New families

Playing dirty

"Are we going on holiday this year Dad?" Mikey asked
"Not sure. I'll have to check the finances mate"
"Just get Jac to pay" he said cheekily
"Firstly I don't know whether she would want to come and secondly I'm not with her for the money. Got it?"
"Alright keep your hair on. I was only asking"
Jac and Fletch had never talked about money. She obviously earned a little more than him but he did alright. Maybe they should think about a holiday.
Fletch rang Jac "my son is hassling for a holiday. Is it too much  too soon to ask you to come as well?"
It was probably too soon but what the hell.
"Great idea - What did you have in mind?"
"Budget all inclusive? Not exactly classy but seriously this lot on holiday are just gannets"
Budget all inclusive wasn't really her style but Jac respected Fletch's pride when it came to providing for his kids and she didn't want to step on his toes
"Let's talk about it when I see you. Come up with some options"
"Anything for you my love"
"Fool" Jac laughed hanging up
"What's funny Mummy?" Asked Emma
"Oh just Fletch being silly darling"
"He's best when he's silly" Emma stated that fact and carried on colouring
Jac sat nursing a cup up tea musing on previous holidays she'd had
Florence with Joseph - yawn
Scotland with Johnny - bloody freezing and they argued the whole time
A very ill advised weekend away with Joseph and his family, including his father Lord Byrne whom she was having an affair with at the time. Awkward
Disney with Emma. There was only so much Disney princesses and bloody Frozen a girl could take.
Maybe Jac needed to step out of her comfort zone and lose the snobby attitude to all inclusive holidays
She began to look up various hotels in Spain and Portugal some of which looked really nice, but even the most basic package would cost a fortune for all 7 of them
The next evening Jac and Emma were round at the Fletcher's for tea
Looking over holiday options Fletch groaned at the prices
Jac places her hand on his forearm
"Let me pay half"
"Jac there's only two of you going"
"Fletch does it bother you that I earn more money than you can do?" Jac asked tentatively
"No not really you deserve it with all your hard work and training"
"Johnny hated it. Said it emasculated him or something"
"Take a lot more than that to emasculate me darlin'" Fletch jokingly flexed his muscles and smelt his armpit
"Eww. You're such a pig sometimes"
"I'm serious, I don't care how much money you've got I care about you" he placed a kiss on her forehead
"So if you care about me, you want to make me happy?"
"Of course"
"Well letting me pay for at least half of the holiday would make me happy"
"Oooh Jacqueline Naylor - that is playing dirty"
"I know" she said proudly "it's my speciality"
Fletch held his hands up in defeat
"Ok you win Rockerfeller"
They eventually decided on a small complex in Spain. They got a 4 bedroomed villa  which was attached to the all inclusive small hotel
"Well that looks like the best of both worlds"
Fletch commented "you sure you're ok with this Jac. I mean it's pretty full on family stuff and we'd all be cooped up together for a fortnight"
"Listen Fletch, the kids have got close despite my reservations and us? I think we both care so much that even if we split up I think we'd help them cope"
"Well we're not going to split up unless you end up killing me after two weeks of this" he gestured to himself and smelt his armpit again
"For god sake Fletch, stop doing that"
"Oh you love it"