Page 62 of All Right No
“Some.” He turned away from her, massaging his knuckles.
Ginny followed him in heading towards the stairs. “Do I get to hear them?” They clattered down the iron staircase. “It’s not finished, and I don’t sing, but when it’s done, I’ll let you look over them.”
“Cool, but no more work tonight, eh? I think you’ve done enough.”
Outside the studio, Ginny hooked her arm around his as they wandered back up to the main house. “Is that the level of playing you’ve been doing, or is it new? You did a lot, you know.”
“I know.” He put an arm around her shoulder and hugged her close. “It’s far more than I’ve managed before. I don’t know… I didn’t get so frustrated and enraged today while you were listening. It didn’t feel as if I was under the same sort of pressure as when the guys are around. My fist feels like frickin’ iron now, though.”
She saw his hand was curled tight.
“I can still flex them, but, there’s a firework extravaganza going on in there and shooting up my arm.”
Ginny twisted her head to get a clearer look at him. There was a slight glossy sheen to his eyes, but a smile stretched across his face, not a grimace. “I suppose there’s no sense in suggesting some painkillers might help.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“Hm. I guess I’ll have to rethink what I was going to cook tonight. I’m not seeing you wielding chopsticks.”
“I can play that,” he joked, and gave her a demo. “In all seriousness, though, I’ve never figured out how to hold those things properly, and I’d prefer my food hot when it reaches my mouth. But Chinese food does sound yum. I don’t suppose you could let me cop out and use a fork.”
“Suppose,” she conceded.
He squeezed her tight. “You’re too good for me. Tomorrow, I’ll ensure you have extra, extra pretty nails, and maybe I’ll cook again.”
He let out an enormous yawn. “Do you mind if I lie down for a bit?”
“Go ahead. I’ll wake you when it’s ready.”
***
In the end, Ginny ate alone and stowed the leftovers. When she’d attempted to rouse Ash, he’d grunted at her, but failed to stir, and it seemed better to allow him to sleep if that’s what his body needed to recuperate. Food could wait. He’d inevitably want an enormous breakfast anyway. She crept into bed alongside him, and spooned against his back in the wee hours of the morning, having flicked channels on the TV for a while, and dozed over a book. It wasn’t long afterwards, that he sat bolt upright in fear, with sweat beading on his skin.
“We didn’t use any condoms!”
“Huh?” she remarked sleepily, squinting at him in the gloom. “I thought you had a nightmare.”
“In the hot tub, we didn’t use anything.”
“Ash, I’m on the pill,” she said, drawing him back down onto the pillows, and hiking the duvet up around his ears again. “Did you forget?”
“Still.”
“Relax Ash. There’s nothing to worry about. You haven’t just created a little Ash.”
He blinked at her. “You’re sure?”
“Pretty sure. Nothing’s a hundred per cent reliable.”
He nodded and kissed her brow. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s true. We should go back to sleep.”
Good plan, she was all onboard with that one. Only a few minutes later, he disturbed her again. He was lying on his back staring up at the ceiling. “Do you want kids?” he asked.
It wasn’t something they’d ever directly discussed, but it wasn’t difficult to infer his feelings about the subject. Having a whole brood of them was part of the fantasy future he’d imagined having with Connie.
“Not right now,” she yawned.
“I didn’t mean this minute. I meant once we’re hitched.”
