So on the Friday before, we pick up Ava and Sophie and make the four and a half hour drive for some fun in the sun, it’s not summer yet but Mulwala is generally a few degrees warmer than the Peninsula and we have a few days of twenty five degrees plus, forecast. The family have a boat and jet skis that they keep up at their holiday home. The whole five day break sounds like it’s going to be fun, if only Jackie wasn’t going to be there. Gabe has made me promise to play nice and I will do my best, purely for Charlie and Ava’s sakes. Ava will be turning fourteen on Sunday and we have managed to get hold of four tickets for her to see One Direction in concert next year, she has gone on about these tickets for weeks and Gabe and I have played along in making out how sorry we are that we couldn’t get hold of the prized tickets as they sold out so fast. She will be stoked when we give them to her and the other bits we have bought her.
We arrive at the seven bedroomed house just after two, with only Sam and Zac there before us. Zac’s boys are setting up a huge tent in the back garden, which the older kids will sleep in, Ava and Sophie head straight outside to join them, Sam and I leave the boys to unpack while we go to the supermarket, bottle shop, bakers and butchers, there will be around twenty of us in attendance over the weekend so we buy enough supplies to last us until at least Sunday, then we will have to do another shop.
Things turn decidedly cool when Jackie and Charlie arrive, I’m polite but I make a point of not giving her a kiss or a cuddle when she walks in, instead pouring all my affection in Charlie’s direction; it’s the first time I have really been in her company since the weekend I found out about her and Gabe and I’m morbidly curious to watch how he reacts in her presence now that I know the facts. I notice within the first half hour of her arrival he leaves the room as soon as she enters or he reaches for me, either with his hand, arm, just his fingers or eyes but each time she gets near him, he’s there and I’m not sure if the reassurance is for me or for him and my heart breaks for him; what a god awful position to be in and for so long, from such a young age, he clearly loves his Dad and I can’t begin to imagine the guilt he must bear for what went on between him and that fucking awful woman, I hate her, I truly hate the bitch.
The rest of Friday is uneventful, even when Stella arrives and the discourse between her and Jackie is apparent to everyone except Charlie. The fire pit is stacked with wood and lit, we have steak, burgers and sausages cooked on the barbie for dinner and then all sit around the fire and chat and enjoy a drink. Gabe and Jen bring out the guitars and we all have a sing, or just listen, I find it a massive turn on watching him strum away, every now and then he closes his eyes as he loses himself in the music and every time he does, what I feel for him goes up just a notch, if that’s at all possible; Gabe starts to sing ‘I’ll be watching you’ as he opens his eyes they lock with mine, a shudder runs through me and I give him a little smile, in return I get the full on eye fuck treatment.
Zac can’t resist shouting out, “Take it to the bedroom you two; there are children and old people present.”
Everyone laughs at our expense, “Leave them alone, I think it’s great our Gabey Baby has finally found ‘The One’, gives me hope that one day I might get as lucky.”
Stella has had a fair bit to drink and I just smile at her remark, Jackie stands and Mumbles under her breath and my mouth goes dry.
“What was that Jackie?” Stella asks.
Jackie smiles at everyone and says, “I said I’m very tired after the drive I’m going to go to bed, are you coming Charlie?”
“Well that’s funny; it sounded just like you said ‘pathetic’ to me”
My eyes shoot straight to Stella and I ever so slightly shake my head at her.
Charlie stands from his chair, saying to Stella, “You’ve had too much to drink missy, you need to mind your manners, good night everyone.”
Gabe gestures with his head that it’s time to go, so I stand and stretch and say my goodnights.
Gabe is right beside me as we make our to our bedroom; he closes the door behind us and leans against it, he’s been drinking since we arrived just after lunch and I know he must be feeling the effects, his eyes are a little bit glassy but his smile is as sexy as hell.
“Take off your clothes, slowly.”
“Gabe…I…”
“Lauren, I’ve spent the whole night watching you, imagining you naked, please for me, take your clothes off.”
My confidence has grown lately, it’s so much greater than it was, thanks to Gabriel and his constant reassurance and the obvious desire he has for me and the conclusion I have reached is that as long as he loves me and wants me, that’s all that matters, I don’t need to be attractive to anyone else, for anyone else, I just wish I could find a way to see myself, the way he sees me, he turns the bedside lamp on.
“Turn the light off.”
“Lauren, come on baby, I thought we were past all this, come here.”
“No, you come here, lay on the bed.”
The look in his eye, the smirk on his lips set me on fire, he raises his eyebrows and walks over to the bed, kicks off his converse, pulls off his jeans and climbs up onto the bed; he leans his back against the headboard, interlocks his fingers and tucks them behind his head, he crosses his long legs out in front of him and looks up and winks at me and in that moment, he’s got me, no matter what he wants me to do, I am quite prepared to give it a try, apart from marriage that is. I pull my jeans off and my hoodie over my head; I stand in front of him at the foot of the bed in my boy leg knickers and my bra and put my hands on my hips. Faking confidence.
“On or off?” I ask him, sounding much less nervous than I feel.