Where You Are

The Race

Jesse

We didn't stay long at Mum and Dad's. Birgitta told all sorts of stories about driving to work in the snow, camping in the wild Canadian wilderness and some of the babies she'd minded. Mostly with some encouragement, she was a bit shy around my family but I knew she had good stories.

It was nearly ten o'clock when I made our excuses, Birgitta had been travelling all night and most of the day and was knackered. Which I knew she was. Then Luke had made a comment about me not letting her get any rest anyway and I almost hit him again, only Birgitta laughed nervously and her face flushed adorably and I stopped myself. Mum did smack him though, for which I was grateful.

He wasn't wrong. After our phone sex adventure the other night, I was a bit desperate for the real thing again. I'd been able to think of little else in the two weeks since I'd last seen her.

Birgitta, however, really was tired and I noticed her stifling yawns the entire fifteen minute drive from Mum and Dad's house to my flat.

'You alright?' I asked as I took the exit from the motorway towards my flat.

'Just a bit tired,' she admitted.

'Yeah, it's been a long day, eh?' I tried to stifle my sigh, starting to get the hint that I might not be getting very lucky that night.

'Yeah, sort of,' she said softly.

'Sorry about my family,' I said sheepishly. 'They can be loud and obnoxious.'

'They weren't obnoxious!' She said quickly. 'I thought it was great.'

'Did you?' I asked doubtfully.

'Yeah!' She assured me. 'Your brothers are so funny, when Luke pulled out that photo album—'

I groaned. She laughed, the sound making my body feel warm.

'He said you did the same thing to him,' she reminded me.

'That I did,' I answered. 'It's the proper thing to do when your brother brings a girl home.'

'Your mum can really cook, too! No wonder you can make such good roast beef!' She went on.

'She'll be happy to hear that,' I chuckled, keeping my eyes on the dark road.

'And her Yorkshire puddings were puffier than yours were,' she added.

'Well, you only gave me one chance! Wait until Christmas, good Yorkshire puddings are a two-day process!'

'Is Sunday lunch always like that?' She asked.
'Like what? Loud and chaotic?'

'I wouldn't say that,' she replied softly. 'More like lively and fun.'

'You had fun?' I asked, looking over at her quickly.

'Yeah, definitely,' she nodded eagerly.

'Well, it's not that chaotic every Sunday,' I told her. 'And we certainly don't eat that well unless it's Christmas or Easter. Or I'm bringing a girl home, apparently. Sometimes Nan comes, but she wasn't feeling well today. Isn't it like that with your family?'

'No,' she said firmly. 'I thought it was only like that in movies.'

She was quiet for a second. My heart clenched at the thought that she'd never had a wild dinner like that with her family, full of teasing, stories and laughter. To me, that was just a regular Sunday afternoon.

'Do you think they liked me?' She asked softly.

'Definitely,' I said at once.

'You promise?' She asked.