Reality (Linstead AU)

Chapter 75

It was the following afternoon when Jay got back to Eagle's Nest, feeling glad that he had a couple of days ahead of him without any shows to work. He had taken an Uber from the airport. As the driver parked up in front of the house, Jay saw Erin's Ford GT parked nearby. She was home early from the office, which was odd.

"Honey! Everything okay?" he called out a couple of minutes later when he entered the house, pulling his travel case over the threshold. He caught the smell of fresh coffee brewing.

"Hey! I'm in the kitchen!"

Jay left his case near the front door and headed for the kitchen. The mere fact that Erin was home, rather than him arriving to find the place empty or at best to find Kayla, their housekeeper, there had put him in a great mood in a heartbeat. When he walked into the kitchen, he found Erin doing some food prep, obviously intending to cook dinner for them. He couldn't help noticing that she was wearing black nitrile gloves. Any excuse, he thought with some amusement.

"Hey, you. I sent Kayla home for the day," Erin reported cheerfully, smiling at him for a second before continuing her work.

"I have many questions. Why are you home? What are you making? Looks like chilli." He walked over to her, put his arms around her waist from behind and kissed the side of her neck.

"It is chilli. And I'm home because I wanted to be here when you got back, and I wanted to make dinner for you. The thing is, since you talked to me about us not spending enough time together I have thought about it a lot. I felt awful about it, and before you say it I know that's not why you brought it up. That thing I said to you about taking one day a month off to spend with you? That was lame ass bullshit. I'm going to make sure I take a lot more time than that, starting this afternoon."

"That's great to hear, honey," Jay said, kissing her neck again. "Truly, I can't tell you how happy that makes me. Leave the food for a minute and look at me, please. I have some news."

Erin did as he asked, turning to face him while he kept his arms loosely around her waist. "What's up?" she asked softly.

"I asked Raquel to be my best man. Or woman. That's exactly how I put it to her. You know how things come out wrong for me sometimes."

Erin chuckled, aware that Raquel wouldn't have minded the slip up. "What did she say?"

"That she'd struggle to be best man, but best woman she'll be happy to do."

"Alright," Erin said happily. "That's one arrangement made. I've been thinking I could ask Z to be my maid of honour. Dad needs to be there to walk me down the aisle, and that means Mandy needs to be there. Do you want to invite your brother?"

"Not really," Jay shrugged. "Can't remember the last time I talked to him. If he's not interested, neither am I."

"I guess that completes the guest list then," Erin said, turning back around to resume the food prep. "Sorry, I can't stop doing this or the meal won't turn out right."

"Wait, what?" Jay asked as his brain tried to process what she had said. "You only want to invite your dad and Mandy? Why?"

"Jay, I know you don't like large groups of people. Why would I want you uncomfortable on our wedding day? Besides, I don't care about having a bunch of people there. Marrying you is what matters to me. That and my dad walking me down the aisle. I figured we could have the ceremony at dad's place, on the garden. Then we could have some food and drinks in the orangery to celebrate."

Jay found himself wondering how rich someone had to be in order to own a house that had an 'orangery', although that was hardly the important issue at hand. "But Raquel told me the wedding day is the most important day of a woman's life."