Twenty-five
Jenny found herself beginning to relax after the initial chaos of everyone finding a seat and reaching for food had settled. She looked at Nick and felt … relieved. He didn’t look like a flight risk—in fact, he was swapping slang with Chloe as she quizzed him on life in the army, discussing the various names for things, which she found hilarious.
A surprisingly varied array of topics took them through the main meal, including, but not limited to, Nick’s playing down of some remarkably hair-raising stories of stuff he got up to during his tour, most involving some less than by-the-book antics he and his mates had somehow managed to get away with.
‘You make it sound like so much fun,’ Chloe said once they’d stopped laughing.
‘Some of it was. But there’s a lot of not-so-fun times. The waiting around—there’s lots of that.’
‘You know, I think I’d like the army,’ Chloe announced thoughtfully, then scowled at her oldest sister when she gave a hoot of laughter.
‘You don’t even like camping—not to mention you hate running,’ Brittany pointed out.
‘Youdohave to do a bit of that,’ Nick agreed. ‘But it’s not as bad as it sounds. There’s a lot more creature comforts nowadays compared to what it used to be. You should think about it,’ he said, and Jenny watched her youngest daughter’s eyes light up with interest once more.
‘So, Beth,’ Nick said after they’d finished dessert. ‘I bet you have a few good stories to tell about things you and Jenny have gotten up to in the past?’
Jenny almost swallowed her spoon as she looked at her friend.
‘Oh, yes, indeed.’ Beth nodded gleefully.
‘You so do not,’ Jenny scoffed, raking her memory for anything potentially embarrassing she might think of repeating.
‘What about the night we were supposed to go watch that movie but it was so stupid that we decided to leave half an hour into it and hit the town instead?’
Oh. She’d forgotten about that one.
‘Hit the town? Gee that sounds ominous, Mum,’ Brittany said.
‘There just so happened to be a bagpipe convention in Hamwell that week,’ Beth continued, her eyes sparkling devilishly across the table.
Oh. Crap. The bagpipe guy.
‘Seriously?’ Chloe replied, looking unimpressed and somewhat disappointed.
‘Yep. Bagpipe bands. It’s not even interesting,’ Jenny cut in briskly.
‘Oh, but itsois,’ Beth said. ‘We were walking along the street, deciding what we should do with ourselves since Jen had a babysitter booked till late, when we heard this God-awfulsound coming from the pub.’
‘It wasn’t awful, it was the bagpipes.’
‘Anyway,’ Beth continued, rolling her eyes at Jenny, ‘naturally we decided to go in and see what all the racket was about. Well … I’ll be the first to admit that I was not expecting a bunch of bagpipers to look anything like the ones we found inside. Who knew men in kilts could be so hot?’
‘I did,’ Brittany said, putting her hand up. ‘I watchOutlander.’
Beth nodded. ‘Then you know what I’m talkin’ about. So we decide to sit down and order a drink.’
‘Would anyone like coffee?’ Jenny asked, standing up quickly.
‘Sit down, Jen. I haven’t finished the story,’ Beth said, flashing her a wolf-like grin.
‘Yeah, Mum. Sit down,’ Brittany echoed, obviously curious about her mother’s reluctance to let Beth retell a story they hadn’t heard before.
‘So there we are, having a quiet drink, minding our own business, when a couple of men in kilts come over and ask if they can share our table. Of course, we said yes.’
‘Yousaid yes,’ Jenny corrected.
‘I was just being friendly to a couple of lads far from home. Turns out,’ Beth continued, ‘it was an international bagpipe thing so the place was filled with Scottish men. Anyway, weget talking and drinking and having a great time, then Jenny here, our timid little Jen, announces she’d like to learn how to play the bagpipes. So Collin and Angus run off to find a set of bagpipes and before you know it, there’s Jen entertaining the entire pub with a rendition of “Thunderstruck”.’
