“A shirt your mum picked out when we were shopping last weekend.”
Okay, a shirt definitely wasn’t a watch. I looked at Abby and mentally cursed her blank expression. Why wasn’t she giving anything away, and why couldn’t I just man up and ask her? Have you turned back into a cheater, Abby?
“Did you pick up Everleigh’s headband?”
“Damn it,” I muttered.
Abby sighed. “Jasper, we’ve had that almost a week now.”
“Sorry. She can get it tonight.”
“I’ll make sure she gets it.”
How had Abby changed so quickly? She’d been acting weird for a little while now. At first I thought it was just because her parents were separating, but I don’t think so now. Her parents fought for most of her life, and she said she was relieved they were finally breaking up. So what the fuck was up with her? Another man was the only conclusion I could come too. I hated it because I’d finally reached a place where I could trust her one hundred per cent again, and she was seriously screwing with that.
Feeling deflated, I looked out of the window as we approached Oakley’s house. I should have just kept whoring around rather than forgiving her and settling down. That was much easier.
“Ready?” Abby asked, smiling at me as she opened her door.
I nodded and got out, plastering a smile on my face. As soon as the front door opened and Everleigh ran outside my smile turned real.
“Uncle Jasper,” she screamed. And I knew that no matter what happened with Abby, I would always have my favourite girl.
Chapter Three
I plucked Everleigh out of the air as she jumped at me. The kid could properly clear the floor. It was terrifying.
“Hey, kiddo.”
“Don’t eat the chicken. Daddy said Grandad don’t cook it right,” she said, getting straight to the point. “Chicken that don’t cook right makes you hurt, doesn’t it?”
It was hurl, and it was me, not Cole, that had told her when I was sick once that bad chicken made you hurl, but I was glad she’d got it mixed up. Saved me from Oakley’s yelling.
“That’s right. Bad chicken makes your belly hurt.”
“Hey, girly,” Abby said, taking her from me. Everleigh started telling Abby about the chicken too so I took the opportunity to say hi to my mum, who was waiting by the front door – on granddaughter duty.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Mum said, hugging me.
“Hey. How’s it going?”
“Good. I’m so happy everyone can be together again. It’s been too long. Abby,” she said, pushing past me. “How are you? It’s been a while.”
I tried not to think about why she wasn’t at my mum and Miles’ for dinner last week. It seemed that while I just wanted to knock her up and have a family, she just wanted to be young and go out again. I thought we were on the same page. When we got married, I thought – because she’d said – that we were going to start thinking about trying to have a baby. Usually I was quite good at finding the real message between what a woman said and what she actually fucking meant, but clearly I had mistaken ‘I can’t wait to have a family with you’ for ‘Sod off, I want my freedom.’
I followed them into the back garden, saying happy birthday to Miles before I grabbed my first beer of many.
“Hey, man,” I said as Brad walked out to join me. Holly was just behind him, almost hiding. I nodded my head. “Holly.”
“Where’s the beer?” Brad asked, heading over to the cooler by the barbecue that I pointed out.
“Hi. Thank you again for inviting me,” Holly said, biting the inside of her mouth.
I shrugged. “No worries. Let me introduce you to my sister. Oakley!” Holly flinched, not realising I was about to shout, even though Oakley was at the other end of the garden.
Instead of my sister, my niece ran over and stood in front of Holly, checking her out with a little scowl.
“Do you like purple?” Everleigh asked her.
“Um,” Holly muttered at the random question and then smiled, bending down a little. “I love purple, it’s my absolute favourite.”
“Mine too.” Everleigh beamed and skipped off, and with that brief exchange, Holly had been accepted.
“She’s cute. Your niece Everleigh, right?”
“Yeah, and yeah she is. She likes you.”
She smiled. “You can tell from that?”
“You like purple, and if she didn’t like you she would have held onto my hand and glared at you.”
Holly laughed. “Alright.”
“Hi,” Oakley said, finally getting to us. “You’re Holly, right?”
“Yeah, hi. Thanks for letting me come.”
Oakley waved her hand. “Of course. You want something to drink? My mum’s making cocktails, can’t guarantee they’ll be nice, though.”
“Holly’s not a big drinker,” I said.