Taylor's POV
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So here I am surrounded by my ex’s, one to my right and the other opposite, staring at me occasionally even though he should be focusing on his date. I look up at him and he catches my eye briefly. Dark green eyes that keep stealing my own.
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I've deliberately been all over my husband in front of him, it seems to spur him on further. Unsure of how I can further deter him, I fear that telling everybody that we're sort of moving will set him off. I eye him again, and he catches my stare. Smiling to himself.
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"Do you need more pain meds" I ask Ross checking in with him.
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"No I think we've got another hour till I can have one" he responds, looking up at the clock.
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"How's it feeling" Olivia asks and I glance over at her. Her dark green dress that matches Matty's eyes. She looks up at Ross, and she professional nurse Olivia once again.
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"It's around a seven out of ten" he indicates on the pain scale.
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"Have you thought about how you're going to manage at home" she asks him and he looks over to me instantly.
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"I'm going to stay here initially with Jay and Taylor" he comments and Matthew looks up at him.
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"Yeah man, I just thought it would be beneficial. Having the en-suite and Taylor insisted" he says and I nod.
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"Let's see how it all goes" I say looking down at my food.
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"That sounds like a good plan" Matthew says agreeing with me.
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"But you're pregnant" Olivia says stating the obvious. She never lets sleeping dogs lie.
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"I know but I'll be fine; as you can see Jay is an exceptional cook" I laugh.
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"If I get too much, please Taylor tell me" Ross says suddenly concerned and worried.
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I tut and face him.
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"Lord no" I say softly.
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"Ross you're all good. Honestly" Jay says smiling.
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"Honest" I say softly reassuring him.
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"Hey water is really good for recovery" Olivia chimes in.
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"Actually the pool may be helpful" she says and I nod to her. I grasp my wine glass with juice in and sip it.
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"This is definitely something we should look into" I say to Ross. He nods agreeing, concern etched on his face.
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"These are wonderful" Christopher says changing the conversation and moving it along. I smile at him warmly.
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"Thankyou I'm glad you like them" I say to him.
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"Please have some more" I say to him and he makes up another fajita. I go and grab another bottle of Prosecco for Rachel and Olivia. I pick up the whiskey on the way.
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"Oh Jay" I say pouring him another.
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"You deserve to get absolutely smashed by the way as it's probably one of the last times apart from the baby shower" I laugh and he chuckles.
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"Believe me" I say looking up as I take a seat.
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"If I could drink I'd be on par with Rachel by now" I say laughing and she chuckles at me.
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"I feel great" she laughs Christopher draped around her shoulders.
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"I'm sure you do" I smirk.
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"Be careful in the pool later" I say laughing.
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"You will be joining me won't you" she looks at me with puppy dog eyes.
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I glance at Jay and he just laughs.
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"I'll be joining you" I say laughing.
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"For a swim" I add and she smiles wickedly.
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"We went to an antenatal class the other day, and the pool is an option for birth" I begin and Olivia nods to me.
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"They're supposed to be really good" she says and I smile at her.
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"I really like the idea of just lying there" I laugh and Rachel scoffs.
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"I'm sure you'll still be doing all the pushing" Rachel snarks.
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"Right yeah but I just think the water will help" I say looking up at Jay.
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"And then when babies arrived, I will be whipping my ass back into shape" I smirk at him.
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"Ohh Taylor I'll be putting another baby in you" Jay laughs and I smirk at him.
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"You're planning another" Rachel says shocked.
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"Of course" he says.
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"We want more than one but I feel it's important we wait a little bit" I say reining him in.
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"Six months is usually minimum recovery time" nurse Olivia says and I smile at her graciously. Thank you I mouth to her. She smiles.
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"See six months" I tell him and he chuckles.
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"You take all the time you need darling" he says softly.
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I glance up and meet Matthews eyes immediately, his stare baring down into me. I look away from the sheer intensity of it. Making up another fajita for myself and daring not to look at him again. What does he expect, I'm married and starting a family.
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"We went to a plant kitchen yesterday" Olivia says and I smile openly.
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"Wow what did you eat" I ask eagerly and she laughs.
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"See I knew you would be interested" she smirks sipping her wine.
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"We had faux fillet steaks" she informs me.
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Rachel looks horrified and Ross laughs slightly. I jab him and he winces.
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"Shit sorry" I say and he laughs.
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"What did it taste like? Matty did you like it? What did they serve with them?" I ask unable to contain myself.
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She laughs and shows me a snap of the food. If you hadn't of known it was plant based, you would have thought it was a rump steak cooked medium rare, served alongside onion rings and potatoes.
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"That looks wonderful" I say.
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"What were the dips" I ask her and she tells me the different ingredients in each item. I listen interested and it's the first proper conversation we've had. Matthew looks at me amused.
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"How was it mate" Jay asks smirking.
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"You know it was oddly like meat" Matthew comments and I laugh.
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"Fascinating" I say.
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"Oh I wanna go" I gush looking at the snap again.
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"Hey I'll take you" Olivia says, chuckling.
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"I'm being honest I wanna try please take me" I say laughing again and she nods.
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"Sure" she says laughing.
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"Just please don't make her a plant eater" Jay whispers and Olivia snorts.
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"I won't" she says whispering back.
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"Taylor you would like it" Matthew says.
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"There's lots of cool street art in the surrounding area and live music and stuff" he comments.
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"Taylor can play guitar and sing" he informs Olivia and she nods understanding coming over her face.
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"I didn't know you could play that's amazing and creative" Christopher says.
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"I can play the drums" he says.
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"Oh that's cool" Ross says and I smile over at Rachel.
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"You'll have to show us your skills" I say to him and he laughs.
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"I'd love to" he says. Whenever Christopher contributes to conversation he always makes everybody smile, there's nothing about him that is deceptive, rude or controversial.
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Once we all finish our fajitas, I stand to grab the lemon cakes.
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"I'm on it" Jay says smiling at me and going over to the cake tin.
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"Darling the custard too and the cream" I say to him over my shoulder and he smiles.
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"I baked these" I say to Olivia and she nods interested.
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"I think you've all tried my lemon cake before, but this time I've added in drizzle sauce too" I say to her and she smiles.
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"You really love food" she smiles.
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"I love making it, having people try it and sharing it" I say softly and she nods, this time with no condescension.
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Jay places the cake on the table and bowls for everybody. He comes back with fresh cream and custard.
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"So as you can see, it's easy to put on weight when your wife continually cooks and bakes" Jay laughs.
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"Baby you still look wonderful" I say looking up at him.
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He kisses my lips before sitting down and waiting for me to cut my cake.
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I cut it into equal slices and share it out equally.
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"Cream or custard" I ask Jay and he smirks.
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"Cream please" he smirks and I pass him the bowl and spoon.
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"Mmm this is great" Ross smiles next to me eating it on its own, no cream or custard.
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"It's made with Italian lemons" I comment.
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Olivia nods asking where we visited in Italy. I explain that we started at the Amalfi coast, alluding to its wonderful beaches and Italian restaurants. I detail the Mazda/ Maserati incident and she laughs.
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"Mazda's and Maseratis are not all that different are they" Rachel smiles and I laugh along with her at Christopher's utter shock.
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"They're a fair bit different babe" he smirks and I just chuckle.
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"Where did you go after the Amalfi coast" Olivia asks interested.
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"We decided to visit Tuscany, the Umbrian countryside" I begin taking a deep breath.
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I look over at Jay and he nods, smiling slightly. Grasping my hand in his own.
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"My nan lived in Tuscany, so Italy is sort of in my blood. I guess you could say" he says and Matthew looks up at him curiously.
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"We looked into Italian farmhouses, and homes there." He says softly looking into my eyes.
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Rachel shifts in her chair and Ross holds my other hand under the table. I should brush him off, but of all of the times that I need to hold his hand, this is one of them.
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"So we closed in on the perfect farmhouse, in the countryside there. It's where these lemons are from" he says glancing down at the cake.
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"You bought a farmhouse" Rachel says abashed.
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"I bought us a family farmhouse there; yeah with a grapevine, wine cellar, lemon grove, tennis courts" he says looking at me.
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"And of course a pool Rachel for you to come and dip in" he laughs.
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"So we were planning on having the baby there." I say softly and I look up at Ross. He wipes his eyes and it breaks me. He knows what this means. I think of all of the Italian sunshine, the memories we can make with our children and I make myself say the rest.
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"And seeing what life could offer us there" I say finally.
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"We're still keeping this place" Jay says softening the blow.
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"I felt it was important to have this place too, Taylor's family lives here. Her mum and dad. And I didn't want her to not have that option" he says deliberately looking at Matthew.
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"Wow" Rachel says taken aback. She wipes her eyes and I smile over at her.
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"Honestly this is not me saying goodbye you should know me better than that" I laugh.
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"It's me saying that you'll be coming over to stay in Italy a lot" I say to her and she smiles nodding. Rachel is speechless and it's a first. I haven't dared to look at Matthew.
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He gave up London for me, although I told him not too. He gave up a scholarship and pursuing his dreams telling me that he would stay where I was in the world because he believed so fervently that we were supposed to be.
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"Honestly guys, it's all good" Jay chuckles.
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"We'll still be here." He says softly and I look up at Jay smiling.
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"We'll be here, and there, and all will be good. You'll have lots of original Italian wine" I say to Olivia, still not looking at Matty.
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"And lemon cake" I tell Ross and he wipes his face smiling.
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"Don't cry" I say to him and he laughs slightly.
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"Mmm excuse me when will we get to meet little Gilbert Scott" Rachel asks.
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"Don't worry once he's safely born we'll arrange stuff" I tell her.
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"Come on then let's see this farmhouse" Christopher says smirking.
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Jay pulls out his phone and shows him the snaps we took, Rachel gasps and I love her overreaction to every single picture.
I finally glance up at Matthew, and he's absolutely in shock. I can tell from his resignation. His arm around Olivia as she looks at the pictures. Jay is tidying up and he stares directly into my eyes. Imploring me to consider him, begging me not to leave. It's exactly the reaction I had feared and I mouth to him that I'm sorry. I am sorry, for the way he feels, but I know that he will move on far more easily without me continually being the reason that his new girlfriends don't work out.
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