and fill it with a bag of ice, placing the meat on top before closing the lid and sliding it out of the way.
“Sounds like people are arriving,” Steve comments as voices filter from the house out to us. He starts walking inside, giving me a friendly slap on the back as he passes. “Time to put your game face on.”
When we walk inside there is already a crowd of people saying hello to my mother - who’s holding Grace; and Paige - who’s looking a little lost.
Relief washes over her face when she spots me, so I’m quick to make my way towards her and take hold of her hand.
“Look at Grace, she’s loving it,” Paige says quietly to me as I join her.
“She’s a big show off, isn’t she?” I comment smiling at our daughter who is absolutely loving being the centre of attention.
We stay connected by our hands as we greet the procession of friends and relatives who come through the door, some of them I don’t even remember, and some, I don’t even think I’ve met before.
Paige
So far, I have met, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, distant cousins, friends of Kathy, friends of Steven, and just when I was beginning to wonder, some friends of Elliot arrive.
He seems really happy to see one particular couple, and steps away from me to greet them, actually hugging the guy and doing that back slap thing they all do. Moving on, he hugs the girl, kissing her on the cheek before he holds her at arm’s length.
“Is that what I think it is?” he asks her. Nodding, she rubs a hand over her protruding belly. Elliot congratulates them both, before turning to introduce them both to me.
“Paige, this is Gary, my mate from my uni days and his wife Stephanie.”
“Oh!” I breathe, holding out my hand to shake both of theirs, “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“All good I hope,” Gary rumbles. He is much shorter and chunkier than Elliot, with slightly thinning dark hair cut close to his head. His face pleasant and friendly, I like him already.
I smile at him and turn to Stephanie, “So you’re Stephanie, Naomi’s friend?”
“Yes, I am. We went to high school together actually. She’s coming you know; she'll be here soon.”
“What?! Oh wow, I haven’t spoken to her for like, a year.”
“She’s really looking forward to seeing you and Elliot - and the baby of course, where is she?”
“With Kathy, I’ll take you over to introduce you. Congratulations on your baby, how far along are you?” I ask, guiding her towards Kathy, who is slowly making her way outside with Grace.
“23 weeks, so I’m on the home stretch now,” she answers, following beside me and chatting about her pregnancy.
Elliot
I feel really pleased that Paige just walked away with Stephanie. It bodes well for my hope that they’ll be great friends.
“Looks like our wives have dumped us,” Gary comments, watching after them.
“That’s a good thing mate. They're off to bond over babies,” I say watching after them as well. I’m about to steer Gary outside, so we can both get a beer when a new group of people come by to say hi.
“Hello,” I say carefully, wondering why in the world they’re here.
“Hi Elliot, I hope you don’t mind – your mum invited all of us when she was at mum and dad’s place a couple of weeks ago. We’ll only stay a little while, I just didn’t want to be rude,” Katrina says, her face flushed with embarrassment.
“How are you mate? It’s been a while,” David says, extending his hand in greeting.
“I’m fine. It's fine,” I say to them both as I shake David’s hand. Gary is just standing next to me with his eyebrows firmly stuck up on the top of his forehead, as he watches this play out.
This is really weird, why in the world would my mother invite my ex and her fiancé here? She must have lost her mind slightly while I’ve been gone.
Katrina looks really awkward, so I give her a friendly hug and cheek kiss in greeting. She turns around and introduces me to her mother and father as well as her brother and his wife. It makes me realise how underdeveloped our relationship actually was. We never went beyond meeting friends.
I point them all towards the back yard where everyone is congregating and tell them to help themselves to a drink.
“What the hell?” Gary says to me as they walk away.
“Exactly,” I reply, watching them go outside.
Chapter