The Deal (25 page)

“Well thanks for that, Papa Jones, I thought I was here for my amazing personality and looks? You wound me, old man, you wound me.” Kelsie makes a pained look whilst clutching her chest and I can't help the laugh that escapes me. She's such an over dramatic bitch and I love it.  What I lack in making a situation lighter, she brightens up with her idiocy. This is why we are a great team. Kelsie and my dad bicker at one another and I look at my husband. He's staring at his phone, running a finger over the screen and I can see it's a photo of him and I. I know he wants to be alone with me, wants to talk about the night I left, about the past two days and I want to as well, but we have to finish this through. Our grandparents wanted this, they blackmailed us and we are so close to the finish line, that once we have crossed it that is it. Everything will be out in the open, hopefully a friendship will be reunited and Craig and I can go on being together without this feud hanging over us. Just like Craig said, it's an omen and one that needs to be dismembered right now.

He looks at me when he feels my gaze and he beckons me over. I leave the armchair and go to sit next to him until he pulls me onto his lap. He kisses my forehead and I cuddle into him. I breathe in his scent, bask in the familiarity I feel in his arms. This is where I should be. Just the two of us together. I close my eyes and relish in his whispers.

“When my dad gets here we should leave them alone. I just want you alone, want to talk without any disruptions. I know they will be okay together and we can be gone an hour max, but we are never going to talk things over if we are babysitting them.”
              “We'll go down to the beach, and find somewhere secluded where we won't get disturbed by kids and dogs.” I whisper back, kissing the side of his neck. He squeezes his agreement and we sit listening to my father and Kelsie until the front door opens. Everyone freezes and then John appears, standing just outside the living room. I feel the nerves of him in my flat overpower me but I try to push them aside as I slip off Craig and go to hug John, deciding to be the bigger man in this situation.

“I am so sorry for everything my mum put you through.” I whisper, “But now you two need to sort your differences out. It's what your parents would have wanted.” I smile warily at him when I let go and kiss his cheek quickly. I know he's not a fan of me, he's told Craig enough times and Craig has shouted at him to leave me alone, but I want him to see I'm not the bitch he thinks I am, that I really do love Craig and the money didn't even come into the equation...much.

He too, looks nervous as hell but I see the determination in spades. He wants to fix this and I understand. He lost his wife over ten years ago, when Craig was thirteen and it must have been hard for him, not having his best friend to help him through it and lonely because despite the fact my mum is a royal bitch, he found someone who he loved enough to marry and have Craig with, and then to lose her? But he worked hard, provided for Craig and loved and cared for him as much as he could. He made Craig the man he is today and I cannot thank him enough.

I look behind at my dad who is glancing towards the two of us and he stands up. He takes a deep breath and I grin at him for taking the first step. Once I step away from John, Craig hugs him and they talk in hushed voices, clinging to one another. I know they are apologising for the things said in the heat of the moment and soon that will be Craig and I. I grab my bag and sling it over my shoulder. Kelsie mimics me and we hug my father, letting him know we are going out and will be back in an hour or so. When everyone is done, I take Craig's hand and follow him out of the living room, Kelsie behind.

“We're going to sort our own problems out, so we will be back soon. Please don't kill each other or destroy our flat, I don't want to come back to a murder scene.” Craig chuckles, and with one final look at our fathers, the way they are dying to talk to one another lets me know that we did the right thing. That our grandparents would be proud of us.

Chapter Twenty
Five

Nic

I have no idea why Craig and I have never been to the beach together. We live a twenty minute walk from the sandy beach of Swansea. I used to love walking the long stretch of sand, watching families play together, the laughter and squeals; the love. The sun gleaming down on the water, the smell of the ocean air and the never-ending horizon in the distance. Sunsets and sunrises are one of my loves and I used to come and sit on the beach, waiting patiently for the sun to rise above the water and for it to set again. The colours, the mixtures of red, golds and purples all collaborating was my happy moment. Still is. But now Craig is a part of that, and I want to share this with him. The sun will be setting in just under an hour, and if everything is straightened out, this will be another happy memory I can stash away.

We stroll hand in hand along the pavement, taking a short cut down onto the beach. After a short walk, I plank my arse onto the sand, dragging Craig down with me. We both laugh as he falls backwards and I pull him back up and put my focus onto the water. The waves are small, rolling in and out, the sun reflects off the water as it gradually gets lower. There are a few people splattered around the beach but none are near us. We can talk in privacy. My fingers dig into the sand, picking the grains up and letting them fall back to the ground. I watch the molecules fall into place, some being carried with the slight wind whipping around us. Now it's just the two of us, I don't know how to start the conversation. Perhaps saying sorry? But it seems like such a small word, a word that is thrown about so often that does sorry really mean sorry any more? It's just a five letter word that can mean anything and be said in any tone and I know if I say sorry, it just won't be enough. There just has to be another word to express my remorse for running out, for telling him he was a liar and for throwing his love for me in his face.

I sigh and keep my vision focused on the water until Craig grabs my chin and turns my head to face him. He takes my lips in his and we slowly pour all the hurt and pain and relief into it. We don’t speed up, we keep a steady pace and I can't help but sag into his arms and clutch at him. Just having Craig's lips back on mine after a two day break is like a drug addict going cold turkey for those two days. It's been torture not touching or tasting him. The kiss ends and Craig slides his hands into my hair and gives me a final peck. I stare into his dangerous blue eyes and wish to just drown in them. They are the same colour as the ocean I have been absorbed in and I am the one that gets to sink so far into them that I need to be saved.

“I've missed you so much, Nic. It's been hell these past two days. I never want to be apart again, but I understand that you needed space after finding out I had been lying to you, but please believe me when I say I never meant to keep it from you. Every time I went to tell you, I was so scared you would leave and then my nightmare became a reality when you did.” Craig whispers into my lips, sadness dripping from each word.  I swallow hard and swing my legs over his, arms around his neck and rest my head on his shoulder, looking back out to the ocean. Craig wraps an arm around me and rests his head on top of mine, but not before kissing my hair.

“I've missed you too. But I’ve had time to myself, time to think everything over and I think the time apart has done us some good. We were forced together, spent months in each other's pockets and months harbouring our feelings for one another and then came along the big reveal, that you found out and didn’t tell me. I just had to have these days, Craig, I had to go over the pros and cons of finding out for myself.” I take a deep breath, soaking in the sea air, calming myself.  “It really was time for me to find out, and I hate my mum for what she put them both through. We were right, it was down to her and I want to make it right. I'm not sure if your dad actually likes me, if he thinks that getting married is me being greedy and wanting the money but I want my dad to have his best friend back and that’s all that matters. He can hate me all he wants, but I want those thirty years to disappear.”

My eyes are captivated by the sun setting, the daylight colours mixing into night, and I smile, knowing that by the time the sun hides, mine and Craig's relationship will be fixed. That it means our bond is too strong to break, that our love is worth fighting for.

“Baby, my dad doesn’t hate you, he just thinks you are in this for the money and sure, maybe at the start we both were but he just needs time to adjust to us actually being in love with each other. Give him time and he will see just how perfect we are, how we always will be. It's hard because he thinks you will turn out like your mum, but I know different.” My chest tightens at that little confession. He thinks I will be like my mum? Shit, that slices me apart. I can't help but let a few tears escape my eyes. I try to discreetly brush them away but Craig catches me and twists me until I am straddling him. He frowns and brushes the strays away. I can't look at him, too embarrassed to be crying over the comment.

“Shit, Nic, please don’t cry over that comment. He's just an angry old man. He lost his best friend to a bitch and he's scared that I’ll lose to a shit load of money. We'll show him, Nic, we'll show him that we are strong, that this was the best thing to happen to us and that we don’t need that money.” I weakly nod if only to get off this topic. I don’t want him to think I am like my mother. I've tried so hard to not be like her, to not care about stupid functions where money is no object. Of course that money would be a great investment into my career, but it just feels tainted now. If I take it, then Craig's dad will always be on my back about it and if I don’t my dad will because he knows how much I want my own business. Its a win/lose situation I have never had to think about before and it's one I need to think hard about now.

“It's fine, Craig, he can think what he wants. I did practically force you to agree so I can see why he wouldn’t think so highly of me. But can we let this topic go, I don’t want to be upset over it, I want to fix us first.” I sniff back the remaining tears. I know he wants to say more but he agrees and lets it go. I know we will have to come back to it sooner or later...I'm just hoping the later is far, far off into the future. “I want to apologise, too, Craig. I know I said it over the phone, but I really, really am sorry for throwing everything in your face. It was wrong of me to doubt your love for me when I know just how much you love me. And for just storming out and leaving you without talking about it rationally. I was just so angry your dad told me you knew and that you kept it a secret, I had to get out. I couldn’t be around you. But I knew just how devastated you were when I heard you sobbing when the door closed. I really wanted to come back inside but I couldn’t. My heart was breaking and I wanted yours to as well. Wanted you to feel how I was feeling. Alone, distraught, in utter hell over knowing you knew and I didn’t. It was such a selfish thing to do and I promise you, it will never happen again. I will never walk out and leave you, I will stay behind and talk about it, talk it through because that is what we need to do from now on.”

“We can say we are sorry until we are blue in the face, but what’s done is done. We just learn to forgive and forget and, Nic, if you were selfish then so was I. No more beating ourselves up about it, we know what to do next time something arises and next time I won't even give you two days, I will be straight after you, dragging you home and sorting it out. I couldn’t sleep, my pupils knew something was up when I walked into the classroom looking like hell. Matt had to babysit me because vodka would have become my best friend, shit, it did Wednesday night but he was there for me, making a plan to get you back. Albeit it included kidnapping you but it was a plan all the same.” I chuckle at his confession, something inside me feeling lighter that he hadn’t given up, that he was determined one way or another to get me home. Where I belonged. With him.

“You were going to kidnap me?” I grin, tilting my head to the side. “How the hell were you going to manage that when Kelsie was like a prison officer?”

Craig tickles my sides and I know he would have done anything to kidnap me, even slaying the prison officer. Well, he had Rob on his side too, so I’m pretty sure Kelsie would have gone anywhere with him giving Matt and Craig had their chance to steal me away from her flat. I fall into him, giggling as his fingers work their evil and we stumble back onto the sand.

“Kels was on our side too. She would have thrown you to the bad guys in a heart beat, making our plan bulletproof.” He winks and I throw some sand at him. He sloshes some into my hair and I gasp in mock-horror, shaking my head to get rid of the grains. When I stop looking like a wet dog, I lean forward, elbows either side of Craig's face and lightly kiss him. “I have another confession to make. That night at your Christmas party? You told me you loved me,” he says.

My eyes go as wide as saucers but I smile when I see the shit-eating grin splashed across Craig's face. I was so drunk that night and I still can't remember anything I did or said but I know they say true feelings come out and I must have been dying to let him know how much I loved him. The little bastard knew and he didn’t tell me.

“You are in deep trouble, mister. Why didn’t you tell me about that night? I can't remember anything!” I moan, pouting down at my husband. I can't be angry at him for knowing, I suspect he wanted me to tell him sober.

“You were off your face that night, Nic. I was on edge the whole time you weren’t with me. Seriously, I got shouted at because I was constantly scanning the club looking for you. When Jamie turned up with you in tow, my God, you were a giggling, drunken mess. I had never seen you that bad but then you cuddled up in my arms and told me you loved me. Being told sober and drunken are the two best times in my life...well and our wedding.”