Page 118 of Next Time I Fall (Excess All Areas 2)

“Jesus Christ. Please stop.”

Cerys stopped walking, Jase with her, as the others went on ahead.

“Great-grandchildren, huh?” she muttered.

Jase took the bouquet out of her hands and pulled her to him with his free arm, kissing the top of her head. “You want kids, Cerys?” he asked, quietly.

Smushed against his chest, she could barely breathe, but felt her heart rate lowering. “Yes. But probably not on the same timeline as your Nan.”

She felt his chest ripple with a chuckle. “Given she’s wanted great-grandkids since we turned of age, probably not. But it’s a good thing to know you and me would both like them in the future, though, yeah?”

Cerys lifted her gaze to his. There was such optimism in his eyes, it was easy to be buoyed by it. “It is.”

He kissed her, a soft, reassuring meeting of lips. “You’ll be fine today, I promise. It’s a big deal to Nan because I’ve never done this.”

“Brought a girl home?”

“Nah. Done that before. It’s the first time I’ve been in love with her, though, and Nan knows it.”

Her eyes widened as his words hit home. “Jase.”

“Don’t look at me like that, pretty girl, or Little Jase will get all curious about what’s going on. You know how much he hates getting left tucked inside my denim when your eyes go all misty.”

“You just said you’re ‘in love with her’ ... with me.”

Jase rolled his eyes at her. “Did I, or did I not tell you that the next time I fall in love it would be with you?”

“To fall and fallen mean two different things.”

“Only got a grade D in my GCSE English, Cerys. So, you can talk to me about grammar, or you can put me out of my misery and tell me you love me too.”

She cupped his cheeks and pulled his lips down to hers. “Yes,” she breathed against them. “I love you too.”

Their kiss was sloppy and slightly ruined by the fact both of them grinned at each other foolishly.

“Come on,” he said, taking her hand. “Nan will send a search party out if we don’t get there soon.”

When they turned onto the street, Cerys bit out a gasp. “What did she do? And wait, that cat’s going to get run over.” A black-and-white cat who’d had one-too-many servings of cat food, sat in the middle of the road, and the outside of the terraced house was decorated in Easter-coloured bunting. Yellows, pinks, and pale turquoise. A small arrangement of balloons was stuck with Sellotape to the window.

“The cat is Boddington. He’s on life number seven. Hates humans, hates cars even more. He just sits there and stares them down. You can try and go move him if you want, but you might want to check when you last had your tetanus shot boosted. As for all this.” He gestured at the exterior decoration. “It’s a bit of a big deal for Nan, this. Not just you. But me and Matt finding some kind of peace.”

The front door was open, the sound of loud voices, the bark of a dog, and bizarrely ...

“Is that Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé?”

“Yeah. Nan fucking lovesBarcelona. And Queen is Uncle Allan’s favourite band. Fancies himself as a crooner. It’ll be Queen’s Greatest Hits all afternoon.”

“Is she here yet?” a voice, from just inside the door shouted. Cerys grinned. The words were all rolled together.Ishe-ear-yet.

When she stalled from stepping inside, Jase tugged on her hand. “Waves, Cerys. Waves.” He grinned as he led her inside. “Nan,” he shouted. “Your favourite grandson has arrived.”

Groans erupted around the room.

“I always say that,” he whispered. “Pisses them all off because it’s true.”

“Where is she?” Nan bustled over and tackled Cerys into a full-on body hug. “Let me take a good look at you.”

Cerys hugged her back. It seemed the polite thing to do. “It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs. Palmer.”

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