Page 95 of Never Too Late

“Do you think she’d be happy, Ty? Do you think she’s proud?”

He lets out a deep breath. His shoulders start to relax.

“I think she’s the proudest mum in the sky, D. I know I’m definitely the proudest brother here. The person Jae brings out of you, I couldn’t be more thankful for. You’re you again. You’re the same person you’ve always been but you have a sparkle to you, a light. I don’t know how he does it, But he keeps it aflame. And you keep his aflame too. Together you burn bright. I think Mum will be able to see that. She’ll see how happy the two of you make each other. She’ll know you’re safe.”

A tear comes to his eye, as it always does when we speak about Mum. Ty doesn’t speak about her as often, he works too hard on being the strong one. But I know how much losing her has affected him. Affected us both.

And I remind myself, I don’t show him how grateful I am for him.

And I need to do something to change that.

Taking a step back, I praise myself, appreciating the lights hanging from the trees and the flowers in a vase on the table underneath. The twinkling in the trees replicates the stars perfectly and I’m happy my vision for this went to plan, because not everything else did.

After my earlier disaster of putting a chicken in the oven, releasing two hours later I never turned it on, I decided to order in; Jae doesn’t like sushi like I do, criminal. He does, however, love Chinese takeout. So, the house special chow mein came to the rescue five minutes ago, exactly the same time he texted me telling me he was on his way home from work.

I feel overwhelmed and I feel exhausted.

And I’m going to blame it all on the chicken I angrily threw in the trash after realising it wasn’t cooking after all.

I’m quickly brought back to reality when I hear Jae’s car engine pull up outside, instantly rushing to the trees to make sure the lights are turned off, then make my way inside to draw the curtains to block the view.

His deep voice echoes in the corridor, just as I take the plates and cutlery from the cupboard to bring to the coffee table in front of the TV. “Something smells good, pretty boy.” My skin instantly forms goosebumps.

Turning around, I see him appear through the door frame, his face softening when he comes into view of me. Butterflies start to swarm my stomach; an overwhelming sensation of love and longing starts to rise. The way the light reflects from his skin, begging for me to come closer, the way his lips form the most ravishing smile and the way his emerald green eyes, remind me that I’m home.

He’s perfect.

He rounds the sofas before sitting down, coming to press a kiss to my forehead. “Thank you, baby. You didn’t have to order takeout. We could have made something together.”

I never want to cook again after the disaster I’ve had today.

“I just wanted to do something nice. I think we both deserve a treat,” I hum as he pulls away from me, distracting myself before I have the chance to pull his lips to mine.

Taking the plates from my hand, he lays them down side by side onto the table and starts plating the food up from the trays already laid out.

“Coming home to you is my treat, but thank you. I love this. And you.” He smiles, licking the fork while staring at me with hooded eyes.

I feel my cheeks heat as I take a seat next to him on the sofa, picking up my own plate and slowly starting to enjoy the burst of flavours in my mouth. I’ve always struggled with eating and trying new things before I met Jae, it’s his doing that I enjoy the food I do now. He always encouraged me to try new things and experience new tastes. It’s always been a texture thing – I still struggle with certain things now and I still don’t eat the wide variety of food he does, but he’s helped me to enjoy food again.

We decide not to turn the TV on as we sit together and eat. Instead, we talk about each other’s days, I tell him about Tyler and Novah, and he laughs telling me he also assumed there was something going on between the two of them. He then goes on to tell me about his day in the florist and about how Bernie has mentioned he hopes someone takes the shop after him who will keep the dream alive and I smile because I know my sunshine would be the perfect person for that. I knew he would enjoy being around Bernie, even I enjoy being around him. He knows a lot about flowers, almost as much as me.

Another thing I need to thank Ty for.

“Thank you for ordering food, Dax, it was perfect. Who’d have known I’d turn you into a romantic,” I hear him say as I put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher.

I laugh at the confession, because it’s true.

And he doesn’t even know half of it yet.

“It must be dark outside now, why don’t we go sit in the garden and watch the stars?” He stands, making his way towards the window, wanting to check outside.

I instantly close the dishwasher with a slam, not caring to press the on button as I dart across the room and throw myself in front of the curtain. “No, we can’t do that.”

“Of course we can, why can’t we?” he asks with a confused look on his face.

“What if it’s not dark enough yet?”

“That’s why I was going towards the window, but you threw yourself in front of it, I can’t check if it’s dark if you won’t let me.”

---