Page 25 of Spiral
“You need to take that black stuff away from here,” Jackson said with an exaggerated shudder. “Like far,faraway.”
“Says the man who can’t taste the hot dog for the mustard,” I hit back, and couldn’t help the smile. Jackson was growing on me—he was good for Oli, and as to Oli and the girls? Well, Oli was besotted, and the girls loved Jackson. Although they still came to me first if they needed something.
Take that Columbo—Brit 1, Cop 0.
“Isn’t your meeting at ten?” Oli asked, glancing up at the clock, and the kitchen banter over my choice of breakfast was interrupted by my sudden realization of the time.
“Damn, I’m late to the rink,” I muttered, checking my watch frantically as if it was going to say something different. I needed to brush my teeth, check my notes, and god knows what else before I could even leave the house.
An amused smirk played on Jackson’s lips. “Why the rush, Jamie? Got a hot date or something at the rink?” he teased.
“It’s not a date. I need to gather data today,” I shot back.
Jackson, who was still eyeing the Marmite toast suspiciously, chuckled. “Is that what the cool kids are calling it these days?” His teasing only added to the light-hearted conspiracy brewing against my serious intentions. I might be dating Craig, hell we might have had three dates since the cinema that included a serious amount of kissing, but I wasn’t at the feeling-okay-being-teased stage yet.
I tipped my chin. “Yes, Iamdating Craig, butno, today isnota date.”
“He’s only teasing.” Oli elbowed Jackson who snorted a laugh. “We leave in five.”
Ignoring Jackson’s laughter, I hurried upstairs, did what I needed, grabbed my notes, and met Oli at the door, ready to dart out, but not before hearing Jackson’s comment in his best approximation of a Hugh Grant accent. “Take your ‘data gathering’ seriously, mate!”
“Jackson is an arsehole,” I muttered to Oli as I belted in.
“Sarcasm is his love language.” Oli grinned at me and waited for the gates to open before heading downtown to the Storm practice arena. “There was something…” He stopped as the lights changed, and he merged into the traffic.
“Something what?” I prompted.
“Never mind,” he said, his concentration on driving.
I sighed. “If you have something to say about me and Craig then stop, I know you never liked Sean, and you were right, but you’re not my dad and I lo—I like Craig. Okay?”
Oli shot me a sharp look at my near slip. “That wasn’t what I was going to say.”
I tipped my chin. “No?”
“No, I was going to… wait a minute…” He indicated to turn into the rink parking, flashed his security pass, and pulled up in the first space he found, which was easy given there were only a couple of other cars parked there, one of which was Craig’s. “I’m thinking of asking Jackson to marry me,” he blurted.
I spun in my seat to face him. “You’re doing what?” I asked to give me a moment to think about how to react. Jackson was a teasing, annoying asshole, but he was also a good guy, loved Oli and the girls, and hell, I liked him as well. Even if he did keep stealing my Custard Creams, and probably secretly loved Marmite.
Or not.
“You think it’s a bad idea?” Oli asked, as if my opinion mattered.
“God no, I was just shocked, that’s all. It was inevitable it would happen,” I said.
“Really?”
“He loves you, you love him, I just… is he the settling down kind of person?”
Oli grinned. “Yeah, he is.”
“He’s moved in,” I said.
“He has.”
“The girls love him.”
“They do.”
