Girl in a Hoodie: Where the Future Lies

Chapter 28

James's POV:

Whilst Riley was in the shower, I went down the stairs and walked through the front room to make my way to the kitchen which appeared to be ludicrously large, much larger than our kitchen back home at least.

I started scrolling through a couple of pictures on Snapchat, coming across the odd few from my siblings and one from Michelle where I had discovered that she was starting a beauty salon business and selling all types of hair conditions, sprays, make-up, lip-gloss, face masks, all those sort of prissy skincare things, before retrieving a video call request from Mum. I honestly haven't spoken to her since we were at the airport yesterday, except for when I texted on the immediate family group chat (of which Riley is also a part of) to let them know we had landed. We were both then bombarded with a bunch of texts from my overly solicitous mother but Riley somehow managed to answer all of those despite them being quite vague and pretty much just a load of 'okay's and 'yeah's.

I swipe up to answer the call and then place my phone by the microwave, standing it up straight whilst I walked around the table in the middle and over to the fridge in search of breakfast foods.

"James, how come you never called me back when I called you yesterday?" is the first thing she asks me. I take a sharp breath for air as I come up with an excuse.

"Did you? I didn't see. My phone must have been turned off or something-"

"Funny, because I called your tablet, your iPad, your laptop and your work phone too," she probes. I peer over my shoulder and see that her camera was facing the opposite direction so all I could see was Jasper and Piper sat at the dining table doing their homework.

"Mum, you need to flip the camera so that I can actually see you," I state before looking back into the fridge and then taking out a pack of bacon, two eggs and a pack of sausages. There was some muffled talking as my brother corrected her on how to flip the camera and eventually I'm met with my mother's usual stern face.

"So how are you two?" she asks, surprisingly moving away from the topic of why I didn't call her back last night.

"Good. Riley's great. She's actually upstairs right now though-"

"I'm not, I'm here," her voice says. I turn around and see her standing there in one of my hoodies, playing with the drawstrings. She smiles softly, walking over and then taking my phone for herself as she holds it in her hands.

"Riley, how's my future daughter-in-law doing?" Mum questions enthusiastically. Ri lets out a small laugh before nodding to some par.

"I'm okay actually. My mum's not too bad," she says, chuckling a little.

"That's good then."

"What about the wedding prep?"

"Don't you worry about that darling. Piper, Laci and I have got it all under control. Cake's ready, dresses are in the making but we still need you to finalise on bridesmaids so we can get them measured and fitted as well as a best man so we can fix him a suit. Songs have been selected, food catering and seating arrangements are done. Everything's pretty much ready," she recalls. I could tell Riley felt a little more reassured by that as she lets out a small, short breath and smiles.

"Ri, how do you want your egg, babe?" I ask her as I set the pan out on top of the stove and grab the oil out of the cupboard. I didn't exactly know where everything was, of course, and so I had been searching for the things I needed for quite a while. She turns around to face me and sees what I'm doing.

"Um, I'll have it as an omelette with bacon please if you don't mind. And I mean like bacon pieces put inside of it so a bacon omelette not the two separated," she elaborates. I chuckle and nod before grabbing a chop board and start cutting the bacon into tiny pieces as she asked for, whilst the oil heated. Ri and Mum continued to make conversation by talking about the wedding and how Mum hopes Riley will be able to cope with me for a whole month away from the rest of the family (which I didn't really understand since we're engaged and she has to spend time with me all of the time but I choose to ignore it anyways), and then they touch on the topic of the pregnancy and that if at any point something unexpected happens we should contact her straight away.