Page 29 of Christmas Sunrise
"Right, I’ve got to get Maeve’s stuff and then race home to make up with the future mother of my child."
"That’s the spirit." Ma grins at me.
"Well, Jenna is ovulating you see so…" I wink at my father who shakes his head.
Ma moves to stand up. "Oh, shall I go get that book I read? Maybe Jenna would like to borrow it?"
I hold my hand up. "No, thank you, Ma." I think about Jenna’s red outfit last night. It had half-killed me not to devour her wearing it. "No help necessary."
"Well, we need yours and Jenna’s help actually." She gets up after giving my father a look.
I hold my hands up and look away. "Jesus, I think enough boundaries have been crossed this morning, I don’t think we’re the right people to talk to for sex advice."
Mum frowns at me. "I don’t need sex advice, you muppet. I need you to take some desserts with you so we don’t have to bring them all!"
"See, no help necessary here too," Dad says winking at me this time.
Waving her hands to dismiss us both, Ma heads to the fridge. "Can you take the pavlova and cheesecake with you, we will bring the apple pie, Christmas pudding and cheeseboard with us later."
"Sure, Ma," I say watching her get them out, one by one. "But first I need to do something else."
"Oh, yes, Maeve’s suitcase. It’s upstairs in her room—" But she stops talking when I pull her into a big hug, holding her petite frame against me.
"No, this. Thanks, Ma," I say into the top of her head. “And Merry Christmas.”
"Merry Christmas, Aiden," she says back, her voice thick with love.
Chapter Ten
Jake
"Well, would you look at the pair of us?" I glance to my side at Maeve who is in the same position beside me. We’re sat in bed hugging mugs of coffee with the duvet pulled up around our waists. At the other end of the bed, Marty and Jenna’s dog AJ is sleeping, his big tummy rising and falling in a slow rhythm.
"We’re like an old married couple who no longer shag," Maeve states with just the right amount of scorn.
"Ugh, may that never be my fate." I shudder.
"I’m never getting married so that should solve that problem. And honestly, I can’t be arsed with the sex part most of the time." Maeve flattens out the duvet around her legs.
"I wish I felt that way about sex. It would save me many a headache."
Maeve shrugs and I think she’s going to say something else but no words follow.
"Are you okay after last night?" I ask.
She sniffs and I turn to check if she’s crying. She’s not. Turns out that was a nonchalant sniff rather than the start of a hiccupping snot landslide.
"I’m fine. I don’t know why I got so emotional to be honest."
"Thinking you’re falling for your best friend, kissing them and having them sort of reject you only for you to discover you may not have had feelings in the first place? That’s a lot to process. And you weren’t that bad. Honestly, I get more emotional than that when I run out of tea bags or get toothpaste on my tie." I lean over to nudge her arm.
She laughs softly and then takes a sip of her coffee. "I still feel like a mad yoke."
"A mad yoke?" I question.
"Foolish, daft, stupid. Shall I continue?"
"Oh, don’t." I tap the duvet near her leg. "We’ve all kissed people we shouldn’t." I hate how quickly I can visualise a certain face, a certain broad and brilliant smile as I say that, but then I push his image aside along with the discomfort it brings. “Sounds like Arabella was at least good about it.”
