Chapter 14
“Babe, stop it, you look fine. Doesn’t she look good, girls?” he says, shouting over his shoulder. I'm checking my reflection in the car mirror for the hundredth time.
“Yes, mummy, you look beautiful!” Jess yells
“You do, Kate . . . you look really pretty,” Lucia says shyly
“Thank you, girls,” I say over my shoulder and turn to glare at Nate. “I can’t help being nervous, it’s the first time I'm meeting your parents properly. How many people are going to this barbecue anyway?”
“Seriously, relax, it’s just family; my sister, her kids and her husband, my uncle and auntie, mum and dad, and my grandma. Nothing to get worked up about, they want to meet you.”
“I'm scared they won’t like me.” I lower my voice so that the girls can’t hear.
“Seriously? After the last girl I brought home? You have nothing to worry about - trust me.”
“Oh, thanks a lot!”
“I didn’t mean it like that . . . they’ll love you, Kate - everyone does!”
I was nervous, I wanted to make a good first impression.
“Is there anything about your family that you need to tell me?”
He glances over at me, taking his eyes off the road for a second.
“No, mum's a total fruit loop, dad’s fine, he keeps her grounded. My sister is loud, and so are her kids, but her husband is quiet, a bit like my mum and dad. My uncle’s a good bloke, only a few years older than me, and they haven’t got any kids.
My younger brother will be here too, but probably won’t say more than one word to you, and my grandma.
.. well... good luck with her, she doesn’t like anyone. ” He laughs.
Jesus, is that supposed to make me feel better? Because it doesn’t!
We get out of the car, and I help the girls out. Nate gets out the cool bag with the pasta salad I've prepared and the fairy cakes that the girls and I made the previous day.
He turns to me and must see from my expression that I'm panicking, he places the dishes on the roof of the car and turns and grabs me by the hips, pulling me to him. He kisses me on the forehead, “I promise they’ll love you... you’ll wonder what you were worried about.
Relax and be yourself and they’ll see what I see. Ok?” he says softly.
I nod, “Ok, honey”
I’ve been surrounded by a warm duvet. A warm duvet of Nate’s love.
He loves me. Nothing can spoil my day now.
I follow Nathan as he guides us around to the back of the house.
There’s loud chattering as he opens the gate.
His parents have a large garden, with a gazebo on the lawn and patio furniture scattered throughout, along with extra seats that have been set out.
There’s a climbing frame, which currently has a couple of children hanging upside down from it.
Everyone stops what they're doing to turn to look at us when they realise we’re standing there. Ten pairs of eyes are on me. Gulp.
I'm glad I made the effort with my outfit. It’s a hot, sunny day, so my beige playsuit is perfect.
It's casual but a little dressy, with little bluebirds printed on it. I fell in love with it in the shop. I have my hair in a loose ponytail due to the heat and wear silver hoops, keeping it simple. I added a little tinted moisturiser, eyeliner, and tinted lip balm to keep it natural. I felt good. I liked what I saw when I checked my reflection, and Nate’s reaction was pretty awesome - he liked what he saw too.
“Well, instead of you lot staring, get over here and say hello,” Nate said, addressing the whole garden.
We make our way over to the patio where the barbecue is set up, and Lucia runs to a woman I recognise from school - but other than smiling in passing, I've never spoken to her. Since Nate and I have been seeing each other, I've been collecting Luce for him when he can’t, and I take both the girls in the morning. He doesn’t need to ask his mum to do it anymore, so I haven’t seen her in a while.
She was young, in her early fifties, I’d say, but young-looking for her age.
She had short-cropped hair and was wearing jean shorts and a vest top.
As she hugged and kissed her granddaughter, her eyes came to me. Jess held my hand. Maybe she sensed I was nervous, I loved her even more for that - if that was possible.
His mum gives me a bright, genuine smile “Hello, you must be Kate, boy, have we heard a lot about you.”
I give a half-laugh. “Hi, Mrs Harris, it’s lovely to meet you - I recognise you from school.”
“Call me Simone, dear. I'm glad you could come,” She smiles at Jess. “And this must be the lovely Jessica that I've heard so much about.” She squats to be at her eye level, and Jess smiles at her. “Lucia’s told me lots about you. Why don’t you go with Lucia into the kitchen and get an ice lolly?” Jess nods, her eyes lighting up, and she follows Lucia into the house.
“Alright, Mum?” Nate says, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek.
“Yes, apart from your dad not listening to anything I have to say, as per usual. You get burned food, that’s raw inside - you’ll have him to blame.”
“I can hear that she’s badmouthing me again.
” A man near the barbecue shouted over. I take him in .
. . wow . . . this is definitely where Nathan gets his good looks from, he’s an older version of him.
If Nathan looks like this in twenty years, I’ll be okay.
It’s wrong to think that his dad is dishy - but I have eyes!
He strides over to us. “Well, Nathan, see you got a beautiful one to agree to go out with you – how in the hell did you manage that? She’s totally out of your league, son.”
I feel my cheeks heat up.
“I'm Max . . . lovely to meet you.” He picks up my hand and kisses the back of it. Charmer... now I know where Nate gets it from.
He turns me around so that I face the garden. “Let me introduce you to everyone else. This is Nate's sister, Maggie, her husband Steve and her kids, Harry and Joseph are on the climbing frame there.” He nods over to the climbing frame.
I glance back at his sister and smile.
“Hi, I'm Maggie.” His sister is a couple of years older than he is. She has light brown hair, is slim, and has big blue eyes - she resembles her mum. Her husband, Steve, is bald—or getting there—and has a nice, kind smile.
“Come and sit with us so that we can have a chat and get to know you. We’ve been dying to meet you for ages, thought Nate was trying to keep you hidden!”
Nate speaks. “I’ll go and get us a drink and check on the girls.” He bends to kiss my cheek and walks inside. He loves me. I smile to myself as I watch him leave.
I walk over to her, and she pats the chair next to her, which I take. “So, bet you’ve been dreading coming here today, haven’t you?”
I wince, “I've been nervous about today.”
She nods and pats my knee, “Don’t worry, we don’t bite.”
We talk for a while about the kids, and she tells me about hers. There’s no sign of his uncle, brother, or grandma yet, so they're still to come, but at least his mum and his sister seem nice.
His sister, Maggie, puts me at ease right away; she's lovely and funny. The uncle turns up with his wife and grandma; I get the once-over from Grandma, but no one seems to take her seriously. My nerves settle after having a few drinks, and I enjoy the company. They welcome me into the family as though they’ve known me forever.
I should have guessed that they’d be like this - that's exactly how Nate is.
Everyone is laughing at a story Nate is telling when I hear, “Hello, brother and brother’s new hot girlfriend.”
I turn around to see a boy... well, a man, who must be Nate’s brother. Nate told me he’s twenty-two. By his body, he works out a lot - I note that he doesn’t resemble Nate at all, but he’s still good looking - in a cheeky chappie kind of way.
He eyes me speculatively and walks over to us
Nate introduces us. “Ryan, this is Kate.”
I smile at him, “Hey Ryan, nice to meet you.”
His eyes drop to my legs, which are bare and crossed under the table. “Well done, Nate . . . she’s a MILF.”
“RYAN!” Maggie screams
“What? It’s a compliment!”
I blush and say, “Thank you, I think!” I glance over at Nate, who is frowning.
“Ok, little brother, you can stop ogling her now.”
He looks at Nathan, and slides his eyes to me, grins at me, winks, and turns and walks away. Obviously, a smoothie in training.
“Hey mum, can we get the paddling pool out for the kids?” Maggie asks
“Yes, honey, sort it out, will you? While I'm sorting the food.” Maggie goes to get up.
“I’ll do it,” Nate says to her, leaving us alone while Steve helps out his father-in-law with the barbecue.
Maggie leans into me, “I’m glad you came today, I can see how happy you make Nate - he’s besotted with you - which I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see.”
“How do you mean?” I ask
“Well, I suppose he’s told you about Lucia’s mum?” Hmmm, maybe the few lagers she’s had are making her a little loose-lipped.
“Yeah, he’s told me about her.”
“We thought at one point he’d never meet someone else and move on.
” my stomach sinks, but I don’t say anything, she carries on “for some reason, that bloody nightmare of a woman seemed to have a hold on him and no matter what she did or how she treated him, he always welcomed her back with open arms.”
Fuck. I don’t want to hear this.
She must see the worried expression on my face because she says quickly, “No, my point is, honey, that I can tell he’s crazy about you, the spell is finally broken.
I’ve never seen him look at her the way he looks at you.
You make him happy and you don’t give him hell, it's heaven to watch, believe me.”
I smile at her. “Well, thank you - I think. Only time will tell on that one, the next time she makes an appearance.”