Jays POV
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"He just was going on about the engagement" she's saying to me, I'm focusing on her body language. Taylor has been clenching the steering wheel, eyeing me conspicuously and pushing her hair off of her face.
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"He's got to adjust to the idea of it that's all" she's saying and I don't care about him. I care about us. Why she considers him still baffles me when I have given her my entire world. I look back at the road ahead and count in my head. Taylor knows I'm doing that, I'm so angry. I'm so jealous and I can't see past it. Just seeing her walking with him, his eyes on her. His body leaning towards hers.
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Ten, eleven, twelve...
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"He said that he was sorry" she explains and I can no longer hear her.
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Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen...
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"For overreacting to the whole thing. And what he said" she's explaining.
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Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen...
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"We can all get along Jay. He knows I'm with you, I'm engaged to you." She says.
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Nineteen, twenty.
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We cannot all get along. I'm not short sighted. He loves her. He just wants to keep her close. She is giving him far too much benefit of the doubt. I stare at her as if she is speaking French before I even consider opening my own mouth. Placing the indicator on she makes the next turning before I calm myself enough to see straight.
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"Of course Taylor. I get it" I say instead. If I create a problem I become the problem. The one that won't makes things work. I didn't envision having to compromise like this but I am willing too.
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"I'm glad it's all resolved" I say and she smiles. I am the good guy. The strong dependable fiancée. Matty, he's 'a friend'.
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"Okay great. You do trust me right ?" She asks glancing at me.
We're sitting in her car, the one I bought. She needed more than a Volvo. I wanted to get her an Audi but she smiled at me and she looked pretty asking for a mini. It's stylish. It's her.
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"With my whole life" I reply and light up a cigarette. I had to count up to twenty that time just to keep myself in check. Otherwise I would have shouted something intolerable about Matty.
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Like how he's not playing fair, how he's trying to court her when she's engaged.
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"I need to ask, where are we going" she asks breaking my thoughts about Matty.
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"We're meeting my mum and dad at their Californian home in the hills" I smile, thoughts of Matthew drifting away and out of my mind. I think of the large mansion. The white walls and the pristine gardens. Water fountains and statues, it's quite the family home.
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"Another house" she laughs.
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"Not a house" I laugh. Boy is she going to be shocked when she see's it. It's twice the size of the lake house, if not more.
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I plug the zip into the little sat nav for her and she eyes it curiously. Beverly Hills, is an affluent area, it's important to my father that we look the part. Our money affords us luxury and I remind myself of all of my birthday parties as a young boy, my peers were all so used to having two or three swimming pools. Except Matthew. My longest standing friend who was utterly shocked to see one swimming pool let alone the rest of the property. It's ashame that I am at odds with him, I remember us as seven year olds running around the grounds and catching butterflies, making dens and watching movies in the cinema room.
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"That's a way away" she sighs eyeing me and refusing to make a comment about it being in Beverly Hills.
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"Pull up at the store babe and we'll switch" I say as she heads towards the services.
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"I'm going to grab a few things from inside" I announce and she nods. It’s clear that Taylor feels at home in big bear lake; I only hope the cracks are not already forming in our relationship. I watch her closely as she walks next to me holding onto my hand and I savour moments like this. Ones where we're not doing anything interesting but we're doing things together and that's all that counts.
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After I’ve grabbed a bottle of wine and a few items for the lake house we step back out into the sun together and I get in the driving seat and make a joke about readjusting it. She's smaller than my 6 foot 3 frame and it shows, my knees are nearly touching the steering wheel.
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After a while we start driving past neighbourhoods where the houses have huge gated entrances and are set back away from the street. All of the grass areas are trimmed and there is not a hint of rubbish in sight. People are walking around with their dogs in their expensive gym gear which they don't even work out in.
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Taylor glances over at me. She's not used to this lifestyle. Funnily enough, although I grew up within this social sphere I never fully fitted in. The luxuries are nice but the social politics and the business talk is intolerable.
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I pull into the familiar entry system. I swipe my fob through the window and the gates open up for us. We drive in and I can't help but to glance at the women of my dreams seated next to me in her black skirt and cami looking every bit the off duty ballerina.
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I pull up around the circle driveway past the water feature, I would normally park in the garage to the side however today I want to show her in the front door. My mum or dad will not answer although they are expecting us, it will be Maeve.
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Taylor glances out of the red mini and smiles, the gardens here are quite something, when I was young I could get lost in them. There's a hedgerow maze, a rose garden and water features and statues archways and ponds. If you can think it up, we have it at dads place.
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I come around to her side and open the door for her, taking her hand and guiding her out of the car. I pull her into me and smile.
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"I'm happy you're here" I say simply.
She pulls back from me and a huge grin spreads across her lips.
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"If the gardens are anything to go by I'm sure the house is a masterpiece" she laughs.
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"But Jay I love you" she says as I'm laughing.
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"Just Jay. Without any of this I would love you" she smiles and I kiss her.
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I take her hand in mine and we head to the wooden double width doors.
Surely as I had thought Maeve answers and she smiles broadly taking me in and laughing.
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"Aw Jay, my boy! So nice to see you. You are tall! So tall" she exclaims.
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More like a grandmother than a housekeeper. Maeve fed me my first meal as a toddler, clapped when I walked for the first time, held me when I was sick in the night and took me on countless trips to do kid stuff rather than the business holidays that my father took me too.
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Maeve has wiry grey hair although it had been brown when she was younger. She is of a medium build yet she is quite short. She has her rubber gloves on and has obviously just been tidying up.
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She glances over at Taylor with a smile on her face, she is impressed. Why wouldn't she be?
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"Nice to meet you dear, my name is Maeve" she extends her welcome.
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"Hi Maeve, I'm Taylor" Taylor smiles graciously.
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I love how she deals with situations. Always on point, she gets the mood just right.
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"This is my fiancée" I smile at Maeve and she beams excitedly.
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"Wonderful" she smiles and lets us in.
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