Welcome to Racer's

Chapter 12

The next few weeks were a complete blur. Robbie surprised everyone by suddenly announcing that he was whisking Deb away to Spain for their 25th wedding anniversary. They checked in regularly, but things were so easy with both Bruno and Tammy there, they ended up deciding to stay away for four weeks.

It ended up working out rather well for Bruno & Tammy... Because it meant that they pretty much got to hang out all day while they were working. He and Tammy were doing really well, but they just needed a little more time to adjust to the mates part. He didn't need Robbie thinking there was something going on when there wasn't.

Tammy had been making a huge effort with Cora, too. Bruno was so impressed at how willingly and openly she'd apologised to Cora for being cold towards her to start with. And how instantly she'd adopted her after Cherry dumped her out-of-the-blue. Tammy went on full breakup duty. Distracting her, texting her constantly, coming over every day to make sure she got up and did something. They ran together. Got coffee together. Occasionally they invited Bruno. But once Tammy & Cora had started hanging out, he almost started to feel like a third wheel. And more than once, he'd come home during the day and found them on his couch, playing Super Smash Bros together. They were almost instant best friends. And he was so happy for them.

He woke up that Saturday. He hadn't had a lie in for ages. But by the time he'd stretched and checked the time, it was after 9.

He could already feel from the temperature in his room that it was going to be a warm day, so he didn't even bother to put a shirt on as he trudged downstairs in just his pyjama shorts to make his breakfast.

He had Cora's birthday present wrapped, so he brought it downstairs in case she was down there. She wasn't. He placed it on the edge of the counter, and took the oats out of the cupboard. As he stood at the stove, stirring his porridge, he thought he heard the front door click. But then... nothing.

He ignored it, turning back to his breakfast, pouring it into a bowl and starting on the cleaning while it cooled.

"RARGH!" Cora yelled, making him jump a foot in the air

" Jesus fucking Christ"

He turned, laughing, but immediately stopped as he saw Tammy standing in the doorway, mouth hanging open at him.

He was a bit speechless at how red she went.

He averted his eyes and turned back to Cora. "You scared the shit out of me! But Happy Birthday!"

Cora gasped at the size of the box. She ripped the paper off her present, and immediately squealed, running over and throwing her arms around Bruno's neck.

"Oh my god, how?! You're the BEST! I can't believe you actually found one! How! How?"

She immediately unboxed the vintage ice-cream cone shaped lamp that she'd been desperately trying to find for months .

"I had help. Thabi's really into antiques and vintage stuff too."

"Bruno, thank you, I'm so excited. I love it!"

She hugged him again. "Oh! We brought you a coffee by the way! But we were trying to be quiet anyway because we weren't sure if you'd still be asleep."

He grinned, happily taking his keepcup from her. "Aww, thanks Tiggs!"

He happily leaned against the kitchen counter, eating. He chuckled when he realised Tammy was yet to say a word to him. He looked at her, and found her staring directly at the v-shaped line leading into his shorts.