Chapter 232
When Joan woke up around half nine, she pulled on her red fluffy dressing gown and slippers before quietly making her way downstairs to make herself a coffee, pulling a miserable face as she looked out of the big window on the landing at the horrible weather outside. The house was extremely quiet except for the monotonous ticking from the clock in the hallway as she wandered through to the kitchen, smiling as she noticed Tre’s holdall still lying on the floor by the wall, telling her he must have arrived OK. She guessed that the couple must have gone to bed as the dogs didn’t seem to be around either, and so made herself a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal before wandering through with it to the lounge to watch some TV.
She was just about to sit down in the comfy arm chair that Gary usually sat in, when she suddenly noticed Cheryl and Tre still snuggled up together, sleeping peacefully under the lilac throw on the sofa with the two dogs also asleep at the other end. She chuckled to herself quietly as she really hadn’t noticed them at all and then smiled at how cute they looked together. Cheryl still had her head resting on Tre’s chest while his leaned down so that his cheek was nestled against her hair, both of them looking so cosy and content. Joan was so happy that her daughter was very clearly in love again and she could tell that Tre was head over heels for her too, loving her for who she was rather than what she had. She glanced over at them one last time before picking her breakfast things up again and wandering back out, thinking she should leave them to wake up by themselves and so strolled through to the sun room where there was another TV for her to watch.
As the morning went on, the couple continued sleeping without a care in the world, their warm bodies keeping each other cosy on the sofa until a loud crash of thunder and lightning sounded outside and set Coco off yapping out of fright, waking them both up straight away. “Hey hey hey...it’s OK baby, come here” Cheryl immediately sat up and picked her little dog up, cuddling her into her as Coco shook slightly, the loud sounds making her nervous while Buster seemed to be none the wiser and just looked around, not really knowing what was going on. “It’s just thunder and lightning Coco, it won’t hurt ya bubs” Cheryl spoke in a soothing, baby voice as she kissed her little head while Tre watched, finding it so sweet.
“Is she ok?” he asked as he lifted himself up slightly to lie against the cushions, affectionately rubbing Cheryl’s back until she turned around and nodded.
“Yeah...she just really freaks out when it’s thunder and lightening...I’ll put the TV on and then she might not notice it so much...hey ya big softy!” Cheryl replied as she got up, still keeping the little dog close to her who was shaking like crazy. “There ya go...watch the cooking programme...haha” she giggled as she turned the TV on to find Nigella Lawson making a lemon drizzle cake.
“What time is it babe?” Tre yawned as he stretched his arms into the air and then sat up properly, having had a good couple of hours sleep.
“Erm...just after 10 ‘o’clock!” Cheryl cheerfully replied as she brought the time up on the TV while Tre nodded before she wandered back over and sat herself on his knee, making him laugh.
“OK, so there’s 1...2, 3...4, 5...6 other places to sit in this room and you’ve sat on my lap...ever heard of personal space bambs?” he raised an eyebrow as she pouted back moodily.
“Be quiet, you love it...have you had your haircut?” she smirked before running her hand over his hair which had faint horizontal lines shaven into it.
“Haha...yeah you’re right...you can sit on me anytime baby” he cheekily winked, making her giggle and shake her head. “...and yeah, do you approve?” he answered as she kept stroking his head.
“Yeah I really like it...it looks smart...you’re very good looking, did you know that?...”she playfully asked as he scrunched his nose up and shook his head. “Well I’ve told ya now, so ya know!...haha...aww everything feels so much happier when you’re around...I love ya!” she grinned before giving him a cuddle with Coco squashed in between them, while he just chuckled, hugging her back.
