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After they’ve gone, I make Aroha and myself a cup of coffee. “Fancy watching a movie?” I ask her.
She looks surprised. “Don’t you have work to do?” Usually I disappear to my office in the evening.
I shrug. “I’ve worked most of the day, and it is Saturday. I fancy something with a lot of action and blowing up.” Plus, I also want to spend some time with her.
She laughs. “Yeah, all right. If we can have chocolate while we watch.”
“Deal.”
We discover that Ginny has left a box of truffles in the cupboard, and we stretch out in the armchairs and watch Extraction while we drink our coffees and suck on the chocolates.
When the movie finishes, it’s only ten o’clock, but Aroha says she’s tired and is going to head to bed.
“Thank you,” I say to her as we take our mugs into the kitchen.
“For what?”
I shrug. “Everything.”
She chuckles. “You’re welcome.”
She goes to walk away, and I say, “By the way, Alex has arranged the celebrant for next weekend.”
“Cool,” she says. “Is she coming here?”
I frown. “No. He mentioned that your parents might be upset that they weren’t asked to the wedding, and it would be better if we went away, and you could then say I sprung it on you.”
She nods. “That makes sense.”
“I just wanted to say, I’m sorry that I didn’t think about them. Of course they’d want to be there if you got married. It didn’t even enter my head.”
“That’s okay,” she says softly. “I understand.”
“I wondered if you wanted me to come with you when you tell them.”
“Oh, James, you silly boy,” she says. “Of course you’ll come with me. I’m not dealing with my father on my own.”
I give her a wry look. “You’re going to punish me, is what you’re saying.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. If I’m going to get it in the ear for getting hitched without him, I’ll expect you to be there to shoulder the burden.”
“I’ll be there,” I tell her. “At my fiancée’s side, as I should be.”
Her eyebrows lift. I can see she hasn’t thought about the fact that, on paper, she’s technically my fiancée now.
“I’ll be your wife then,” she points out.
“True.”
“Does that mean I get to nag you to pick up your socks?”
“Only if I get to claim prima nocta.”
“Prima what?”
“It means first night.” I lift my eyebrows. I shouldn’t do this, but I can’t help it.
She stares at me. Then she narrows her eyes. “You’re teasing me.”
