This Time Around (22 page)

“I don’t have ink, Mr?” I enquire.

“Castle. Dex Castle. My brother is Jay Castle. You will meet him at the venue, he is doing the photo booth and Addison is doing the temporary tattoos. Liam called in everything for the Little Miss,"
he nods his head in Connie’s direction.

“Well, thank you, Dex. Today means so much to Connie and me. So what do you say we hit the road?” I wink at him and climb in, taking a seat next to my daughter. I hear Dex mutter ‘trouble’ under his breath and I giggle to myself.

“Mum, this is freaking amazing. All my friends are going to be so jealous.” She bounces in her seat as Dex pulls away from the house. We drive around, with all kinds of pop music playing, that is CJ’s choice at songs at the moment. God, help my ears. She talks about everything and anything that comes to mind. She is talking a mile a minute and I love hearing the excitement in her voice. The hour flies by and before we know it we are pulling up outside the restaurant where we are holding her party. The Green Bar is the best place in town to get gourmet food at very good prices. The owners are not all about the money, it is more about giving people their superb food. Dex gets out of the driver’s seat and comes to the side of the camper and opens the small double doors we can exit. He offers his hand to me but a voice stops him in his tracks, he smirks at me and backs away.

“I will help my girls out of the car, dude,” Liam states as he walks towards us. Dex holds his hands up in a surrendering action and steps away. And I get to have my first look at Liam. He is wearing brown boots and dark blue jeans, a red and blue checked shirt that is fitting him in all the right places, he has rolled the sleeves up to his elbows showing off his inked arms. He has tucked the shirt into his jeans and finished the outfit with a brown belt. I hold my breath as I watch him take the last few steps towards me. His smile never leaves his face and he keeps his eyes locked on me with every step.

“Baby.” He offers his hand. I look down at the inside of his wrist and still wonder why there are two identical spaces on both wrists. It is like he purposely left those spaces for something important. I take his offered hand and carefully climb out of the camper. Liam doesn’t let my hand go, but he pulls me closer to him and lowers his mouth to mine.

“Beautiful,” he says against my mouth, before his tongue plays with mine. I forget all about where we are until someone clears their throat. I pull my head back from Liam’s and we both look to the side to see a smirking Dex.

“As much I would love to stand here and watch this free show, we have a birthday girl to get to her party,” he nods his head in Connie’s direction. I flush and break out of Liam’s arms and turn towards her.

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” I offer her a smile.

“Eh, I am used to it.” She sticks her hand out, offering someone to help her out. I go to do it but Liam coughs, drawing my attention to him. I smile at him because I know what he wants to do. I nod and step aside.

“My Lady,” he says, as he takes Connie’s offered hand. Her smile lights up the street even in the evening sun. My heart swells ten times its size seeing this six foot, sexy tattooed Greek God help my daughter and look at her like she is his own flesh and blood. My nose burns from the building tears, I feel an arm wrap around my shoulders and pull me in close.

“He knows how to treat the ladies,” Dex whispers in my ear, making me laugh. My tears forgotten, I watch as Connie steps down and smiles up at Liam, who then leans in and kisses the top of her head.

“Dude, stop whispering in my girl’s ear.” Liam takes Connie’s hand and hooks it over the crook of his arm. He offers me the other arm and I follow suit. I hear Dex chuckle beside us as we walk past him and into the restaurant. I hear Connie gasp as she walks away from Liam and me. She slowly takes in the room, turning in a circle on the spot.

The ceiling is filled with balloons, pink, blue and white. Fairy lights hang from everything; the light fixtures, the walls, the curtains. It looks like a fairy land in here. There are round tables around the room. They look amazing. Each table has a white tablecloth with a centerpiece in the middle, Connie designed them, they are little sand buckets filled with coloured sand and little cocktail umbrella stuck in them. They are made to look like mini islands. The Dj has all the lights flashing in time with the music, it looks amazing. We had a sweet table added along the wall, just next to the food tables.

“MUM!” Connie screams. I turn my head to see her run towards me. I hadn’t noticed her wander off. “This is freaking EPIC! OHMYGOD. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is the best birthday
ever.
” She hugs my waist and I lean in and kiss her head.

“I am so happy you like it, CJ.”

“Like it. I LOVE IT.” She lets me go and moves over to Liam. “Thank you, Liam. That man over there said that you helped my mum with all of this,” she waves her hand indicating the entire room.

“I was happy to help, Connie, I see…” But Connie cuts him off.

“CJ.”

“What?” he asks.

“I want you to call me ‘CJ’, like Mum.” She shrugs her shoulders. I smile at her and look at Liam, who has a look of adoration on his face.

“Okay. CJ it is.” He kneels down so he is eye level with her and speaks again. “You are like my own, daughter. I would do anything for you, just like I would, Knox.” He opens his arms and Connie steps into them and throws her arms around his neck. I choke back a sob as I watch the scene before me. Connie pulls back and kisses Liam on the cheek.

“I wish you were my dad, Liam.” I gasp and cover my mouth with my hand. She has never talked about her having a father before. I look around the room and see that people have stopped to watch what is happening. Rachel is standing next to Darla and they both have tears streaming down their faces. A deep throat clears in front of me and I see Liam quickly wipe under his eyes. Seeing how her words have affected him, hits my heart like a double decker bus.

“The feeling is mutual, sweetheart.” He kisses her forehead. “Now go and find your friends and enjoy the night. It is all yours.” She looks at me and I nod at her with a smile. She runs off to join her friends. Liam stands and pulls me to him, wrapping his big beefy arms around me and holding me tight. I take in his scent, it calms me straight away. I tighten my hold on him and lose myself in the feel of being safe and loved by this man. Even though the words have not been said, I think they need to.

“I love you, Liam.” I hold my breath for his reaction, but I also feel lighter now that I have said the words. I have no idea of how much time passes before I feel Liam take a deep breath and move his body back from mine very slightly. I chance a look in his eyes and he has the world’s most beautiful smile on his handsome face.

“I love you, too, Bambi. I think I always have.” He leans in and kisses me, taking my breath away. He always seems to do that. He tastes like chocolate and cream. He must have eaten a ‘Snowball’

“YES!!” Gets yelled and then the sound of hands slapping. We both turn our heads to see Connie and Knox laughing and high-fiving each other, causing everyone to laugh at them.

“They seem happy. Are you happy, Pen?” I swing my head back to face him.

“Of course I am, Li. God, the things you make me feel. They are indescribable.” I reach up and kiss him once more. “Let’s get this party started.”

Cheers go up around the room and we celebrate my daughter’s tenth birthday with style and coolness. Her words not mine.

Oh thank God I was on the early morning shift. It is now three PM and I on my way to pick up Connie from my parents, and then we are going to pop in and spend the day with Liam and Knox. I picked up some cakes from town on my way to my parents house. Liam and Knox have such a sweet tooth. And they are crazy for chocolate. When I was on my period last week, Liam ate enough chocolate to feed a small army. Liam came over one morning and I was doubled over in pain in bed; painkillers rushing through my system, not that they help much. I have always suffered with them, when I was younger I would have to take a day or two off school because I was so bad with them.

Well let’s just say that Mr Liam Bradley will never take the piss out of a woman on her period again. He hated that he couldn’t do anything for me. He refilled my hot water bottle throughout the day. He kept me comfortable. He fed the kids and kept us, yes us, in supply of chocolate; for him more than me. Me, well I was eating sherbert straws by the dozen. I always crave sherbert when I am on my period. I look down at the box full of cakes on my passenger seat and chuckle to myself at the thought of how my boys are going to react, because they are
my
boys. Knox may not be my blood, but that baby boy is mine, just like Connie is.

I pull up outside my parents house and turn the car engine off. I climb out and walk to the door. I can hear them laughing and Hetch barking like crazy at something. No doubt Connie and my dad are throwing the ball back and forth and he is trying to catch it. He loves the game, he's like a big furry toddler. I walk through the house, and outside towards the loud ruckus. I stop at the door and lean against the frame watching them. Connie is jumping up and down calling to my dad to throw her the ball. Hetch is barking and is running between them. My dad, my poor father looks out of breath, his face is bright red. My mum is sitting on the bench watching them and calling out instructions to them. Connie's laughing hysterically.

My dad looks up and sees me, he stands up straight and put his hands on his hips, taking in deep breaths. “I am getting too old for this shit. You can play with your daughter and that beast for a bit. I need a beer,” my dad puffs out, walking towards me. I turn and walk back into the kitchen and open the fridge. I take out a bottle of beer for my dad, I open it and hand it to him.

“Oh bless you. You are my favourite girl,” he says.

“I HEARD THAT!”

“Well I don’t see you getting dear old gramps a beer,” my dad shouts back. I laugh at their exchange.

“Sit down, Dad.” I pull the chair out for him to sit at the kitchen table with me. He takes a big gulp of the beer before looking at me. I smile at this man; the first man I ever loved. Every little girl loves her daddy and wants to marry a man just like him; well I do anyway.

“How was work?”

“It was good. Early but worth it. I am heading over to Liam’s now. We are going to take the kids swimming. Might as well make most of the summer while we have nice weather,” I say. My dad nods his head before standing up and makes his way over to the fridge. He opens the door and takes out another beer, offering me one but I shake my head no. Taking out a can of Sprite, he sets it on the table in front of me. He knows me well.

“Ta, Dad.” He smiles at me.

“So how are things with what's-his-face?” He smirks at me. I know full well he knows Liam’s name.

“Things with Mr, What's-his-face are going good.” I don’t offer him any more information.

“He seems pretty taken with, Con. And you with his young lad,” my dad states. But he speaks the truth. We are our own little family. He knows I love Knox as much as I love Connie and vise versa with Liam. We both turn to loud squeals coming from the garden. Connie is on the floor and Hetch is lying on top of her, licking her face. Her laughter fills the garden, my mum just stands by and watches. We are used to seeing these two act like this. God, Connie has even fallen asleep laying on Hetch, on more than one occasion. I pick up my drink and walk out to the garden.

“CJ, we need to go. The boys are waiting for us.” I pat my thigh and call the dog. “Hetch, let’s go, bud.” He jumps off my daughter and bounds over to me. Connie climbs to her feet and walks over to my mum, hugging her before turning in my direction. She pokes my belly as she walks past me and into the kitchen to say goodbye to my father.

“Later, Old Man.”

“Oh, you little shit.” He reaches for her but she jumps back and runs towards the front door. I laugh and watch as both her and Hetch go through the front door. I turn back to face my parents and see them smiling at me.

“Proud of you, sweetheart. Jodi would be so fucking happy at how her daughter turned out. She is perfect.” A lump forms in my throat, but I push it down.

“Daaad, please don’t make me cry.” They both walk over to me and pull me into a big hug. Squeezing me tight, their love flows through me. I soak up the attention, feeling like a kid again. I used to love getting big hugs from my parents, hell I still do. We are a hugging family.

“Go. I can only imagine what those two are doing in the car. You know what happened last time.” My dad smirks at me.

Shit.

Please,
don’t let them
be ruining my car again. I run through the house dreading what I am going to see when I reach my car. I break through the front door and let out a huge sigh of relief. My car interior is in one piece. One time I left Connie and Hetch in my car while I talked to a friend, Connie dripped ice cream all over the car seat and Hetch decided to lick it up, but licking wasn’t enough for the big furry oaf, nope, he had to chew at the material as well. Cost a bloody small fortune to get it fixed. As I get closer to the car I see that Hetch is sprawled out on the back seat, exhausted from playing catch with CJ and my dad. CJ is sitting in the passenger seat, totally engrossed with her phone. I open the door and sit in the driver seat and start the car up.