“If I say yes, will you at least tell me the date?”
“No Trina. I won’t tell you the date. But I’ll tell you what flavour the cake is.”
I grin, I don’t care what flavour it is, but I’m happy to have this tiny deal. “Deal. Let’s invite them. Now what flavour is the cake?”
“Right now, it’s air. I haven’t ordered it yet.”
My mouth drops open. “That’s just mean!” I pick up a cherry tomato from my salad and throw it at him.
He deflects it and starts laughing his arse off. He’s so impressed with his own cheekiness. I can’t help but laugh too.
Sixteen
David
The next morning I tell Trina I’m going out to pick up something to take to Paige and Elliot’s house for dessert. It’s all come at a great time as I was booked in for a cake tasting today.
I’m meeting both mine and Trina’s mother at the bakery I’ve hired to bake the cake for us. Trina’s mum is also picking up the dress. We couldn’t have a final fitting because she’d be able to imagine it slightly based on wearing it. When I took her to the bridal shop for her fitting, we tried a mermaid shaped dress – they’re the ones with the love heart shape at the bust that fits the top part of her body, then flares out at the bottom. I think she’d look beautiful in something shaped like that. So we measured up a simple one, then my mum and Trina’s mum went together and chose a dress based on that. So in essence, we’re keeping with tradition because I don’t know which dress she’ll wear.
When I walk into the bakery, both mothers are already there waiting for me, sitting at a little table drinking their favourite cappuccinos and chatting. The moment the bell above the door dings, signalling my arrival, they grin broadly and rise.
“We were about to start without you,” my mother jokes.
“Ma, I’m five minutes early,” I point out, kissing her on her cheek before doing the same with Carol.
The woman behind the counter is smiling as we approach.
“This is Simone,” my mother tells me. “We’ve been telling her all about the wedding while we waited for you.”
“You’re the first groom I’ve ever met who’s planned the whole thing,” she comments. “You’re fiancée is one very lucky girl.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I think she’s had more than one moment where she’s regretted agreeing to this.”
“Have you told her anything?”
“Not a thing. It’s all a surprise.”
“Well, I hope you’ll show me some photos afterwards. I’d love to see how it all turns out.” I nod to let her know that I will. “Are we ready to try some cake?” she asks.
“We sure are,” I tell her.
She turns around and collects a tray filled with a selection of bite sized pieces of cake. Trina and I aren’t huge cake eaters, so I’ve just asks to try a little bit of everything.
Simone explains what each one is as we test them. They vary in names like Dark Chocolate fudge, black forest, traditional dark fruitcake, mud cakes in dark and white chocolate, cherry and caramel. There’s carrot cake, flourlesss orange and almond, orange poppy seed, red velvet, sticky date, marble cake, something called croqembouche, butterscotch and of course, lemon.
I think my mum just loves that she’s eating cake before lunch. I’m not sure that she’s actually tasting them per se. But she’s enjoying them – so that’s a good thing.
“I can’t choose. They’re all good,” she says when she’s finished.
“Well, I think she’ll like the black forest one best. It’s always been one of her favourites,” Carol puts in.
“Agreed. It’s my favourite too actually. That one or the orange poppy seed.”
Simone brings out a full slice of each of the cakes we’re deciding between. I taste a bit of each and Carol does the same. As we’re talking about which one would be best to suit everyone in attendance, my mother slowly polishes off both slices.
“I still can’t decide,” she says around a mouth full of crumbs. “I just love cake. You can choose any flavour and I’ll be happy.”
Eventually we decide on the orange poppy seed with the citrus cream cheese filling. It’s nice and fresh tasting and suits the warmer temperature that summer brings.
“Great choice,” my mum says as I finish going over the details with Simone. I put my arm around her and kiss the side of her head.
“Thanks mum.”
I also grab a strawberry cheese cake to take for dessert tonight before walking outside with both mothers.
“Ok, so are we all set now? Is there anything else we need to organise?” Carol asks, her aging blue eyes filled with nerves and excitement. “I have the dress by the way. It’s beautiful. It’s in the car.”
“Thank you. And no, there’s nothing else to organise. All we have to do is get her there without her knowing what’s going on.”
“How are we going to do that?” my mother asks.
“Well, I have an idea about that,” I say, lowering my voice conspiratorially as I fill them in on the final part of my plan.
There isn’t long now.
Seventeen
Katrina
“That was the longest purchase of a cheesecake in the history of all cheesecake purchases,” I comment when David finally arrives home and shows me what he bought.
He’s been gone so long that I’ve already gone for a run, returned home, showered, changed, and had something to eat.
He puts the cheesecake in the fridge and comes to stand in front of me. “Don’t pout princess. You know I can’t tell you what I was doing.”
I pout anyway.
“Here, let me fix that for you,” he says as he brings his mouth to mine. I quickly forget to sulk as I feel my insides swoon over his kiss.
“I do love that you’re doing all of this you know,” I tell him, my voice sounds thick with desire as I wrap my arms around him and press our bodies together. “I only pout because I can’t wait to be your wife.”
He leans in and sucks my lower lip, gently into his mouth. “Do you want to go and practise for the wedding night?” he murmurs in my ear.
I answer him with my mouth as I press it up against his, sliding my tongue inside as he parts his lips and reciprocates, moving his deliciously against my own. That’s when I taste it.
My head snaps back and my eyes open wide. “You’ve been eating cake!”
Eighteen
David
We arrive at Paige and Elliot’s just before seven and park kerbside, not far from their block of flats. The façade leads me to believe they were built sometime in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s and the brown wood of the doors and the carpets on the stair case confirms my thoughts.
“What are they like inside?” I ask Trina as we climb the stairs.
“Well they said it’s all been redone, but it used to just be more brown. Even the white of the walls had a brown tone to it.”
When we knock on the door, Elliot answers with Grace in his arms. She’s looking a little grouchy but very cute in her purple pyjamas.
“Hi, welcome,” he says thrusting out a hand to shake mine and leaning toward Trina for a cheek kiss. “Did you find parking on the street ok?”
“Yeah. We’re just between this complex and the next one,” I tell him.
Katrina
From where we’re standing, I can’t believe this is the same flat I was in all those years ago. It’s just so different. The design is now much more modern and looks like it should be in a design magazine or something – one of those fancy coffee table magazines that people love buying.
“Wow, Elliot. Can I just say that this all looks amazing. I would never have thought it was the same place.”
Paige appears from the kitchen and calls out hi before walking down the hallway towards us. She’s wearing a pair of black capris pants and a fitted navy blue singlet with a long necklace hanging down. She has her hair pulled up into a bun on top of her head. Looking effortlessly bea
utiful – like she always does.
I’m wearing my usual summery dress. It’s white with tiny coloured flowers around the top of the bust and the hem. I wear minimal jewellery, just my stud earrings, my engagement ring and the bracelet David brought back from Bali years ago.
The men are dressed almost identically in cargo shorts and button up collared short sleeve checked shirts, open with a plain t-shirts underneath them. They look both look great. Although David always looks great – clothes or not.
Once Paige reaches us, a bit more cheek kissing goes on before we continue through the flat.
“Different, huh?” Paige directs at me.
“It’s amazing. Really beautiful.”
“Erica, Robert’s wife, designed it all herself. She picked everything,” she tells me as she leads me further inside.
“Robert? Is that Elliot’s dad’s name?” I ask. How strange. Robert Roberts?
She laughs, “Yes, and I know what you’re thinking. They have different surnames.”
“Roberts is my mum’s name, she and dad weren’t married when I was born, so mum gave me her name, and it was never changed,” Elliot informs me.
“Oh, well that makes sense,” I laugh.
“Come, I’ll show you around,” Paige says, inclining her head so I follow her.
As I walk down the hallway, I first come to a formal dining room with a square, chestnut-coloured table. It’s surrounded by eight leather chairs and there’s a high chair in the corner.
“This isn’t too weird for you is it?” she asks me. “I mean, being here. I know you and Elliot had a thing when he was living here.”
“Oh, no. It’s fine. It looks like an entirely new place and besides – that was years ago,” I laugh. It comes out a little higher pitched than I intend, but normally no one makes any references to the fact that Elliot and I once had a ‘thing’. We generally just go along pretending like nothing ever happened, and frankly, that suits me just fine.
She looks at me for a minute, as if she’s assessing whether I’m telling the truth or not.
“Ok, it’s a little weird,” I blurt out. “But seriously Paige. Whatever Elliot and I once had was never serious. It didn’t even get beyond the fling faze. I think we thought it was more than it really was at the time. But I know that for me, what I have with David is completely different, and from what I gather, Elliot feels the same way about you. It’s like you complete each other… you know?”
“Yes. I do,” she smiles. “I kind of just wanted to make sure that you weren’t uncomfortable.”
“I’m not uncomfortable being here. But do you know what makes me uncomfortable? Having this conversation. It feels a little awkward. How about we forget about the past, because it has nothing to do with our lives now, and move on? I’d really like to see the rest of the flat.”
Paige laughs a little. “Yeah, that was really uncomfortable actually. I just wanted to get that conversation over with. I didn’t want there to be an elephant in the room.”
“Understood,” I say smiling. I kind of feel like I should hug her, but she doesn’t seem like the hugging type and well… neither am I.
“Come on,” she says with a slight grin, “I’ll show you the rest.”
In the lounge room, there’s a massive leather cream coloured couch in front of a large mounted flat screen television. There’s two matching book cases either side, and they’re artfully decorated with books, vases, candles and photographs.
The wall that separated the kitchen from the rest of the flat has been knocked down so it’s all open now. It’s been done up with all stainless steel appliances and a dark granite bench top. The bench has a small drop when it becomes a breakfast bar that looks out the window where a small table used to be.
The first bedroom is Grace’s. I never saw inside this one, but it has a beautiful white sleigh cot, and matching chest of drawers and change table inside. It’s been decorated almost entirely with butterflies.
“Did you guys rob a toy store?” I joke, looking around. There’s every toy a baby girl could ever hope for.
“No. That’s Erica and Kathy combined. I don’t think there’s a toy Grace doesn’t own,” she laughs.
Next up is the main bathroom. It has a sleek bath tub with spa jets inside and a glass partition to turn it into a shower. The large mirror has vanity lights around it which is so cool.
“I would kill for a mirror like that!” I tell her looking around.
“You won’t believe what she did with the main bedroom,” she tells me, grinning. I can tell she really loves it.
I gasp when I see it. It almost looks like a hotel room. Above the bed is a blown-up photo of Elliot and Paige, kissing on their wedding day. They look so happy and in love that it almost makes tears of joy spring to my eyes.
“Wait, you haven’t seen all of it yet,” she says pulling me towards a door that I assume leads to the en-suite. I’m surprised though, when it opens - it’s a walk in wardrobe which then becomes an en-suite.
“This looks like something out of a movie. I love that chair in the middle, it just makes you want to sit down and try on shoes,” I comment.
The en-suite itself is also gorgeous with his and hers basins and a corner mini spa bath and shower combined.
“I know, I love it,” she tells me. “I’ve never lived in something this nice before. I pinch myself daily over it.”
“Well it’s beautiful. Thanks so much for showing me,” I tell her, and I genuinely mean it. Seeing inside their house, and how happy they are together, just makes me more excited to get married and have a family myself.
David
“Thank you so much for sorting out the celebrant for me. You really saved my arse,” I say to Elliot while the girls are taking the tour of the flat.
“No trouble at all. It was all my dad actually, I was just the middle man.”
“Well even so, I’m really grateful and if Trina had any idea, she’d be really grateful too.”
He walks me into the kitchen and opens the fridge, offering me a beer which I gratefully accept. He also pulls out a bottle of white wine and pours a glass for each of the girls, which we both carry into the dining room where Grace is sitting and pulling random toys out of a little toy tub in the corner.
“Listen, I… well we were wondering if you two would like to come to the wedding. You don’t have to say yes straight away – talk it through with Paige, but just know that you’re welcome to come. When I invited everyone, we didn’t really know each other, but we’ve spent a bit of time together and we’d really like for you two to attend,” I tell him, talking rather rushed. I kind of feel nervous all of a sudden. “And of course, Grace is welcome too,” I add as she lets out a little squeal and babbles at a set of baby keys she’s playing with.
“Um… yeah, that’d actually be really nice. I’m sure Paige will be fine with it – she really likes Katrina, so I can’t see why not. I’ll check with her though,” he says, spinning his beer bottle around in his hands.
“What do you have to check?” Paige asks as she appears in the archway with Katrina beside her.
“Ah,” Elliot says glancing quickly at me. He’s obviously worried about saying something he shouldn’t.
“It’s cool” I say to him. “She knows I’m asking you.”
“Asking what?” Paige asks looking between us.
“We want to know if you two will come to the wedding,” Katrina tells her. “When it is, I have no idea so you’ll have to get the details off David. But we would love it if you could come.”
“Of course, we’d love to be there. Although, we do know when it is,” she smiles.
“Of course you do! Everyone knows except for me,” Katrina whines.
“Come on David. You have to tell her the date at least. A girl needs to prepare,” Paige puts in.
“I can’t. I’m sorry, it will ruin everything. She’s just going to have to wait.”
Katrina looks over at Paige and gives her a smi
le that says ‘thanks for trying’. They do a silent communication thing for a couple of seconds before Grace crawls over to Paige’s feet, and starts to pull at the bottom of her capris.
Leaning down to pick her up Paige says, “I think I should probably put this one to bed. I won’t be long if you want to serve dinner,” she directs toward Elliot as she moves closer to him so he can say goodnight to his little girl.
“Sure thing,” he says, kissing Grace’s head before getting up from his seat and heading toward the kitchen.
“Do you want any help?” Katrina and I both ask.
“Yeah why not, we can all huddle in there. Paige has cooked this great paella and there’s some bread in the basket over there if you want to carry that through.”
We all move around their kitchen and carry the food to the table while we make general small talk about how nice everything looks and smells. My stomach rumbles audibly and I blame the great smells that have been teasing my nose since we entered the flat.
By the time we have everything on the table, Paige has returned from the nursery and tells us that Grace is already asleep.
“That’s amazing,” Katrina comments. “You must be such a good mum.”
“Grace is such a good baby,” she replies, taking a seat next to Elliot.
“Don’t sell yourself short babe, you’re amazing with her,” Elliot says as he drops a kiss on her shoulder.
Over dinner we chat about our plans for Christmas and what we’re going to do for New Years, as well as a whole host of other things. The conversation flows freely and we don’t end up leaving until a little after twelve.
Katrina
Beautiful Boxset: Beautiful Series, books 1-4 Page 118
