“Hi, Lisa.”
“How’s my favourite sister-in-law?” She releases me only to hold me at arms’—and belly’s—length.
“I’m your only sister-in-law,” I remind her and any further attempt to answer her question is thwarted by the scene coming in to view behind her.
My two nephews are squealing and squawking in utter delight, each one hanging off the bicep of the most beautiful man I’ve ever known. One I wasnotexpecting to see here. One whose name was on nearly every page of the glittery, pink, padlocked diary I kept as a teenager. One I haven’t spoken to in years and one who happens to be Harry’s best friend.
CHAPTER TWO
“Umm…what are you having?”
NEL
Jake Partridge shuffles into the kitchen from the hall, taking over exaggerated steps, swinging the delighted boys as they cling to his curled-up arms. He’s in a soft looking, grey V-neck sweater and dark jeans, his dark brown hair combed back with a couple of strands artfully curling forward over his brow. His jaw is lined in a dark but well-kept beard. That’s new. I try to swallow over the dryness in my throat. This is a nightmare I have not prepared for. He grunts with each step as though he’s struggling with their weight but the easy smile on his face tells a different story.
Lucas, my oldest nephew spots me first and turns to me with a gapped tooth smile. “Hi Auntie Nelly-Belly!” So glad Harry taught them that. My eyes are rolling if you didn’t pick up on that sarcasm.
Jake snaps his head up to look at me, hitting me with his signature smile. You know those old clips of a young Elvis? The ones where he gives a half smile, one so shyly confident it made panties wet and women (as well as a few men, I’m sure) would just melt into a pile of aroused goo? Yeah. That’s the smile that Jake Partridge perfected when he was thirteen years old and he’s been ruining women everywhere with it ever since. His honey-golden eyes, so full of laughter and mischief, lock on mine. As though I hadn’t already been awkward and nervous around my sister-in-law’s family, I turn into teen Penelope. Braces, acne, and foundation two shades darker than my actual skin tone. Stood in front of the guitar playing, rugby superstar with the kilowatt smile who always had a pretty girl hanging on his every word.
I stand there staring at him gormlessly and he chuckles slightly like he knows. Of course, he knows. I was a loser fat kid with close to no friends and zero chill. It would have been almost impossible for him to miss the humungous crush I harboured for him for years. I’d love to be able to say that I’m now a smart, confident woman who doesn’t hold on to silly school-girl crushes and can quite easily greet Jake Partridge as an old friend. I would justloveto.
“Hey, Nelly-Belly,” he says with that smooth as chocolate voice, calming and thrilling at the same time. I try and fail to tamp down my wince at him using that name.
“Uh…Jake…what are…what are you doing here?” I squeak.
“Jeesh, Nels,” Harry mutters next to me. “Rude much?” He narrows his eyes at me in the oh-so-familiar way he used to when we were kids. I swear, sometimes he believes he’s my parent, not my brother. “Jake’s only my best friend of twenty-four years, spent nearly every Saturday at our house, best man at my wedding, and Godfather to both my kids. Don’t you think he’s earned the right to spend Christmas here without you questioning why?” Harry’s glower is nearly as scary as Mum’s was, I’ll give him that.
“I’m sorry…I didn’t mean—”
“It’s fine, H. Give the poor girl a break.” Jake deposits the boys and approaches me with a wide smile, pulling me into a bear-hug that clamps my arms to my side. Oh God. Make it stop. “Long time no see, Nel. How the hell are you, kid?”
My parents are dead and now I’m surrounded by a load of people I don’t know and my childhood crush who I can’t function around for Christmas. Oh yeah, I’m great.
“I’m good, Jake. How are you?”
“I’m perfect,” he beams at me.You sure are.
I’m still confused as to why he’s here but I don’t want to risk another scolding from my brother, so I tuck a piece of my overly long brown hair behind my ear and look to the ground as I ask, “So how come you’re not spending Christmas with your folks?”
“Ah, they’re in Australia spending Christmas with my sister and the grandkids. I couldn’t get enough time off to make the trip worth it so I’m gate-crashing the Forrest Christmas celebrations.” He casually slides his hands into the pockets of his jeans, bringing my attention to his thick forearms, tanned gold with a light dusting of dark hair. If PornHub created a forearm porn category, Jake Partridge could make a fortune.
I nod, trying to shake my gaze free of his annoyingly sexy arm hair. Pushing distractions away, I process what he’s just said. “Don’t teachers get two weeks off at Christmas?”
“We do,” he smiles a cocky smile, like he’s enjoying some private joke, and it brings a flush to my face. “But I’m also a volunteer firefighter and I’ll be working over New Years.”
Of course, he’s a volunteer firefighter. Because Jake Partridge is fucking perfect. “Oh.”
His smile widens as my cheeks pinken, but drops quite suddenly as he clears his throat, glancing to my boots. “Hey, I’m really sorry about your mum, Nel. Your dad too, obviously. I just know Mary’s passing was unexpected.”
A lump the size of a golf ball forms in my throat and tears sting at the back of my eyes as I try to think of anything else that will stop them from overflowing, nodding my head at his words. I try for a polite smile but I know it looks as forced as it feels.
“I was at both funerals, I’m sure you know, but I wasn’t able to catch you to talk.”
“No,” I croak, trying to clear my throat. “I uh, well I wasn’t really in a social mood,”
He tilts his head and offers a soft and sympathetic smile. “That’s understandable.”
I look up at him to see the sincerity in his eyes. My brother had thrown a fit when he’d found me in a ball of pity inside my mother’s walk-in wardrobe during her wake. To be fair, I did feel guilty for leaving him to all the mourners. I just couldn’t take all the arm pats and sympathetic gazes, people telling me how wonderful my mother was as if I didn’t know that already. Each cheek pinch or forced hug was another weight on my shoulder until I could barely walk and I had to get away. Apparently, Harry had been looking for me for an hour when he finally came up to Mum’s room and found me. I got a spiel about responsibility and representing the family and how he and I were supposed to be a team. I had just sat there nodding my head as I cried. It was all pretty pathetic. I’m glad Jake didn’t witness me like that.
