Chapter 22
Of course, Teddy found the perfect ring for Jessica right after she told him she didn’t need one …
and at his mother’s boutique. And it wasn’t just perfect, it was out of this world perfect.
The centre stone was yellow, and it was bracketed on either side by deep blue stones so dark they were almost black.
It was as though a star had been plucked from the sky and set into a piece of jewellery.
“Teddy!” Lulu exclaimed, bustling out of the back room. “What are you doing here?”
It took him a second to remember why he’d stopped by on his way home. “Cementing my place as your favourite son. I saw these in Somers Gully”—he lifted the bunch of sunflowers from the florist a few doors down from the dental surgery—“and thought you’d like them.”
That was a lie. His immediate reaction upon seeing the bright and happy flowers had been to wonder if these would be the ones Jessica favoured.
After their conversation the other night, he hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that she might be a bit lonely.
And the way her face had fallen when he’d mentioned rings was etched in his memory.
So was the embarrassment that had filled her expression immediately after.
For a second, he’d thought she might’ve remembered his offer.
Fuck knows it had been all he could think about.
Volunteering to help her … you know. Teddy was reminded of one of Lulu’s life lessons for her sons as they had approached their first relationships and sexual experiences.
If Teddy couldn’t even think about it without using the right words, he probably wasn’t ready to do it.
And every time Teddy tried to figure out how to talk to Jessica about what they were doing, he’d stumble. He hit a brick wall being held together with all the things he’d already heard before.
The things he’d let himself believe.
That he wasn’t the right guy for something serious.
That he wasn’t ready to commit.
The irony that he was getting married in three weeks was laughable. Or at least, it should have been.
“They’re lovely.” Lulu came out from behind the counter.
Teddy held the bouquet out to his mother, but she batted his hand away, pulling him into a hug, and he relaxed into her embrace.
“Did you get taller?” Lulu asked.
Teddy laughed. “Pretty sure I’m still the same height, Mum.”
Only an idiot would mention she might be getting shorter.
“I’m glad you stopped by,” Lulu said, leaning back until their gazes met. Teddy suddenly felt like he was a little boy and he’d been caught with his hand in the biscuit tin. The day his mother stopped scheming, they’d all need to worry.
“I’ve decided what we should do for your dad’s birthday. We’re woefully overdue for a family trip. Are you free in a month?”
Teddy nodded, and Lulu grinned like she’d won a prize already.
Oh no.
“Sam and Jessica would be invited too, of course.”
There it is.
“Mum—”
“We could go back to Riverside Cabins. Take a proper trip down memory lane”—Lulu squeezed him a little too tightly—“and make some new ones.”
Teddy prised her fingers off his arm and fiddled with the cuffs of the light grey jumper he’d worn to work. “Mum—”
“It’s too late, Teddy. I’m already excited. This is it. Jessica’s the one. I know it.”
He was caught between two very different emotions. Nervousness because his mother was clearly way too invested and a strangely intoxicating warmth that felt a hell of a lot like pride.
That Lulu believed he could do this.
That he could make someone like Jessica happy.
It was nice.
Too nice.
But, sadly, not accurate.
“It’s not like that, Mum.”
But Jesus, wouldn’t it be nice if it was?
Lulu’s smile faltered. “Why not?”
“What?”
“What’s stopping you?”
“Why’s it got to be me? Maybe something’s stopping Jessica?” Ahh, deflection, his old friend.
Lulu scoffed and tossed her head. “Please. She’s been watching you for years. And I might be biased, Theodore”—oh, she was bringing out the big guns now—“but you’re quite the catch. You always have been. I don’t know why you struggle to believe this.”
He was blushing; he just knew it. “You have to say that.”
“I most certainly do not. Anyone would be lucky to call you theirs, Teddy. Don’t ever forget that.”
“Thanks,” he mumbled.
“I’ve been impressed by you lately, Ted. I always knew you’d fall fast once you let someone in properly.”
An itch started just under his chin.
“You’re more like your dad than any of your brothers.”
This was something Teddy had never heard before.
“He was quite the playboy when we met. Had broken hearts all over Victoria and, well, let’s just say he’d acquired quite the reputation about his sexual prowess.”
It’d be great if she could say less about this.
“But as soon as we started ‘hanging out’”—Lulu raised her eyebrows, and Teddy knew she was asking wordlessly if she’d got the slang right.
He sighed—“it was all over. He was mine and I was his.” Her hand fluttered to her chest, and she played with the long golden chain Wilbur had given her for one of their anniversaries.
“It helped that I can peel a grape with my tongue—”
Oh, dear God. Make it stop.
Teddy tapped his hand on the glass top of the display case of rings. “These from Alice’s new line?” There was none of the nonchalance in his tone that he was aiming for.
Lulu’s eyes narrowed. “No. She’s still in the concept and design stage.”
Shit. Teddy knew that. They’d been talking about it at dinner last week. And there was a business card in the middle of all the rings that read ‘Lovely Stones’.
“These are from a new supplier.”
Teddy was such an idiot.
“They’re nice.”
Lulu’s expression turned hawkish. “Are they?”
“Don’t you think so?” Teddy would not clear his throat. Or scratch his face. He wouldn’t even blink. What had he been thinking bringing up rings to his mother? After she’d given him her unsolicited blessing?
“I do. I agreed to stock them.”
Teddy tapped his knuckles against the glass. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“Teddy—”
“I’d better go, Mum. I just wanted to drop off the flowers.”
“I hope I’m not the only woman you’re buying flowers for, Teddy.”
There was no stopping his blush. “Uh, no. You’re not.”
Lulu squeezed his arm, pride radiating from her smile. “Good.”
If only she knew that he’d been thinking about buying Jessica a ring, which he wasn’t going to do because a ring came with promises he wasn’t sure he could keep.
But maybe there was something he could do for her. Teddy shook his head, ignored his mother’s inquisitive glance and excused himself.
This idea needed more thought because it was probably too big, too much.
But as he drove to Owen’s place, Teddy couldn’t stop thinking about how he wanted to show Jessica that he cared about her.
Teddy pulled in behind Nate’s battered, old Pajero and grabbed his gym bag, checking Jessica’s flowers were still sitting comfortably in his work drink bottle.
“No Raff?” he asked as he approached where Nate and Owen were standing, huddled over a phone.
“He cancelled. Said he has too much work on,” Nate said.
His oldest brother had been saying this for years.
“How attached are you guys to the idea of working out tonight?” Teddy asked his brothers.
Owen shrugged as Nate said, “I’m easy.”
“Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Teddy picked up his bag, ready to stow it back in his car.
“I genuinely have no idea what you’re thinking, Ted,” Owen said.
“That it’s intervention time?”
“Never did I ever think that it would be you suggesting we do an intervention for Raff,” Nate said.
It wasn’t intended to be a jab, but Nate’s words hit Teddy in the chest.
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way, Ted. I’m sorry. You’ve just got a track record of avoiding all the serious stuff until you have to face it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Shit. Am I just making this worse? I am, aren’t I?”
Okay, fine, it had taken Teddy a bit longer than the others to realise that there was nothing wrong with growing up either. Putting other people first.
Teddy brushed off Nate’s comment. “It’s fine. Maybe we could grab some burgers and beers. Drag Raff out of the station to that park that’s down the road. Remind him it’s okay to take a break.”
“I can’t see him agreeing to leave work,” Owen said.
“Then we’ll lure him out with some information about his case.” Teddy hadn’t been able to connect with Raff yet to tell him about what he’d heard Adrian say at work last week. He also hadn’t managed to talk to Kylee because she’d been avoiding him. Adrian hadn’t been into the clinic either.
“Why? Do you know something?” Owen asked.
“I don’t think it’s anything major, but something happened at work I think Raff would want to know about.”
Nudging a burger with the lot closer to his oldest brother, Teddy began to doubt his hastily cobbled-together plan to snap Raff out of the funk he’d been trapped in for a few years now.
Because Raff was in a mood. And not the defensive one Teddy had expected. Raff’s shoulders were slumped, his head hanging low.
Teddy raised his eyebrows at Owen who was sitting opposite him. Owen opened and closed his mouth, looking uncharacteristically helpless.
This was worse than Teddy had imagined.
Normally, the James brothers had plenty to talk about. Teddy watched as Owen nudged Nate, who just shrugged, his lips twisting into a worried frown.
It would’ve been better if Raff were annoyed or angry. As expected, he’d resisted their dinner plan. He’d only acquiesced when they’d made it clear they weren’t leaving without him. But this dejected silence? It was new.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Nate asked and Teddy nodded.
Good. That was a start. Nate was the gentlest of all the brothers.
Each of his brothers were good at different things, and Teddy had grown up spoilt for choice when he needed help.
Even when Nate and Owen had moved away from Wattle Junction, the physical distance hadn’t dampened the bond they shared.