Chapter 12
CHAPTER
TWELVE
JIMMIE
Iremain leaning against the stone benchtop while activity whirls around me. Cam, ever the protector, is pressed close to my side.
I sip on the ice-cold Prosecco he just topped me up with while he holds on to his tumbler of bourbon. We both stare across to where Georgia, Marley, and Lennon are standing in the middle of the set, talking to Daniel as the crew pack their kit away.
“Did you know he felt that level of guilt?” Cam’s deep rumble asks beside me.
“I had no fucking idea,” I tell him honestly. “We don’t keep secrets. At least I didn’t think we did. I’m a little bit angry he’s been holding on to that for all these years.”
I turn to look up at my brother-in-law. Next to my husband and dad, he’s the best man I know.
“What about you? You learn anything new?”
He smiles, and with it, his entire being lights up. I just know whatever he’s thinking, whatever he’s about to say, it’s going to be about Georgia. My best friend, my sister-in-law, his wife.
“I didn’t realise she’s been a diva from such a young age,” he says with a head tilt, his brown eyes meeting mine.
“Really? You’ve raised Lu, your own version of G.
You’ve witnessed Paige at her best and worst, and heard all of us say they’re exactly like her.
What?” I shake my head. “Did you just think Georgia got to a certain age and became the person we know and love? I’ve known her since we were about four, and she’s never been any different. ”
He turns his attention back to his wife. “Yeah, I know. I just hadn’t heard that story before, and I’ve heard a lot. They’re just usually about all of you and the band.”
“Does that bother you?”
He shrugs his response.
“I wouldn’t say it bothers me. I just sometimes wonder if we’ll ever sit around telling stories that I’m a part of.”
I literally feel like I’ve been stabbed in the heart.
This man, this big, beautiful, sometimes scary man, who loves my girl and all her flaws, would lay down his life for her and his kids, who has always come across to me as confident and fearless, has, after all these years of knowing him, just shown me a teeny, tiny chink in his armour.
“We talk about you, tell stories about you,” I reassure him.
“I know, even for someone like you, it can be a bit daunting. This family’s a lot.
Believe me, I know firsthand how intimidating they can be.
But when they love you, you know it. They’re loud, dysfunctional, crass, and as hard as Bern tried over the years, they’re often uncouth, but they love with their whole hearts, and they love you, Cam.
Don’t ever doubt that.” Emotion builds in my chest as I push the words through the tightness in my throat.
Words that have me wondering if anyone has ever told this man what a huge, irreplaceable member of our family he is.
“Do they love me, or are they just grateful?”
“You think I would’ve carried your baby inside me if I didn’t love you? Do you think my husband would’ve allowed me to if he didn’t feel the same way?”
“Your husband clocked me on the jaw the day you found out you were pregnant, if you remember rightly. Unless violence is his love language, it didn’t exactly give me warm and fuzzy welcome to the family vibes.” His brows rise as he turns back to me.
I’d forgotten about that. I wasn’t there to witness it in person, but we’d all watched the security camera footage a few times, and in all honesty, I couldn’t have been prouder of Len. His actions earned him the best blow job I’ve ever given later that night.
“You did deserve it to be fair.”
“I did. What started as a shit day got worse before it got considerably better, and I’ll never, not in a thousand lifetimes, be able to repay you, Ash, Len, and Marley for what you did for us. What you gave us.”
“No repayment necessary. We’re family, and that’s what families do.”
He nods slowly, his eyes tracing a path across my face.
“What, you trying to read me? Work out if I’m being honest?”
“Not at all. I was thinking, in a very non-flirty kind of way, and with the utmost respect, what a lucky bloke Len is, and how pissed off Marley must’ve been when he didn’t get the girl.”
I narrow my eyes and smile up at him. “You’re such a charmer. You sure you’re not flirting with me, Mr King? Just a tiny bit?” I hold up my thumb and pointer finger barely a millimetre apart.
“Absolutely not. As gorgeous as you are, Mrs Layton, I only have eyes for my wife.”
He gives a chin lift in her direction, and I know said eyes have landed on said wife again when they widen and his face lights up with a smile. I look up to see Georgia, Marley, and Lennon moving towards us.
“You all right?” Len asks as soon as he reaches my side.
My eyes meet his, and I know from the way his brows are pulled tightly together that concern is radiating from them and every pore in his body.
The ball of emotion rises from my chest back to my throat, and I can’t find my words for a long moment.
I shake my head, Len shrugs, and I know from knowing this man for over fifty years, loving him for over forty, it’s an apologetic shrug.
“We need to talk,” he says.
“We do. We probably needed to start this conversation at least forty years ago.”
“I know.” He licks his lips and looks away.
“Where’s Ash?” Marley asks.
“In the house with the girls. They went to organise some dinner. You lot staying?” Cam asks, looking between us all. He has his arm around Georgia, who hasn’t said a word. Her eyes slice between Len and me, and knowing us as well as she does, she’s picked up that I’m not happy.
“Fuck dinner. I need another drink,” I announce.
“A-fuckin-men to that, sister. A-fuckin-men!” Georgia replies.
“You all right?” George asks as we go through the door that leads into her house.
“Are they the new Gracie Baby’s?” I ask when I spot the wellies sitting under the bench as we pass through the mudroom.
“Yeah, she had them sent out to me last week. Don’t deflect. Is something wrong?”
“Says the queen of deflection.”
G stops in her tracks, turns and looks at me as her hands go to her hips.
“Don’t start with me,” I tell her before she can say anything. “Today’s been a lot, for everyone, so let’s just get a drink, then we can unpack.” I flick my wrist forward for her to keep moving.
“What were you and Cam so deep in conversation about?” she asks, ignoring my unspoken instruction to move. Which, let’s face it, ignoring instructions and doing whatever the fuck she wants is pretty standard Georgia behaviour.
“I was flirting outrageously. Even offered him a blow job, but he turned me down while not being able to take his eyes off you,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes, then turns and heads into her laundry room before moving through to the hallway of her house.
“Let’s get some alcohol down your throat. Hopefully that’ll loosen your arse enough that you can expel whatever’s crawled up it,” G says as I follow her into her huge, open-plan kitchen and family room.
Ash, Tallulah, and Kiki are sitting on stools at the large centre island. Kiki is on the phone while Ash and Lu talk quietly next to her. They each have a tall glass of something sparkling in front of them. I move straight towards Ash, swipe her glass, and knock back the contents.
“Bitch, what crawled up your arse?” Ash asks as she attempts to grab her glass back.
I twist to the side, avoiding her. Once it’s empty, I hand it back.
“Bit of a day?” Lu asks, although I’m not exactly sure if it’s a question or a statement.
“Bit? A bit of a day? That was…” I trail off while pointing back towards the studio. “Were you expecting all of that?” I aim my question towards Ash, who slowly shakes her head.
“You drank my drink,” she states while looking between her empty glass and me.
I click my fingers in front of her face. “Ash, focus.”
“I am, on my empty glass.”
“Let’s start with the good stuff,” Georgia says as she emerges from her butler’s pantry holding a bottle of Dom up in each hand.
Pulling a couple of glasses from the drawer, she pops the cork and pours us each a glass before topping up Ash’s, then the girls’.
We cheers, and I take a long sip, then let out a sigh.
“I don’t know why I’m angry,” I say. “Should I be angry?”
“What is it exactly you’re angry about?” Georgia asks.
“I’ve ordered pizzas and pasta from Buda Bing. Delivery will be about forty minutes,” Kiki informs us.
“Good, I’m starving,” Lu says.
“Me, too,” Ash declares. “Could eat a scabby horse.”
“Lovely,” Kiks grumbles. “And actually, neither of you are starving. We’re privileged, unlike some, to live a life where we’ll never truly know the meaning of starving.”
“Oh, here we go,” Lu mocks.
“Does anyone ever get to finish a conversation in this house?” I ask. “Or does everyone just talk over each other or rudely interrupt?”
The room falls silent, and four pairs of eyes slice my way, Lu’s with her brows raised and head tilted to the side, exactly the way her dad looked at me earlier.
“Thanks for organising that, Kiki, would be an acceptable response,” she offers.
“I’m sorry, and thanks, Kiks,” I say.
Kiki shrugs while I turn and send a sarcastic ‘better?’ kind of smile at Lu.
“So, you gonna tell us what’s crawled up your arse so far it’s trying to punch its way past your tonsils?” Ash asks.
I let out another sigh that sounds more like a huff, which it might be, because right at this moment I feel like I know nothing.
“I was pissed off with Lennon for holding on to all that guilt and never talking to me about it.”
“You angry or hurt?” Georgia asks.
“Hurt, I think, and I’m angry that it hurts.”
“The whole day, the photos, the interview… it wasn’t what I was expecting.
The boys joining in wasn’t planned. I knew it would stir up emotions, but for me, for all of us, I think it was almost like therapy.
Daniel’s questions…” Georgia trails off for a long moment.
“Were there even questions, or did he just give us a subject to talk about?”
“A bit of both, I think,” I reply, though I’m still not sure of anything. “It all feels a bit of a blur now.”
“Well, all I know is that Makenzie Wild has a thing for my husband, and my husband once had a thing for my sister-in-law,” Ash states.
“Yeah, what was all the staring at him about?” Georgia asks.
“No idea. She left before I had a chance to pull her for a chat.”
“Weird. I’ve invited her and Jake over for dinner. You’ll have to come, too. See if it happens again.”
After moving over to the buffet unit G has running along the back of her sofa, I pull out place mats and cutlery while Kiki brings over plates.
“I think Len’s guilt is a conversation you and he need to have in private, not in front of everyone here,” my niece says quietly as we set the table.
“If it’s taken him this long to open up, maybe don’t confront him about it in front of everyone, and maybe don’t show that you’re angry or hurt.
It may just make him bottle it all up again. ”
Pausing what I’m doing, I take on board Kiki’s words. “Yeah,” I reply with a smile at her thoughtfulness, right before she pulls me in for a cuddle.
Like their parents, Cam and Georgia’s kids are all tall, and I feel dwarfed by her lanky frame.
“Thanks, love,” I say with my head resting on her chest. “I didn’t realise how much I needed that.”
“Just imagine how Len’s feeling. Make sure you pay it forward.”
“What’s happening here? Why am I not getting cuddles?” G interrupts and squeezes in.
“Just taking advice from my exceptionally, far-too-wise-for-her-years niece,” I manage to get out while being squished between two of my favourite people.
“Excuse us,” I hear Ashley say, even though I can’t see her. “Where’s our invite to the group hug? I think today has traumatised all of us. We’re all feeling a bit needy.”
Lu and Ash join our little huddle, and suddenly, nothing seems as bad as it did just an hour ago, and I feel stupid for my overreaction. We stand for a long moment, enjoying the sense of safety and comfort that only a cuddle from a loved one can bring.
“Maca’s doing that thing with the playlist again, Mum,” Lu whispers.
We all break apart slightly and listen to Carol King sing “You’ve Got A Friend”.
“He just can’t help himself,” G says, smiling.
We all turn in unison as the boys nosily head into the kitchen before coming to a silent stop at the sight of us all holding on to each other—all of us except Lu—with tears shining in our eyes.
“What the fuck?” Marley frowns.
“It’s good. We’re good,” Ash says before she moves towards him.