Page 2 of Embracing Us

“You’re really selling this father thing to me,” he replies, raising his eyebrows. “Let’s get you a drink, just don’t fall asleep on me tonight. If you do, I’m leaving you where you lie.” We walk to a glitzy cocktail bar named Precious. From the front it looks tiny, but as you walk through the reflective glass door it opens into a sprawling room. The edges are lined with booths trimmed in purple velvet. A square mirrored bar sits in the centre of the room, lines of multicoloured bottles behind the counter.

On entering, we are approached by a tall woman dressed in a fitted pink corset, black miniskirt, and sky-high heels. She smiles broadly at us. Her deep brown hair is poker straight down her back, her face is heavily made up with jarring makeup. She purses her bright-red lips then drops her gaze down to my toes and back to my eyes.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” she purrs. “Welcome to Precious. Would you like a table for only the two of you?”

“A booth, please,” Jace replies. “And line up the drinks. We’re celebrating. This man here…” He grabs my shoulder, harder than necessary. “He has become a father for the first time.”

“Congratulations,” she says with a fake smile. “This way, please.” We follow her across the room as she strides in front of us swinging her hips then gestures to a free booth. Jace and I slide in as the woman retreats to the bar. We each pick up a menu off the table.

“A bucket of beer or shots to start?” Jace asks.

“I’ve hardly had a drink for months. Can we go easy, please?”

“Not a fucking chance,” he scoffs, signalling to a waitress. She walks over, and Jace orders a selection of drinks then turns back to me. “So, tell me, what’s it like being a daddy?”

I take a breath; there’s so much I want to tell him. “Incredible, terrifying, and completely consuming. I never realised you could love someone so much.” My old friend beams at me. “Life before Jackson has faded away; I can’t imagine never having him.”

“That’s brilliant, mate,” he says. “And Linda, is she coping with it all?”

“Jeez, I don’t know what I’d do without her. She keeps me right. You should have seen me trying to put his nappy on for the first time.” I smirk to myself at the memory. “It took me three nappies and five attempts to get it to stay on. Every time I lifted him up, it slid right off.” Jace snorts.

“I now have visions of you getting pissed on by your bare-assed son,” he replies with a chuckle.

“That has happened,” I mutter, remembering the shower of baby piss that coated my t-shirt this morning. “It’s an everyday danger.” He belly-laughs and takes a swig of his beer.

“I’d pay to see that,” he says. “I can imagine your face.”

“Linda is much better than she was a few weeks ago. The sadness seems to have receded, for now, anyway.” My voice drops to a whisper, and he frowns at the change of topic, but I need to speak to someone about my worries. He’s the only person I trust. “I was concerned the week after he was born. She was so down and brooding, but she seems to have perked up. She told me it was the crash in her hormones that caused it.” Jace’s eyes run over my face as I talk. He can be intense when he wants to be.

“Well, if either of you needs anything, you know where I am. Uncle Jace is here to teach my nephew the ways of the world,” he says then waggles his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I’m not sure if I want my son being trained by you,” I tell him, and he scowls at me. “I don’t want you using him to pick up women.”

He snaps his fingers and shouts, “Damn! That was my first lesson with him. How to pick up hot women.”

“I think you need a few lessons yourself,” I mutter as he passes me another beer. He ignores my jibe and continues his interrogation.

“And how are you?” he asks. “After the accident and everything. It’s been a challenging few months.” I let out a breath, and my shoulders sag. The accident. It’s something I don’t like to think about too often, but I have demons I know need addressing.

“I’m all right. Jackson and Linda have been keeping me busy. She’s been staying home a lot and isn’t keen to go out. Her stitches took a while to heal, and she’s only now feeling more herself. I’ve done more housework and cooking in the past eight weeks than I’ve ever done.” He laughs. “And I’m back to work as well. Paternity leave was a bonus, but I wish it’d been longer. I hate leaving them.”

“I’m honoured you graced me with your presence,” he replies, snarky.

“When it happens to you, Jace, you’ll understand.”

“I think there’s more of a chance Angelina Jolie will stride in here and ask me to marry her than me having a kid, mate. It’s not in my life plan.” He smiles softly. “But I’m delighted to be an uncle to Jackson.”

“He couldn’t ask for a better man to be his uncle,” I tell him.

“Thanks, mate.”

“I called the counsellor,” I say before I can change my mind. “To talk about the accident and what happened.” He sits silently, leaving space for me to talk. I need to fill the void. “I’ve been having nightmares. Rerunning that night in my head.”

“Okay, getting help sounds like the sensible thing to do. A lot has changed in a year. It’s a lot to process.”

“Tell me about it,” I agree, “but I wouldn’t change where I am now.”

We clink our beer bottles together.

Suddenly, a gaggle of young women appear at the door. Jace and I glance over. There must be ten of them at least, all dressed in skin-tight dresses with killer heels. “Oh yes,” Jace roars. “The talent has arrived.” I laugh and shake my head before looking back at the group. My heart sinks as Marina’s eyes meet mine. Standing next to her is a familiar blonde woman I know better than I want to admit.

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