“There’s more lasagna, darling. Eat up, we have things to discuss. Now. Have you talked about suits?”
I sighed. Then I took my phone out and called Fox because I needed more than my parents’ help here.
It was much later when I was still lounging on the sofa and Dad had fallen asleep, and I really should drive back home. But instead, my mind was churning, thinking I wouldn’t be doing this for much longer. Driving over to my childhood home and hanging out with Mum and Dad. Like this.
“I found a brilliant little Etsy shop for wedding invitations. I know you said not many people, but Aunt Hilda will need an invite; she’ll be most upset otherwise. And John and Mitzy. Tara lives in Edinburgh; I’m sure she’ll pop down. I texted Fox about his list of people so we can get a number nailed down.”
“Thank you, Mum,” I breathed out.
“Oh, don’t mention it. I’m so excited I could burst. But, darling. Can I ask you something?”
Here we went. I was half expecting it.
“Of course.”
“It’s very fast. Very soon. And some of the things that dreadful Thomas said are still playing on my mind.”
“Thomas is an arse.”
“Yes, I’m on board with that, but the way he talked, he made it seem that Fox had somehow been at fault. That he hadn’t been fully committed and…”
“I don’t know. I don’t really want to know.”
“He said Fox was easily influenced and did whatever he was told. I worry, Noah. Have you somehow talked him into this? Or the other way around? Are you both on the same page?”
“Mum, I think we are. And I don’t think you should worry about Thomas.”
“He said to give it a week or two, and he’d have Fox back in his bed. That he was going back up to Glasgow and sorting the man out. That Fox was out of control. What did he mean by that? Out of control?”
I had no idea, so I just shook my head.
“It’s fast, Mum. I know. But I’m forty and I can’t sit around forever hoping the perfect man will just land in my lap. And suddenly he did, and I’m… Mum, I have to run with it. Because if I don’t? I won’t ever have the courage to do this again. And it’s not just that, it’s Fox. He’s… He’s a different man up there. He runs that place, and he loves the kids. He knows every single boy’s name at that school, and the staff all love him, and it’s… It’s the vibe, Mum. I may not be brilliant at reading rooms and situations, and I don’t always get it right, but I get him. I get what he does, and he still thinks he’s not good enough, despite clearly being exactly that. He runs and organises and fixes, and in the middle of all he does? Mum, he…”
I had to stop. Gather myself up.
“He loves me. I don’t doubt that. It’s silly and childish perhaps, but I feel it, Mum. He looks at me, and I just crumble. I go all warm on the inside, and he hugs me and he smiles, and I feel it. And I feel exactly the same about him. I need to be where he is.”
“Then you need to do just that.”
“Scotland is different. But I can cope.”
“We love it in Edinburgh. We can go visit Aunt Tara, and…well. We might even get a place up there. Live out our days at a calmer pace. The south is terribly overrated.”
“Isn’t it just?” I grinned.
“Awful place. The traffic, the pollution.”
“The goddamn sea.” I laughed.
“Terrible. You should consider Scotland, darling. I hear there are great schools up there.”
“The best.”
“And you can have children.”
“We…” Shit.
“What?” Mum was suddenly back to her serious self. “Noah?”
