The Wedding Engagement

Chapter Seven

The landline rang as Arran passed through the hallway, signaling that either his elderly neighbor, Agnes, or a cold caller was on the phone. They were the only two people who used that line instead of his mobile.

He lifted the receiver. “Hello?”

Agnes’s voice came through the phone. “Make sure you don’t forget the kidney beans.”

He laughed. “And when have I ever gotten your shopping list wrong?”

“Ach, well, there’s a first time for everything,” she replied, a smile in her voice.

“Never fear. I’ll be there to deliver your groceries with bells on. Or should I say with kidney beans on. What do you use all those kidney beans for anyway?”

“They’re good for the heart,” she told him.

He grinned. “Not so good for your wind problem.”

Agnes chuckled. “Cheeky. See you tomorrow.”

Arran hung up and made his way to the kitchen to tend to the stove. The scent of tomato and spice infused the air as he stirred the pan, his stomach rumbling in appreciation and anticipation.

Liv’s voice rang out from the hallway as the front door opened. “Honey, we’re home!”

“In the kitchen,” he called, pretending that he didn’t love the sound of her saying that.

A shuffling noise, indicating that Liv was assisting Jayce in removing his shoes and jacket, was followed by the pounding of small-person footsteps.

“Daddy!” Jayce shouted as he entered the kitchen, and Arran scooped him up.

He kissed his son’s soft brown curls. Jayce’s scent stirred a contentment inside his soul. “Did you and Liv have a fun walk?”

“We saw some bunnies,” Jayce said, his eyes wide with excitement.

Walking into the kitchen, Liv dropped her jacket onto the back of a chair. “There was a family of rabbits in the field. Must have been the Easter bunny.”

“Is the Easter bunny going to bring me some chocolate eggs?” Jayce asked.

“That’s right, buddy,” Liv replied, stopping to take an exaggerated sniff of the air. “Oh my God, that smells heavenly .”

“Yep,” Arran said, shifting away from the pan so that Liv could have a nosy at it. “I’m making us some jollof rice and grilled chicken.”

Stirring the pan and appearing as if she wanted to dive into the fragrant contents, she was more appealing than ever.

“It’s my grandmother’s recipe,” he added. “Mum learned to make it when she married Dad because he’s so utterly crap in the kitchen.”

Liv laughed, reaching into the cupboard to get out some plates. “And you always profess to be crap in the kitchen too. So how come you’ve got this recipe up your sleeve?”

Grinning, he set Jayce down because the kid was wriggling like a grass snake jacked up on energy drinks. “Part of my cover. If I pretend to be crap at cooking, then other people tend to do it for me.” Jayce went off toward the living room, no doubt to play in the fort, which was now a permanent feature.

She raised her eyebrow at him, and it did nothing to aid his efforts to cool his libido. “You sneaky little git.”

Laughing, he dug out some cutlery to set the table. “It works with other stuff too.”

“Mm-hmm,” she replied, getting out some glasses and filling them with water. “Like what? Teach me your underhanded ways.”

There are plenty of things I want to teach you. “If you load the dishwasher wrongly, then someone else comes along to put it right. Then they elect to do it every time because they’ve deemed you incompetent.”

Shaking her head, she shot him a withering look. But even that was sexy on her.

They plated up the food, and Arran organized a small portion for Jayce, which he’d made in a separate pan with less salt and seasoning. He went through to the living room to fetch a reluctant Jayce out of the fort and bring him to the table.

Liv took a bite of her food and groaned with pleasure. “This tastes amazing.” Shooting him a frown, she gestured at him with her fork. “I can’t believe you’ve never made this for me before. A year of friendship and not so much as a cup of soup.”

He tried to ignore how the sound of her groaning made him feel. And the dirty scenarios it created in his mind’s eye. He gave her his best pout, complete with puppy-dog eyes. “I was saving it for you. Because now you’re my best friend.” He squashed the thought that it was actually because, deep down, he wanted to impress her.

Raising her eyebrows, Liv munched another mouthful. “Don’t let my brother hear you say that. He’s got dibs on being your best mate.”

He shrugged. “Maya’s his best friend now, and that’s all good with me. Anyway, I’ve known you as long as I’ve known him. We just didn’t get close until…” He tailed off. They’d gotten close after Liv had been one of the people, along with Sam and Nico, who had come through for him when Jess called the wedding off. He’d known that Sam and Nico would; they were his rocks. But he and Liv hadn’t been close before that. Yet now he couldn’t imagine a time when they hadn’t been. Plus, he didn’t want to. The idea of Liv’s friendship not being a big part of his world was unbearable.

She was giving him a soft look, clearly knowing where his tailed-off sentence had been going.

Just then Jayce cut through the silence with an excellent rendition of “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” distracting them both from the shared moment. They joined in with him as they ate their dinner, performing the actions with cutlery in hand.

Once they finished their food, he watched her as they cleared the plates together, acutely aware that although she had been one of his rocks over the past year, she had never leaned on him in return.

At first, he’d been convinced that was because Liv was the only one without relationship baggage, whether it be manipulative exes, rejection issues, dead husbands, or—in Nico’s case—terminal commitment-phobia. But the more he got to know her, the more of a conundrum she became. Did she really have it all together? Or was she so determined to be there for everyone else that she kept her own issues to herself? There had been more than one occasion when she would say something mysterious, like that whole soul- mates-dying-in-unison thing. Or she’d retreat into her own thoughts the way she had when she’d been studying his latest portrait.

Arran eyed her as they loaded the dishwasher. The dark waves of her hair were partially obscuring her face. She was like an open and a closed book all at once.

A thought slid into the back of his mind. Liv spoke easily of Sam’s rejection issues after their dad had abandoned the twins and their mum. And yet she never mentioned how it had affected her. It dawned on him that, more than anything, he wanted to be the one she confided in. The one she chose to lean on.

—

After they’d gotten Jayce bathed and to bed, with Arran making doubly sure that not a drop of water got splashed onto Liv’s clothing during the bathing session, they settled into the fort in the living room. He was aware that he shouldn’t utter the sentence on the tip of his tongue, but he was going to say it anyway. “Are you sure you don’t want a beer? You can stay over and drive home in the morning. I can sleep on the couch.”

“No, thanks,” she said quickly. “I’d better head home.”

He nodded, hiding his disappointment. “No worries.” His phone started to ring so he pulled it from his pocket, frowning as he clocked Jess’s name on the screen. He answered it. “Hey, Jess.”

Her words were a little slurred. “How’s Jayce?”

“Fine, thanks,” he said slowly, with a spike of concern. Is she okay? “How’s the party?”

She laughed, and he relaxed. “Awesome. Rory’s pals are mental.”

“Okay…” Was that a good thing? “Sounds great.”

“I’m really sorry for asking you to have him again. Rory just didn’t want us to miss this one, you know?”

For some reason, his heart didn’t perform its usual sinking at the sound of Rory’s name. “It’s no problem. I love having him and”—he gave Liv a nudge—“I’ve got my trusty sidekick here to help me.”

Liv flashed him a grin from where she was scrolling through her Insta. “Actually,” she replied in a low voice. “I think you’ll find you’re my sidekick.”

He chuckled. “No way, José. I’m Batman and you’re Robin.”

She kept her eyes on her phone screen, a smile still playing at the corner of her mouth. “Piss off.”

“Arran?” Shit, he’d almost forgotten Jess was still on the line. “Who did you say was there with you?”

He watched Liv as she continued to scroll through her feed, the waves of her hair falling onto her forehead. “Liv. My trusty sidekick.”

Liv dug him in the ribs. “ Not a sidekick. I’m the frickin’ superhero, baby.”

Jess was silent for a moment. “Liv’s there again?”

Arran shot Liv a grin. “Yeah. Why?”

“You guys are spending a lot of time together.”

He startled. Her tone sounded a little accusatory for someone who’d dumped him and was off partying with her new boyfriend. “Yeah, I know. We’re mates.” Liv looked up to shoot him a questioning glance. He shook his head as if to say, “It’s nothing.”

“Is something going on between you two?”

His pulse picked up. What’s it got to do with you? He hesitated, trying not to let his thoughts become his words. “Like I said, we’re friends . Not that it’s any of your business.” Liv was giving him a wide-eyed look now, so he patted her arm in a reassuring manner then mimed swigging from a bottle to indicate that Jess was just drunk. Liv smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“It is my business.” Jess’s tone was sharp. “If she’s helping to care for my son.”

“Okay,” he said, his patience having run well and truly dry. “You’re drunk and belligerent. Liv’s a nursery school teacher, soon to be Jayce’s nursery school teacher. So who better to help? Bye, Jess. Have a great time.”

He ended the call. “Sheesh. That woman is not a happy drunk.” He threw Liv a smile, but she didn’t return it, fiercely scrolling through her feed, wearing a stressed-out expression. “Hey,” he said gently. “You okay?”

She cleared her throat, shooting him a glance. “I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

He laughed. “There’s no trouble. She’s just had one too many Bacardis, that’s all.”

Liv pushed her glasses up her nose. “Is she normally the jealous type?”

Arran was about to say no, when he paused to ponder. “Not since we broke up. But she did used to be a bit jealous when we were together.” He frowned. “Since then, I suppose she’s had nothing to be jealous about. Because I’ve not been involved with anyone, but moreover, because she dumped me at the frickin’ altar. So, ya know…” He shrugged, making a “yikes” expression in the hope of bringing a smile to Liv’s face.

It worked, and she laughed. “It wasn’t at the altar. It was two weeks before, so think yourself lucky you weren’t standing there like Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer .”

Laughing with her, he gave her a gentle shove. “Think myself lucky? Never mind The Wedding Singer ; it felt more like that scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where the guy had his heart pulled out of his chest.”

She returned his shove, grinning widely. “Crybaby.”

“For fuck’s sake,” he replied, still laughing. “Can’t even get any sympathy from my best mate.”

Liv gave him a soft smile that conveyed she was pleased he thought of her that way. But did she think of him as her best friend? He hoped so. He studied her, wishing she’d reveal some of her secrets. “Anyway. Once Jess sleeps off her hangover tomorrow, she’ll be as right as rain, I’m sure. And probably won’t even remember that conversation.”

She nodded, putting her phone down. “Yeah. Alcohol does weird things to our brains. One time when I was pissed, I stole a potted plant from the pub.”

“ What? ” He laughed at the idea of good-as-gold Liv doing such a thing. “Olivia Agnes Holland. I am shocked and appalled at your thieving ways.” He sniffed, snapping his head around to look straight ahead and folding his arms in mock disapproval. “I’m not sure I can hang out with you anymore, now I know you’re a criminal mastermind.”

“Stop,” she said, covering her face in a cute manner. “I’m still embarrassed about it. In the morning I felt so guilty that I took it back and pretended it had fallen into my bag by accident.”

Arran snorted. “I take back the mastermind part. That’s the shittiest excuse ever. Did they buy it?”

“Nope,” she said from behind her hands. “But they were too polite to say anything. The person I spoke to just smiled and said to pop it back onto the table.”

“C’mere,” he said, putting his arm across her shoulders, aware that he shouldn’t be doing so when he was fast losing control of his emotions where she was concerned. “I forgive you, Agnes.” She felt so good nestled against him.

“Stop taking the piss out of my middle name,” she replied, looking up from where she was tucked into his side and making his heart pump harder.

“Sorry, Aggie,” he said, absorbing the sparkle in her eyes. “Won’t happen again.”

“Shut up,” she replied, leaning her head against his shoulder. “We can’t all have cool middle names like you.”

He shrugged. “Mine’s just my dad’s name. Unoriginal.”

“Yeah, but it gives you the initials triple A. Arran Abeo Adebayo. That’s frickin’ cool.”

He lifted his hand to dust his shoulder. “Yup. That’s me all over.”

Liv chuckled. He loved the sound of her laugh. It was sweet with a spicy edge.

He tightened his arm around her. “So where does the name Agnes come from? Someone in your family?”

“Yeah,” she said, her breath tickling his neck. “My granny, on my dad’s side. And Sam’s is after our mum’s dad.”

“My neighbor’s name is Agnes.”

“The one you grocery shop for?”

“Yeah. She may be practically housebound, but she’s a feisty one.” He grinned. “Reminds me of you. Though she isn’t a common pot-plant thief.”

She gave him a playful nudge and he picked up her hand, running his thumb over her fingers and appreciating the flow of heat that the touch of her skin created. He wanted to get her to open up a little. She was always asking about him and he felt he needed to even up the balance—he craved a piece of her in return. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah,” she said, resting her head on his chest. God, that feels good.

He took a breath. “Do you think about him much? Your dad, I mean.”

Her hold on his fingers tightened almost imperceptibly. “Sometimes.”

Arran leaned his head on hers, taking the opportunity to breathe in her scent. She smelled comforting and yet exhilarating. “You don’t talk about him.”

“There’s not much to say. He was a gaslighting, narcissistic arsehole.”

He gave her a squeeze. “Do you ever hear from him?”

“Nope.” She turned his hand over to trace the lines on his palm, sending fire crackling over his skin. “Not for ages. He used to message every now and again, I think because his girlfriend, Georgie, made him. But clearly her influence wore off because there’s been nothing for a couple of years.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling her closer. Being dumped by his fiancée was nothing compared to the pain of being dumped by a parent. Why hadn’t he asked her about this stuff before? Too busy feeling all sorry for himself like the crybaby Liv had jokingly told him he was.

She shrugged against his side. “Don’t feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for Georgie. She’s the one who’s got to live with the bastard. Mum always says the poor woman did us a favor.” She sighed. “But I’m sure she’s suffering in the exact same way he made Mum suffer. A narcissist never changes its spots.”

A queasy feeling rose in his gut. “Sam told me he was a pathological liar.”

“Oh yeah, and then some,” she said quickly. “He’d argue the sky wasn’t blue until he was blue in the face himself. He called Mum crazy, paranoid, jealous, you name it, when she found more and more evidence that he was cheating. And he never admitted it, not even when he packed his bags and left for Jersey with Georgie.”

Arran swallowed, his mouth dry. This was more than Liv had divulged before. “He was some piece of work. It must have made you and Sam feel like shit.”

“Yeah. Especially Sam; that was how he fell in with Catriona. She exploited all those vulnerabilities.” She shivered. “Thank goodness Maya the great showed up in town and chased the nasty demon away.”

There she went again, deflecting all the sympathy onto Sam. He kissed the top of her head, appreciating the way she nestled into his side in response. “It was just as hard for you, Liv. You’re allowed some sympathy too.” She stayed silent, and he wondered if he’d overstepped the mark. But he felt he had to have one last try. “It might have affected you guys in different ways, but it still happened to you. Maybe it was just more obvious with Sam, because he fell into the same trap as your mum.”

She still didn’t answer, and Arran’s heart rate picked up with the fear that he’d upset her. Pushed her away.

Then she cleared her throat, her voice small. “Maybe.”

He wanted to probe further, but he stopped himself. There was a risk that he was doing it for his own benefit, from a place of selfish need for her to open up to him, and that wasn’t fair to her. She needed to confide in her own time. He kept his mouth shut.

Eventually, she spoke again. “If Jess asked you to get back with her, would you say yes?”

The question caught him off guard. “If you’d asked me that last year, or even a few months ago, I would have said yes.”

“And now?”

He paused to rub his chest. “It’s kind of confusing. I feel pretty fed up about her skipping her time with Jayce, and…I miss her being around. But it’s like I miss the idea of her and how we used to be a family with Jayce. I don’t think I actually miss her anymore.” He paused. “I’m sure that makes no sense.”

Liv shifted and he absorbed the delicious friction of her cheek against his chest. It went some way to distract from the hollow feeling inside there, and he wished he could feel it without a layer of cotton between them.

“I understand,” she said.

She always understands. “I suppose everything would be easier if she came back, for me and for Jayce. But she’s with…Rory now.” He took a breath. “And I realize that it wasn’t right between us. The relationship had moved on since we’d gotten engaged, and that’s the risk when you have a long engagement so young. Sometimes you outgrow each other. So, really, you were right.”

She lifted her head to meet his gaze and the green of her eyes was like jade in the soft light cast by the fairy lights inside the fort. “Right about what?”

He couldn’t resist tucking a wave of hair behind her ear. “About it being a good job that Jess ended it when she did. Before the wedding was much better timing than after. Then we would’ve had a messy and expensive divorce to sort out. I just couldn’t see that at the time because I was so hurt.”

Liv gave him a soft smile that he felt might possibly heal all his ills. “I think that’s a good way to look at it.”

Arran kissed her forehead, appreciating the soft feel of her creamy skin beneath his lips, and fighting the urge to slide them down her cheek and onto her mouth. “Come here, Aggie.” He pulled her into a cuddle. “It’s you who helped me to look at it like that. Thank you.”

She hugged him close and he breathed her in, appreciating the way her small form fit perfectly against him despite the fact that he was a good deal taller. Her soft hair spooled around his neck, tickling his skin, and he imagined it trailing down his naked body as she kissed her way down his torso. He tightened his arms around her, and she pressed her breasts against his chest—sending a jolt of electricity straight to his cock. He was almost sure he could feel the hardness of her nipples through her T-shirt.

His mind went back to the evening he’d stopped at her place to drop off her present and she’d questioned how he knew that she had killer abs. He’d been close to admitting that it was because he’d been staring at her body through her transparent T-shirt when Jayce had soaked her in the bathroom, and he’d liked what he’d seen. But his phone buzzing had interrupted them.

He remembered how it’d felt when she’d unexpectedly thrown her arms around him, and the heat between them. Did she feel it too? He was sure he caught glimpses that she felt the same. But something was holding her back. Was it that they’d known each other forever and she didn’t fancy him enough to take it further? He didn’t feel like that was the case; their connection was too strong. Perhaps it was that she was about to become his son’s teacher, a conflict of interest. Or that she didn’t want to risk their friendship when they were so close.

He couldn’t help thinking there was more to it. Something she kept hidden. Something he wished she would confide in him.

All he could think about lately was her. But perhaps what he wanted and what he needed were two entirely different things. The fallout from his breakup with Jess had been huge, and it would be wrong of him to take a chance on ruining his close friendship with Liv if he wasn’t emotionally ready—plus when he didn’t know the full extent of what was holding her back.

The stakes were too high to lose Liv. She was far too important to him. If his time with Jess had taught him anything, it was that he had to be wary of high-stakes relationships. The mother of his child had moved on and left him. There was no way he could let the same thing happen with his best friend. Especially when Jayce would be affected.

He kissed the top of her head, absorbing the cute sigh she released against his chest, and wishing they could stay cuddled in this cozy fort forever. Us against the world.