More Than Sorry

27: He Completes His Family

ZACH

"John, talk some sense into him," Mum hisses at Dad. She shoves a plate of raw steaks at him, but her eyes glare at me.

Dad flashes me a quick wink and pretends to look busy cooking on the barbecue. "Oh, yeah? What's he done this time?"

"He hasn't asked her yet."

"Hasn't he?"

I shake my head. "Ma..." I warn, but my lips curl in a smile over the top of my beer.

"Don't you 'Ma' me, Zachary. You look at her." Mum swats me on the shoulder with her tea towel. "A girl like Eden is one in a million. If you don't snap her up and propose pronto, someone else will."

My gaze drifts across the deck. Laughter bubbles through the group crowded on the lounges. Eden, Andie, and Yvette gossip away, holding their glasses of champagne—well, not Andie, she has a beer. Then there's a couple of my mates and some of Mum and Dad's friends. Carlton's on the end with his arm around his wife. His granddaughters are twirling and cartwheeling on Dad's perfect lawn downstairs, and he hasn't hollered at them once. Guess he's getting soft in his old age.

But my eyes always gravitate back to Eden. Those big eyes of hers, the sweet smile she flashes over at me before blowing me a kiss across the deck. My dream girl. What the hell did I do to deserve her?

"Well?" Mum huffs again, looking expectantly at Dad.

Dad's eyebrows pop up. "Zach, you should show Eden the new kayaks we bought for our trip next weekend."

Mum scoffs. "No one wants to see your stupid kayaks," she snips. "And definitely not a classy girl like Eden. Did you notice the heels she has on? You are not proposing to a woman wearing Dior shoes in your father's shed. You need to make it special. Memorable."

"Memorable, eh?" A smirk plays on Dad's lips when he slides a glance at Mum. "Zach, maybe you should propose to Eden like how I asked your mother."

Mum's face goes redder than a fire truck. "Absolutely not."

"Not like the first time..." Dad's voice is low as he grabs Mum around the waist with a grin. He kisses her cheek. "The second proposal."

"John!" Mum hisses.

I shoot a confused glance between the two of them. "This is news to me. You proposed twice?"

Dad chuckles, but if Mum's look could kill, he would be a dead man.

"Dad, you said you proposed to Mum after you took her for a drive down to the beach at Mollymook." My confused glance bounces back and forth between them. "Mum whinged the whole way because the drive was so long, and you wouldn't stop for a toilet break. You asked her on the beach at sunset. Right?"

"That was the second proposal." Dad grins. "Or was it technically the fifth?"

"John!" Mum warns.

I take another sip of my beer, more than a bit interested now. I'm happy to take any ideas at this point. "What was this secretive first proposal?"

Dad chuckles as he flips the steaks on the barbecue, and I think Mum is about to have a heart attack she's gone so red in the face.

"Mum?" I ask, still confused.

Mum's glare stays on Dad. "Don't you dare!" 

Dad slides me a smirk. "I asked her durin' cuddles—"

"John!" Mum cries.

Dad ignores her protests and winks at me as he flips another steak on the barbecue. "Actually... I asked her four times durin' those... cuddles."