Wanting His Girl

Chapter | 6

A month on and Jack was leaving work early, grabbing the bunch of pink gerbera’s, which he had recently discovered to be Emily’s favorite, from his receptionist he couldn’t wait to see her. It was her birthday on Sunday and he had also learnt one of her favorite singers was performing a few hours out of the city on Saturday night. Not only that but she had been telling him of the countryside near there and so booked them two nights at one of the hotels nearby to check it out before the show and on the Saturday Carla and Paul would be joining them too. Greg wasn’t due back to next week and the two nights had been Carla’s idea and after making sure he had a three-bedroom apartment, he was excited to do this for her.

But the one flaw in his plan he hadn’t expected appeared when he was barely a block away from her shop and seeing him, Greg waved him over. 

“Hey mate, how are you going?” Greg eyed the flowers in Jacks hand suspiciously. “Watcha got there?”

 Jack was gob smacked, coughing awkwardly before remembering how to speak. “Hi Greg. Just part of Emily’s birthday present thought I’d drop it off to her early since we were needing to leave in the morning” Guilt swelled in Jack, how would that sound to her fiancé? But thankfully Greg was instantly distracted from that point.

“Fuck! Her birthday? I thought that wasn’t for another couple of months away!” Jack couldn’t hide his frown. The guy had known her for years, eight of those as her partner and he forgot her birthday? “Wait, go away?” Greg stood a little taller, not sure how to take that. He had his suspicions about Jack, he trusted Emily but if he was planning a weekend away, what exactly was going on here?

“Yeah, she keeps talking about going down south. Not sure what they means exactly but apparently the wine is really good and the beaches. We were going down with Carla and Paul and on Saturday night there is some concert on she wanted to see. I didn’t know you’d be back mate, I would have told you before just surprising her” Jack hoped throwing Paul and Carla in the mix would diffuse the tension brewing between them as Greg just nodded. 

“Jack? Greg?” Emily’s voice had them turning to the corner of the street her bakery was on and sure enough she came bounding over, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of the flowers and her eyes flicked up to meet Jack’s excitedly.

“Hey baby” Greg was quick to claim her as his arm went around her waist he pulled her close and went to kiss her, his frustrations growing as she turned her head slightly and his lips landed on her cheek.

“What are you doing here? You’re coming back Thursday next week, not today!” Emily looked confused, getting out her phone to check her calendar to make sure she hadn’t messed up when putting in his flight schedules.

“I wouldn’t miss my girls birthday! I was planning on surprising you and was just talking with Jack here” Jack only shifted uncomfortably, trying to ignore his conscious that was now echoing in his mind 

“I can’t believe you remembered!” Emily now kissed Greg and he savored the sweetness of the sugars she worked with that lingered on her skin. Feeling embarrassed, Emily quickly broke away and turned back to Jack almost apologetically and seeing the flowers again got curious. “Who are those for?”

 Jack took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second he knew he was going to regret this “You! I was just holding them for Greg while he was putting his phone away”

 Emily took them graciously from him, yet something in her gut told her that wasn’t the case at all and as she spoke she was looking at Jack, “Thank you, they’re beautiful” Spying the envelope amongst the bouquet it was as she was distracted opening it that Greg mouthed ‘thank you’ to Jack, deciding that he was as decent as everyone kept telling him yet Jack felt as if he was putting another nail in the coffin of his hopes of ever having a chance with Emily. Not that he actually did in the first place.