Page 123 of Worth the Wait
“I did, baby boo.” She kissed Freddie on both cheeks, then turned to Nathan. “And I hear there has been change afoot here.” She dropped a hand on her hip, raking her gaze over Nathan. “My, my. You’ve grown into your face.”
Nathan blinked. “Uh. Thank you?”
“Last time I saw you, you were all knees and attitude, pinching crisps from my kitchen and pretending you weren’t in love with my son.”
Freddie groaned. “Mum…”
Colette winked. “Don’t worry, love. I always knew it’d be you two in the end. The universe likes a full circle. Now,let me look at you.” She grabbed Nathan’s arms tight, then closed her eyes.
Freddie stifled a laugh. Nathan glared at him.
But then her expression shifted. Gone was the theatrical poise. The smirk. The camp clairvoyant persona. What replaced it was much quieter. Like a radio tuning suddenly to the right frequency.
She opened her eyes. “I’m… sorry about Private Briggs.”
Nathan froze. “How do you know…?”
“He says you did everything you could. No need to keep harbouring the guilt.” She patted Nathan’s arm, offered a small, almost maternal smile. “I won’t charge you for that one.” She then wandered off towards the raffle table.
Freddie touched Nathan’s elbow. “Was she…right?”
“Nah.” Nathan laughed. “Never heard of a Private Briggs.”
“You sly prick…”
Nathan chuckled. Low, deep and sexy as fuck.
Freddie pointed his beer at his mother. “Now she’ll think she’s finally found her calling.”
The pub doors clanged open with a hollow metallic thud, cutting clean through the low murmur of laughter, clinking glasses, and the creak of worn floorboards. Freddie glanced instinctively over Nathan’s shoulder to see who it was, and his gaze snagged on Jude.
He lingered in the doorway long enough to be noticed, his smile sweet and harmless, and he nodded at Freddie with casual familiarity, then tossed a cheerful wave towards the table of teachers by the dartboard. But there was something off about him. As if he was half looking over his shoulder.
Maybe everyone still was.
Freddie turned back towards the bar where, at a far corner of the pub, Reece tossed back a whiskey as if it might drown the weight of his name, easy grin a little too sharp, a little too practiced. And across the room, Trent leant against the bar in his paramedic greens, eyes tracking Reece with the kind of patience that promised trouble.
Oh, the real storms hadn’t even started yet.
Then Freddie caught Nathan watching him with that steady, familiar look. The one that had been there all along. Through the missed chances. The lost years. The endlessalmosts. Freddie smiled back at him. Dipped closer to him. And Nathan stroked a hand up the back of Freddie’s neck, then kissed his temple.
And that was everything.
Because some things aren’t supposed to happen easily. Or meant to happen fast.
But the things that matter?
They’re always worth the wait.
And in Worthbridge… waiting is never the end of the story.
Want more of Freddie and Nathan? Then you can get a FREE bonus chapter of them trying to wrangle a relationship amidst family chaos.
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And book 2 in the series is comingon 30 September 2025
Worth theFight (Worth It Book 2):
