Page 81 of Constantine: Britain's Story: Part 2
“Tommy wants to open up our relationship.”Oh fuck.
“Oh, okay. How do you feel about that?” Open relationships aren’t bad, just as long as both people want it.
“Like I don’t want to have an open fucking relationship with my husband.”
“Yep. Understandable.” I nod my head up and down.
“And you won’t fucking believe this, but–”
Jess is interrupted by the sound of Carly coming down the deck stairs. “Lunch is ready!” Carly’s timing, always impeccable.
I squeeze Jess’ hand. “I want to hear the rest of this, okay?” She just nods, but then seems to glass over, dropping her sunglasses back down. Damn, I hope she’ll tell me soon.
I stand up to call the kids back in, then move chairs to get the outdoor table on the dock set up for lunch. Once the kids are close enough to the dock that they can hear me, I ask them to head upstairs and help Carly with the rest of lunch. James is the first to respond.
“I’ll help her, Mrs. Scott.”Mrs. Scott. It doesn’t even sound like my name anymore.Mrs. Millar sounds better.
“James, you have to start calling me Brit or Britain, okay?”
“Okay, yes ma’am,” he says as he helps pull the girls’ boards out of the water, racking them up.Ugh, ma’am.I mentally roll my eyes, even thoughI doappreciate his manners.
When I turn around, Liam and Alex are walking down the stairs, arms filled with plates, napkins, and serving platters. Liam and I exchange a knowing glance and he nods in affirmation.It’s all taken care of.
He sets down his load and comes to me, pulling me in tight, then whispering into my ear, “I’m sorry, baby. That won’t happen again.”
I run my hand up and down his back, appreciating how warm and safe he makes me feel. I won’t worry about it because I know he’d never let anything happen to me or the girls. Not even Jess or Eden. My heart swells for this man.
He releases me when the girls make their way over to the table. “James, go tell your sister to come down and eat, yeah?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be right back,” James replies, then jogs up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
I watch everyone get settled in, but I focus on Liam. His calm demeanor, the smile he gives the girls. The way I feel towards him seems impossible. I didn’t think I could love him anymore, but seeing him interact with our family, it’s like he was made for this. He’s the missing puzzle piece of my life. He was meant for me.
As soon as we’re done eating lunch, I know what I need to do. I really need to talk to the girls and make sure that they’re okay with being here. If they don’t like it, even a little bit, we’ll move back to the Robles Lake house. It would suck for me, but if they need that, we can.
“Hey girls, do you think you’re ready for that walk now?”
The girls both look at each other and Elodie shrugs, so Caroline says, “Yeah, let’s go.”
Liam gives me a look of slight concern, though. “Can you take your phone and not go too far, please?” he asks. I nod and make my way up the deck stairs to wait for the girls.
When I go to pick up my phone, my hands get clammy. I’m scared of what I’ll see. I’m imagining 20 missed calls, and a slew of nasty text messages, but luckily, there’s only one.
Unknown
Hi Britain, it’s Constantine Scala. I just want to apologize on behalf of Matt about today. It will not happen again. I also wanted to see if you would come have lunch with me this Friday? (This invitation is unrelated to anything that happened today.) I would love to catch up and chat. Let me know.
I know he said it’s unrelated, but I can’t help but feel like he’s going to sit me down and preach to me all the virtues of his son. Or maybe he just really wants to talk about Georgia.Georgia. I’ve been so busy the last week, I’ve hardly thought about her at all. A pit in the bottom of my stomach grows when I realize I’ve left her box at the Robles house.Shit. I need that here. It’s become something of a security blanket the last few months; I don’t like being away from it. More than anything, I’m terrified that something could happen to it, and all of Georgia’s memories would be gone forever, just like her.
Britain
Would Matthias be at this lunch?
Constantine
No.
Okay, then yes, lunch would be nice. Let me know where and what time.
