Chapter Twenty-Nine
Luke
“Luke?” A voice calls from somewhere nearby. But I can't open my eyes enough to find out where.
“Mmm?” I groan, not functioning enough to form real words.
Stretching my limbs, I feel a weight lying on my chest with a mass of hair tickling my nose, which means I’m definitely in bed, and my girl is with me.
“Answer your bloody phone. The buzzing is driving me insane,” she sighs. But what does she mean? My phone isn’t ringing, is it?
“Baby, shh, go back to sleep,” I mumble, drifting back off to sleep.
When my phone starts up again, I definitely hear it this time. With a groan, I blindly reach over to my nightstand and accept the call without checking the ID.
“Smyth,” I say, assuming it’s the hospital, even though I'm not on call.
“Yes, dear. That is my last name,” my mother's voice giggles down the phone.
“Oh, hi mum,” I smile. “Sorry, I was asleep. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, yes, everything is fine. But, do you know what would be more than fine? If you would come and open your bloody door.”
I jolt upright out of bed, Fallon squealing as she rolls off of me.
“What? You’re here? Now?” I ask, so confused as to what the hell is going on.
My parents never come here. Ever. I’ve asked them so many times before, and they’re always welcome. Just maybe not when I'm in bed, with a naked woman draped across me.
“I’ve been here for fifteen minutes already. Come and let me in,” she demands.
“Bloody hell, mum. Give me a minute,” I say before ending the call. Shooting out of bed to put some clothes on.
“Your mum is here?” Fallon asks, pulling up the cover so high I can barely see her face. “What the hell. I can't meet your mum looking like this. The only clothes I have with me are what I wore last night!” She groans. “She’s going to think I’m a tramp.”
I can't help the laugh that bubbles out of me. After she finally opened up to me last night, the last thing I want is to push her more. But I guess it's time to meet the parents.
“She will not,” I smile, pulling up my joggers. “You can go through my draws for some clothes though.”
I turn to wink at her, but the face that stares back at me is hilarious. If looks could kill, I’d be six feet under by now. But surely throwing her in at the deep end has to be the easiest way to this. I hear her groan as I close the door behind me, and it only makes me laugh even more.
By the time I make it into the entryway, my smile is still spread wide across my face as I finally open the front door.
Both of my parents are here, in Worcester, and that’s a thing I never thought I'd see. My mother looks as beautiful as ever, dressed impeccably and, of course, in her standard heels. Whereas my father, well, he looks like a moody old bastard that’s been dragged here against his will.
“Your mother wouldn’t let me call ahead to warn you,” he grunts and rolls his eyes, walking straight past me into the apartment.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” she coos, wrapping her arms around me. “You said we could come whenever we wanted to.”
“Mum, you’re always welcome. A little heads-up would have been nice, though. I would have set an alarm,” I say into her hair.
She leans back to look at me, but doesn’t let go of my shoulders.
“Darling, have you been working nights?” She studies me from head to toe, tutting as she does.
No, mother. I’ve been wrapped up in bed, naked, with my soon to be girlfriend.
“No, I had a late night is all.”
She raises a brow before finally letting me out of her clutches and following after my dad, but she freezes before stepping into the room.
I peer over the top of her head to see what it is she’s staring at, only to find my dad and Fallon sitting on either end of the couch, chatting.
She's wearing a pair of my shorts, with a bobble wrapped around the fabric of the waistband to keep them from falling, along with one of my t-shirts.
They appear to be deep in conversation about god knows what.
But the most bizarre part of it is that my dad is smiling. A real fucking smile.
“I would love to see your horses,” she beams at him.
“Well, dear, you can come for a visit whenever you like,” and from the look on his face, I can tell he genuinely means it. As if Fallon won my father over in seconds just by talking about his bloody horses.
“I haven’t ridden in years,” she replies.
“Then you must come for a visit soon,” my mum finally pipes up, her voice even louder than usual.
Poor Fallon almost jumps out of her skin. Her head moves so fast in our direction, I don’t know how she hasn’t given herself whiplash. Now she knows what I have had to deal with all of my life. The number of times the woman has sneaked up on me is ridiculous.
She stands as we get closer, smiling timidly at Mum, but she doesn’t give her any warning before she pulls her into her arms.
“You are beautiful!” She exclaims. “My ignorant son over here hasn’t told me anything about you, but I had my suspicions there was someone on the scene.”
For fucks sake, here we go. I knew this was the reason she turned up out of the blue. I bet she has been stalking my social media to see what I'm up to.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs Smyth. I’m Fallon,” she laughs nervously.
“A beautiful name for such a beautiful girl,” she smiles, before zoning her eyes on me. “And why haven’t you told me all about her sooner? I swear, getting information out of you is like drawing blood from a stone.”
“Mum,” I groan. “Do we really need to do this?”
“Leave them alone, Sharon,” my dad interrupts. “Now, will someone make this old man a cup of tea. Your mother has had me driving for hours just on the off chance we found your secret woman friend here.”
“Geoff!” Mum exclaims.
Worrying that the pair of them might be too overbearing, I look over at Fallon, and my whole body visibly relaxes once I see the twinkle in her eyes. She likes them, thank fuck. She looks like she is watching a comedy show, the way her gaze bounces between them as they bicker.
“Fal?” I say quietly and nod my head to the kitchen.
She follows me instantly, probably needing the escape as much as I do. So much for a day of doing nothing; now we’re stuck with my parents. Well, if she wants to stay, that is. Shit. She is probably going to escape home at the first opportunity she gets.
“I’m sor…” I begin to apologise for their craziness, but she beats me to it.
“Oh, my god. I love them! They’re so nice, they remind me of my parents,” she says as she wraps her arms around my middle. “Is it okay that I’m here? I don’t want to get in the way of your time with them. I can always order an Uber?”
Is she joking? I’m not letting her leave my side.
“I think they’re here to see you, not me,” I laugh, anxiously. “When I last went back home, her Spidey senses told her I was seeing someone, and she grilled me about it until the moment I left.”
“That’s nice, though, it shows how much she cares.”
It shows how much she wants grandbabies. It’s all I ever hear from her. Fallon could be a shrivelled-up prune, but as long as she has a working womb, my mother would be happy. I keep that thought to myself, though.
Leaving my girl a chaste kiss on the side of her head, I busy myself with making drinks.
This is going to be a long day, I can tell already.