Jump. //Jai Courtney Fanfiction

thirty-three

Bruce

August 15th:

"How is there this much traffic on a Friday morning?"

"Because honey, it's summer and people take long weekends to the beach," Tanya answered.

Like a child, she had her bare feet up on the dash. For some reason it was making me nervous and a little annoyed.

"You really shouldn't have your feet up there."

She sighed loudy and slipped them to the floor.

"Bruce, lighten up!" She shouted. "You need to chill out babe. You're so quick to tell Ayla to relax but you can't do it yourself."

My hands gripped the steering wheel tight and I looked intently out the window.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry. Tell me how to help you relax?" She gently said, rubbing my arm.

Other than the obvious, which probably won't help - okay, maybe it will a little - there's nothing really that she can do. Nothing that she can say.

My sweet, beautiful baby girl is getting married tomorrow and I'm not ready to give her away.

"Nothing," I sighed and grabbed her hand with a smile. "I'll be okay."

Tanya laid her head on my shoulder and laced her fingers with mine.

"Why don't you talk to her tonight? After the rehearsal and before dinner," she suggested.

"What am I going to say?"

"You're going to tell her how you feel Bruce. Tell her the truth. She's your daughter. She'll want you to talk to her."

"But what if it upsets her? Makes her angry. Makes her hate me," I groaned.

"That won't happen!"

"You don't know that Tanya."

"Yes, I do. Bruce, there's no reason for her to be upset. You love Jai. You're just being... A dad," she shrugged and looked at me with a side-eye after she say back up.

I laughed lightly. A dad. Yeah, that sounds about right.

*

"This hotel is beautiful, isn't it?" Karen said as the four of us sat at a table in the bar a drink.

"Yes! It really is," Tanya agreed. "Is your family from Australia here yet?"

"They are, all 48 plus of them. All managed to get flights close to the same time. Most of them got here yesterday and Karen and I spent the morning afternoon out sightseeing with them, talking and so forth," Chris answered.

"Where the hell are they? They should be in here drinking with us!" I said.

"Half of them are sleeping thanks to jetlag and the other half is out sight-seeing again. They're rowdy " he laughed.

"That's great for our crowd too!" Tanya jabbed. "I can't wait to meet them!"

"What time are all the kids coming down here? And what's the schedule for the rest of the day?" Chris asked.

"You don't pay attention to anything do you?" Karen picked.

"Yes, I do. There's just a lot going on right now," he snipped in return.

"So they should be here my 4:30ish and will check in," Tanya said.

"Exactly," Karen pointed. "Then once we're all ready, we head over to Elk Manor for the rehearsal that's at 5:45. Our dinner reservations at Port Harbor are for 8:00 and it's not far at all."