swings open, it’s my brother, Nate, who’s standing in the doorway.
‘Hey, sis, how are you?’ He pulls me into his burly frame for a bear hug and ruffles my hair.
‘If you like your balls where they are, don’t ever ruffle my hair again.’ I elbow him in the ribs.
Nate sniggers and releases me. ‘So, last night was a success, huh?’ He motions for me to walk in front of him towards the kitchen.
‘It certainly was.’ In more ways than one.
‘You disappeared kind of quick.’ Nate winks knowingly.
‘I told you things were absolutely randy.’ The heat of Mam’s new Aga slaps me in the face as I open the kitchen door. Holly, Nate’s fiancée, is sitting at the table with their baby girl, Harriet, on her knee. Mam and dad sit either side, cooing like Harriet’s their first grandchild, not their fifth. I can’t blame them. My brother and Holly made a beautiful baby.
‘Ava. This is a pleasant surprise.’ Mam stands back from the table and welcomes me with a hug.
‘Drink?’ Dad holds up an open bottle of red.
‘I’d love one, thanks.’ I lean over the table and reach out for my gorgeous niece. Even at barely three months old, she has us all wrapped around her little finger. She gurgles and offers a drooly smile as Holly hands her over.
Nate watches on, arching an eyebrow. ‘It’ll be you next.’
Not with Cillian, it won’t.
‘One day, hopefully.’ Harriet wraps her chubby fingers around my pinkie.
‘If the way Cillian looks at you is anything to go by, it’ll be sooner rather than later.’ Holly chimes, a glint in her topaz eyes. ‘He didn't take his eyes off you for a second last night.’
‘Really?’ I bite back my surprise.
‘Oh, come on! The man is smitten.’ My mother announces gleefully.
He must be a seriously good actor. I wonder if his parents sent him to stage school as a kid. ‘Now, what’s he like in bed?’ Mam rubs her hands together, dying for the juicy details.
‘Eugh, Mam.’
‘I need his phone number,’ Nate announces, sliding his hand across Holly’s shoulder.
Alarm prickles my spine. ‘Why?’
‘Well, for one, I want to invite him on my stag night next week. And two, I want to fly both of you over in February for the premiere ofRuthless Redemption.’
Thankfully, Nate’s gone back to his usual movie genre, after an eventful attempt at a Hallmark movie last year. It was too weird watching him trying to be cheesy and romantic on the big screen.
Cillian won’t keep up this farce between us into next year as well. We agreed to fake-date for December. Not indefinitely.
‘I’ll forward it on to you later.’
‘Great.’ Nate picks up his wine glass and raises it in my direction. ‘You know, I thought you were telling fibs on the phone a couple of weeks ago. I’m so happy for you, Ava.’ He shakes his shaggy hair from his earnest eyes and a ripple of guilt rips through me. ‘It’s great you’ve finally met someone decent. If only we could hook Natalie up with someone now too.’
‘Natalie has no interest in being hooked up with anyone.’ I readjust Harriet on my chest. ‘She works such long hours at the hospital she’s too exhausted to go out and find a man.’
