Chapter 15
Teddy lifted the wicker basket out of the backseat, shaking his head when Jessica tried to take it from him.
“No chance,” he said, holding it out of her reach.
“I don’t think we need to be the kind of couple who subscribe to gender norms, Teddy. I can carry that.”
He pulled out the new red and black tartan picnic rug he’d ordered online, tucking it under his arm. “I know you can. But it doesn’t mean you should.”
What he didn’t say was that he needed to keep his hands occupied. If they were free, he might do something silly like reach for her.
Christ. She looked fantastic with her hair pulled up off her face and neck. All cool and sophisticated in her loose shirt and shorts. But Teddy’s favourite thing about how Jessica looked right now? She’d dressed up a little and made an effort for their ‘date’, but she still looked like herself.
“So, this is a bigger deal than I realised.” Jessica looked out over the field in front of them.
“You haven’t been before? Brought Sam along?”
She shook her head. “I’m normally working, and Sam’s always with Rob on the weekends. I wasn’t expecting all of this.” Her hand swept towards the field rapidly filling with people.
Food trucks were parked along the far side, advertising everything from twisty potatoes on sticks to wood-fired pizzas and gourmet hot dogs.
A few carnival rides had been set up on the opposite side, and happy squeals drifted across the field.
The Somers Gully Dental hay bale picnic station was in its usual spot, sandwiched between the food vendors and the fair games. Teddy squinted, a grin forming rapidly.
“What?” Jessica followed his gaze, using one of her hands to shade her eyes even though she was wearing a pair of sunglasses that made her look like one of the 1950s pin-ups his mother had always admired.
“If you play your cards right, Sunshine, I’ll win you a prize later.”
“Wow. Please, stop trying to impress me,” she teased, and Teddy laughed, relieved that whatever had been worrying her when he picked her up had evaporated on the drive to Somers Gully. He’d worried it might’ve been him showing up with flowers again. Am I already fucking this up? Being too much?
“Surely, you know that’s a bad idea,” he said, trying to distract himself from his own thoughts. Thoughts that would lead him down a dangerous path. “I love a challenge.”
Jessica huffed, but he saw the smile she was trying so hard to tamp down. She pushed her sunglasses up onto her head.
“Let me save you the trouble. You don’t need to impress me, Teddy.”
“Ohh, reverse psychology. That’s more like it. It’s going to be such a big prize.” He nodded resolutely, pointing to the path on their right and gesturing for her to go ahead because he was a gentleman, and also, he wanted to enjoy the view.
“You know you’re supposed to save all this flirting and being sweet for when we have an audience, right?
” Jessica tossed over her shoulder, her earrings swinging with the movement.
It was her fault that he was all off-kilter.
The more time Teddy spent with Jessica, the more she unravelled him.
Made him question everything he thought he’d always known.
Made this whole situation feel a little bit less fake. And this was only the beginning.
“I like it when you tease me.” He shrugged even though she wouldn’t be able to see him.
Jessica stopped, spinning to face him, and Teddy’s brain didn’t get the message in time. He bumped into her and their legs tangled together. Next thing he knew, Teddy was gripping her hips, and Jessica’s hands were twisted in his cotton shirt.
She looked up at him and bit her lip.
He could kiss her right now. Not because he wanted to get it over with, but because it felt inevitable.
Like, at some point, he was going to be tasting the berry-scented gloss she’d put on her lips.
He knew it was berry because she’d reapplied it on the drive over, filling his ute with the sweet smell of strawberries.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“I’m not.”
Her eyes darkened, and he’d swear on the life of everyone in his family that her gaze flicked to his lips before returning to his eyes.
Teddy lowered his voice. “Still happy to take things as they come?”
“Uh-huh.” Her breath ghosted over his chest, and Jessica pressed herself closer to his body. Fuck it. Eventually, they’d have to kiss, right? And it would be better if it happened like this: organically, rather than being orchestrated and awkward as fuck.
“Sunshine, I’m going to—”
She nodded, her grip on his shirt tightening. “I want you to.”
Teddy lowered his mouth towards Jessica’s and watched the way her eyes fluttered closed, how her lips parted just enough that he’d be able to slide his tongue into her mouth and tease her some more.
“There you are!” Lulu cried, and Teddy blinked, letting the world come back into focus, but it was hard to see anything but the dazed expression on Jessica’s delicate features.
“I was wondering if you were here yet,” Lulu said.
Lulu’s bright voice cut through the remaining fog in Teddy’s mind, and he straightened to his full height, clearing his throat. Joan, Nate, Eloise, Alice and Owen flanked his mother, all wearing wide grins.
“Don’t stop kissing on our account,” Joan snickered.
“No, no, that’s fine.” Jessica stepped backwards, and Teddy wanted to follow her. “We were talking about the fair.”
After a silence that stretched on too long, Alice said brightly, “Should we go find a good spot?”
“Sure,” Jessica replied.
“Don’t even,” Teddy warned when Jessica reached for the picnic basket he’d dropped.
“You’re ridiculous,” she murmured, but her smile gave her away.
Teddy cocked his head, lowering his voice to match hers. Trying to get back some of the closeness that had dissipated with the arrival of his family. “Excuse me for trying to be a gentleman.”
“You’re excused.” She rolled her eyes, and Teddy couldn’t help it—he wanted to make her do that again. Taste the tiny smile that followed her feigned exasperation.
It hit him with a thud: he didn’t want to play pretend anymore. He wanted to prove to her that he could do this.
Be the guy she wanted to kiss.
For real.
All in all, the picnic was more fun than Teddy had expected.
“That was quite the spread you organised,” Jessica said as she helped him stack containers of leftover potato salad and chicken sandwiches into the wicker basket he’d borrowed from Alice.
“I wanted it to be nice.” What he wanted was another one of Jessica’s private smiles. The ones that signified she was truly happy and not smiling politely because that’s what societal norms dictated.
“You did good, Teddy.” Her blush was even better than the smile he’d been hoping for.
“Want some cake?” Teddy lifted the chocolate mud cake he’d picked up from the Coles in Somers Gully and waved his other hand over it with a flourish. “Because here’s one I prepared earlier.”
“Bringing out the big guns there, hey, Ted,” Owen teased, his nose a little sunburnt and eyes bright.
If the James family had a love language, it would be teasing, and Teddy didn’t even care.
He’d dished out plenty of jokes at his brothers’ expense over the years.
It was—strangely enough—nice to be on the receiving end of it because he was doing nice things for a woman he liked.
Teddy blinked and pulled his sunglasses off his head, down low over his eyes.
It was fine that he liked Jessica.
He was allowed to like someone.
He was allowed to hope Jessica liked him back.
And it didn’t suck feeling like he was finally part of a club he hadn’t realised how much he wanted to be a part of. Not that he’d admit that to his brothers. “I won’t hear a word against a Coles mud cake, thanks very much. They are and forever will be a top-tier dessert.”
Teddy was also pretty sure that if he tried too hard, Jessica would run for the hills. And he was already invested in their new closeness, getting to spend time with her.
“They’re Sam’s favourite, too,” Jessica said.
“We’ll have to save him some then,” Teddy said, and there it was. Her private smile appeared immediately.
“He’d like that.”
“Are you enjoying spending more time with Sam, Teddy?” Lulu wanted to know from across the table, a glass of rosé in one hand and a cracker loaded with brie and quince paste in the other.
Teddy had thought his picnic planning was pretty good, but it was nothing compared to the gourmet platters his mother had ‘whipped up’.
“Sam’s a cool kid.” Teddy smiled.
“Joan says he’s a sweetheart.” Lulu popped the cracker into her mouth and stared at Teddy expectantly, her eyebrows creeping up her forehead as she waited for him to say something.
But what?
Oh. Right. Lulu James, unsolicited wing woman was reporting for duty.
“He gets that from his mother.”
Lulu rewarded him with a triumphant smile, but Jessica shook her head, laughing softly.
“Yeah, okay,” she murmured.
“Sunshine,” slipped past Teddy’s lips before he could stop it, and his mother didn’t even attempt to hide her glee. Teddy decided to ignore Lulu. He tilted his head towards Jessica and lowered his mouth to her ear, whispering, “That’s true and you know it.”
Their gazes tangled, and Teddy suddenly wished they were somewhere alone. Somewhere where he could …
Make a move?
Like a real move?
One that signified that this—whatever this was—was already feeling like something more to Teddy than they’d agreed it would be?
“Come on”—he pulled Jessica up to her feet and slipped an arm around her waist, savouring the warmth of her body against his and the fact that she didn’t push him away—“let’s go win some prizes.”
“I should warn you that I’ve never won anything in my life.”
“Then today’s your lucky day because I’m excellent at winning.”
“I guess you’d better show me your moves then,” she said.
If only.
“Theodore, there you are,” Dr Nolan said, approaching the group with a scowling Kylee a few metres behind him.
“Dr Nolan, hello. This is my girlfriend, Jessica,” Teddy said politely.
Jessica stepped forward to shake Dr Nolan’s hand, and Teddy’s hand slipped to the small of her back. “Nice to meet you,” she said.
“Same to you. This is my niece, Kylee.”
“We’ve already met,” Jessica said warmly despite the glare they both received from Kylee.
“Having fun?” Kylee asked when Dr Nolan nudged her.
“It’s been lovely,” Jessica said, sliding her arm around Teddy’s waist. He could’ve sighed with relief, her touch more relaxing than he’d ever noticed before. “We’re about to go and try our luck at the games.”
“Awesome. I’m meeting Adrian, so I’d better get going.”
“Kylee—” Dr Nolan started, but she cut him off.
“We don’t need to discuss this again. I know you don’t like him, but I’m a big girl. I can handle myself. I’ll see you later.”
Without a backwards glance, Kylee stalked away, texting furiously.
Dr Nolan’s mouth pinched into a frown. “I don’t know how to get her to listen to me.”
Was this the twilight zone?
“Maybe I could try again? Help her understand why Adrian and his family have the reputation that they do?” Teddy offered before he realised what he was saying. “Sometimes it helps to hear from people your own age. No offence.”
Dr Nolan almost smiled. Or grimaced. But Teddy had always been a cup-half-full kind of guy.
“None taken.”
That was the nicest thing Dr Nolan had ever said to Teddy.
“That would be helpful. Thank you. Perhaps I have underestimated you, Theodore.”
Teddy’s eyes widened. Thank God for sunglasses. Jessica squeezed Teddy’s waist, and he returned the gesture.
“You know, I still haven’t found anyone to cover my absence next year.”
Dr Nolan didn’t say anything else, but the air was thick with his unspoken words.
Ahhh, so this is how I get him to like me, and more importantly, trust me.
Teddy nodded too vigorously, his surprise manifesting in the physical movement. “I’d still be happy to help.”
“The experience would look good on your application for the orthodontic course, too.”
“It would.”
“Right. I’d better keep making the rounds. Enjoy the rest of the day.” Shaking Teddy’s hand—this is the twilight zone—Dr Nolan moved off to greet more of their coworkers.
“So, that was …” Jessica twisted her mouth from side to side, clearly searching for the right word.
“Weird,” Teddy supplied. “That was weird, but I’ll take not being in his bad books anymore and say thank you for the opportunity to you.”
Jessica’s cheeks flushed. “Me? I didn’t even say anything. You’re the one who’s going to have to convince Kylee to give Adrian the flick.”
“You being here shows him I’m not a playboy.”
She bit her lip, drawing it into her mouth, a teasing gleam in her eye.
“Anymore.” Teddy rolled his eyes, grateful again for his sunglasses.
“I saw that.”
An incredulous laugh burst from of his mouth. “How?”
“Okay, it was a guess. But I was right, wasn’t I? I’m getting to know you, Teddy. Pretty soon, I’ll be able to read you like a book.”
Her words hit him right in the chest, and he remembered something Owen had said in the early days of his relationship with Alice.
About couples coming up with their own languages.
Ones that only they could understand, how to communicate best with someone else.
Someone who mattered more than everyone else.
They were getting closer. He could feel it in every interaction they shared, each time they learnt more about each other. How had they got to this point so quickly?
The answer to his musings made his heart race.
It was because he wanted to.
And based on the way Jessica smiled at him and tugged him over to the ring toss, it sure seemed like she wanted to as well.