He sits down on the bed and pulls me to sit on his lap and buries his nose into my hair and my neck, right under my jaw and I shudder. I need to start talking otherwise we will never leave this bed or this room.
“Tonight’s a really big deal for Ava, I want her to feel part of everything, I don’t want her to feel we are moving on and leaving her behind, I’m worried she doesn’t know where she fits in at the moment, you heard how Nina spoke to her earlier, I’m worried that she feels she isn’t wanted with any of us and that’s only going to get worse when she finds out about the babies.”
He instantly puts his hand on my belly and I squirm as I know how big my spare tyre must feel because of how tight my jeans are; I lace my fingers through his.
“I think you’re worrying way too much Lauren, she knows that me and her are solid, she knows she will always come first, no matter what, well until Bruce and Sheila arrive and then my priorities will just be split three ways, but my kids will always come first and I’m pretty sure she knows that, despite the shit Nina tries to fill her head with, she knows, I love her, she knows you love her and she knows she is welcome and wanted here anytime, but thank you for caring.”
He kisses me gently on the mouth. Well I’ve blown him to oblivion and given him a knee trembler to remember and now I’ve bought his sensitive side to the surface. Let’s just go for it.
“Yeah, I think your right and she obviously sees this as a special occasion as she has gone all out with her outfit, she looks quite the young lady in her new dress and her makeup done to perfection.”
He gives me a bit of a puzzled look. “Ava’s wearing a dress?”
“Yep, a really pretty, really girly dress and heels and makeup.”
“She doesn’t wear heels or makeup.”
Here we go. “Well that’s how special tonight is to her; she felt the need to get dressed up in something extra special. She is fourteen now Gabe, she‘s a young lady not a little girl and young ladies love to dress up.”
“What kind of dress is it?”
“It’s just a blue girly dress with like a peplum over the waist.”
“What’s a peplum?”
“It’s like an extra bit that goes from her waist and over her hips.”
“Good. Extra’s good. Is it short, is it above the knee?”
Shit. “Well that style of dress tends to come above the knee and Ava’s quite tall so I’m guessing yeah, it will be above her knees, but that’s just a guess, I haven’t seen it on her yet, I’ve only seen it on the hanger.”
His hand is at his jaw and his scratching at his stubble with his thumb and index finger. “How much makeup is she wearing, have you seen?”
“Not a lot, just some foundation and blusher and mascara, it’s the usual stuff that fourteen year old girls wear. She’s growing up Gabe, short skirts and makeup are all part of it. At least she’s doing it here, in front of you and not climbing out of windows and getting changed into inappropriate outfits once she’s up the street like I used to. And like many other fourteen year olds do all around the world, Ava’s a good girl.”
“She fucking wants to be. Is this what the blow job was for, to sweeten me up?”
“No, I did that because you looked so hot and I didn’t want to take my clothes off again and shag ya.”
“You are such a liar Lauren Day, you made me promise to behave all night before you blew me because you were worried that I would crack it when I saw Ava dressed in heels and makeup.”
I shrug. “Well, you’ve promised now so make sure you behave, tell her she looks gorgeous and do not, under any circumstances embarrass her in front of the boys tonight.”
“What boys?”
Shit, fuck, bollocks.
“Well I assume Louie and CJ will be here and I’m sure Sam said they might bring a couple of mates.”
“What mates, how old?”
“Gabe, I don’t know, chill out will you, bloody hell, this is our time to celebrate, we’ve had a shitty few months, now we finally have something’s to be happy about so let’s just have a good night. Okay?”
I stand up in front of him and hold onto his jaw and tilt his head up so he has to look me right in the eye. “Chill, celebrate, have fun and don’t embarrass Ava. I love you.”
Before I even finish talking I can hear the gate opening.