Kayleigh isn't feeling herself - she has a secret, which she doesn't want to tell John but how long can she keep it from him and how will he react once he finds out.
Car Share: The Sweetest Thing
Chapter 1
John and Kayleigh were experiencing absolute relationship bliss over these last 8 months. They couldn't have been any happier. It was only in the past week, John started noticing Kayleigh wasn't doing one of her delightful seductive moans every time he nuzzled her neck. He was baffled at her sudden change in behaviour. Was she upset with him for chatting to Rachel the other day and then going missing with her from the shop floor? Was she still unsure over whether she should believe his reason for this? John had explained to Kayleigh, the reason why he wandered off unexpectedly with Rachel. He had been persuaded to sit in on a meeting between Cath Hilton and Rachel in Cath's office, Rachel needed to fill in paperwork for her transfer to the Wigan store.
"What's up Kayleigh?"
"It's nothing John. Can we not bring the mood down." Kaylegh sighs. Something is playing on her mind. Something she was nervous to tell John about. She hadn't even told Mandy what her secret was, which was a first for her, the Kitson sisters had told each other everything they wouldn't tell Steve or Kieran on Skype.
"You've had a face on you like Jose Mourinho since this morning Look is it to do with me not telling you Dave asked me to sit in on Cath's meeting with Rachel? Anyway, I thought you'd be throwing a party, knowing you don't have to work alongside Rachel anymore."
"I think Elsie's already beaten me to that. You should have seen her behind the deli counter. Poor Gareth will be traumatized after seeing her Gangnam Style." Kayleigh chose not to answer his question. Further adding to her odd behaviour.
John chuckles to himself. One way or another he vowed to find out why Kayleigh was being secretive. Surely she wouldn't cheat on him. How he hated questioning this possibility. There was that new lad in the warehouse, blond-haired Lucas who looked like a young David Beckham, who John thought was eyeing up Kayleigh when they arrived together yesterday for work. That matter soon resolved itself later yesterday afternoon when he spotted Lucas swapping numbers with one of the ladies off Customer Service. He felt a bit embarrassed about getting the wrong end of the stick.
The rest of the trip up to Bury had become a quiet affair. John gave a sideways glance over at Kayleigh, while they were stuck at the traffic lights. She definitely wasn't herself today. Her hands were in her lap, clutching her handbag. She had something in it, something which she clearly didn't want him to see.
"We're okay, aren't we?" John asks her suddenly. He has to get her to finally open up to him. According to Paul, keeping the tiniest of secrets from your other half was a relationship destroyer and a heartbreaker. John doesn't want this to happen with their relationship. This was now their first major test, the first stumbling block, it was a bloody nervous one which John was clearly certain of.
"Course we are, John. Why do you say that?" She asks him with a confused look. For John, trying to read her face had been like trying to solve a Rubix Cube.
"Well, don't get mad with me but I just get the feeling there's something you're not telling me, Kayleigh. Whatever it is. I'll understand." John tries to make her feel they can share a heart to heart with each other and that they could finally get everything off their chest.
"Why would I get mad with you? Nothing's going to stop me loving you Jonathan Redmond. Not Dave 'Wee Dickhead' Thompson. Not Creepy Stink Ray, who keeps following me to the canteen. Not Elsie, who keeps asking me where me and you are up to in our relationship. She's a right nosy cow." Kayleigh starts to release huge weight off her shoulders. She relaxes slightly better in her seat knowing she's done her best to reassure him, how she'll never stop loving him.
"Then what is it then?" John asks. He supportively places his hand across hers. She responds with a loving smile. He's certainly having a calming effect on her this time around. He thinks he came on a bit too strong a few minutes earlier by bringing up Rachel.
"You really want me to tell you?" Kayleigh questions.
"Yes." John is desperate to know.
Kayleigh's eyes briefly glance down at his hands before she returns her focus on unbuttoning her jacket and showing John what she's been attempting to conceal from him. John quietly watches on. He can tell she means well and that she's being the most honest she's ever been with him. The surprise that greets John is a baby bump.
"Where am I looking?" John asks. He hasn't quite got it yet. He's staring at her breasts curiously.
"I haven't given Cagney and Lacey a promotion if that's what you're thinking. Anyway, you've seen them enough lately." Kayleigh giggles. "No here." She picks up his left hand and places it over her bump. John has to work this out himself, she can't tell him herself because she thinks that would spoil the spoiler. He does a facial double take while his hand is caressing her small bump. The truth eventually dawns on him. She doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to work out what he must be thinking right at that very moment. The joy of becoming a father for the first time was written all over his face.
"You're...you're pregnant?" John's reaction is the sweetest thing ever. He can't believe it. He knows he once told her that he liked his life the way it already was but now since he and Kayleigh were very much in love and the fact she had turned his dark skies blue, he couldn't be any happier than he already liked to admit.
"I am. Look I'm sorry for blowing hot and cold with you this week. My head's been all over the place. I was nervous because I thought you would end our relationship and tell me you didn't want to be a dad."
"The Old me would be bloody running a mile and not looking back once you told him but THIS me, well he might be feeling a little nervous, to begin with, but I'm sure he'll get off his arse and show he's willing to learn the ropes of fatherhood."
"What you on about? You've been getting off your arse since you insisted on walking me back to Our Mandy's house after we got the bus together and you gave me a goodnight kiss before you got in that taxi home. Then again when you drove all the way up to Bury in your new Audi car, just so you could give Steve a lift to the Man United game on New Year's Day. Even Our Mandy was impressed that you went out of your way, which was a first because nobody's impressed her like that before. John, I know you're going to be a brilliant dad." Kayleigh's words were enough to reassure John, who was smiling to himself.
John was an absolute godsend for coming to the rescue for the Price/Kitson family over the last few months. Even Alfie and Chloe were surprisingly singing his praises, the only way they knew how. "Aunty Kayleigh, when's Uncle John coming to visit? Is he coming today or tonight?" The questions were endless with those two.
"I don't regret changing my mind that day you know. I know I said I needed time but it turned out I didn't actually need it after all. Crazy what being in love does to you."
"You mean to say you waited for the right moment to kiss me. You're such a gentleman, John." Kayleigh beams with one of her usual beautiful smiles.
"I couldn't kiss you on the bus could I? not in front of those two nosy bastards who got on few stops before we got off the bus," John explains his reason for why he held himself back from kissing her for as long as possible that September day.
"I remember the look they gave you when they saw us holding hands. It was like they were they thinking 'how he's managed to pull that fit bird'" Kayleigh laughs as she reflects on what happened that day.
John's red Audi was now only a few streets away from Mandy's house. "So, how are we going to tell your Mandy?"
"No point telling her. She'll have it worked out soon as she sees the looks on our faces. She's good at sniffing the truth out of you." Kayleigh was never good at keeping secrets from her sister. Neither was Steve or the kids. Kayleigh reckons Mandy should have chosen a career as a detective rather than being a receptionist at the local Dental Surgery.
"Do you want me to come in with you?" John asks as the Audi pulls up outside Mandy's house. Steve's currently tinkering with his latest motorbike beneath the green gazebo. Honestly, from the looks of thing, the man clearly loved fixing his bike more than sitting down and watching The Only Way is Essex with Mandy. Steve has obviously heard the car pulling up a few metres away. He glances up to see who it is, as soon as he sees it's Kayleigh and John, he gives them both a wave with his greasy hand.
"You might as well, now Steve's seen you. I'm going need you by my side when we tell Mandy, don't forget." Kayleigh reminds him. She seriously hopes Steve' isn't going to stick his oar in by distracting John with more boring motorbike talk.
"Give over. Cause I'll be by your side. I'm not going to ride off into the sunset on that horror show of a bike of Steve's."
Kayleigh laughs at his comment. "Oi. Don't let Steve hear you saying that, John. He thinks it's his pride and joy."
"Bollocks." John cries with laughter. "We might as well go and tell your Mandy then, seeing as we've busted by Steve," John tells her as he's unfastening his seatbelt. However Kayleigh's way ahead of him, she's already got one leg positioned out of the passenger doorway. Steve's watching on, intrigued. He's stood with both hands on his hips.
"3, 2, 1..." Kayleigh quietly says to herself before she eventually gets out of her side of the car. John's not far behind, getting out the opposite side of the car.
John laced his fingers with his. Giving them a squeeze and a gentle kiss across her knuckles. He really was one of a kind, the most caring, loving and patient man she has ever known.
"How do lovebirds. Mandy was just saying she was gonna send a search party out for you two because you didn't drop her off at the normal time you do." Steve smirks knowingly as he greets them. He wasn't daft, seeing as he's a dad of two and how he's experienced putting up with Mandy's morning sickness during pregnancy. Well, it would definitely explain why Kayleigh had recently been spending a lot of time in the bathroom throwing up. Mandy's tea meals clearly weren't to blame for this neither was the awful smell of his unwashed boots. He keeps this quietly to himself until after Mandy tels him the news.
"Alright, Steve. Sorry, we lost track of time didn't we Kayleigh." John says the first thing that comes out of his head.
"Oh yeah. Traffic was mental. I thought me and John were going to find ourselves stuck all night in it. Some daft idiot was bloody mooning a police patrol car. Oh it was terrible wasn't it John? That poor woman in the car in front of us, she nearly fainted in shock." Kayleigh couldn't quite match John in the 'describe the first thing which comes out of your head' versus your other half's version contest. John looks sheepishly. Yes, she had well and truly given one of the silliest explanations he had ever heard and now the secrecy surrounding their good news seemed like it wouldn't last more than five minutes.
Steve isn't buying Kayleigh's excuse. He knows by now that the Kitson sisters weren't how you could say, brilliant at convincing you or someone else with one of their last-minute excuses.
"If you're looking for Mandy, she's in the living room with her feet up, watching Neighbours." John and Kayleigh walk up the pathway and past Steve. They enter the house.
End of Chapter
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