Chapter 38
Christmas day was a quiet affair for the two of them, they spent their entire morning wrapped in a blanket on the sofa watching Christmas films and eating chocolate for breakfast. They gave each other their presents and had then reluctantly changed to go to Joey's parents' where they were having their Christmas dinner.
Lauren was surprised by the end of the day at how much fun she had actually had. Martha had made them all laugh throughout the afternoon, Lauren could Cleary see Joey loved his niece very much. Susan and Derek had given Lauren and Joey a cheque as a Christmas present, Lauren was reluctant to take it at first but Joey had assured her that most years his parents would give him money for Christmas so it was no different and at least they could make use of the money and put it towards their wedding.
Alice and George had also been very brave and had announced that they were moving to Australia. They'd been very clever about it and had purchased tickets for Susan and Derek to vista them once they'd settled out there. The bad news was that they were leaving in the new year. Joey was amazed how long Alice had actually kept it a secret especially considering Martha was now proclaiming she was going to live with the 'Kangroos'.
The day had been whole successful, and by the time they were going to leave, Lauren had seen a softer side to Susan and she like her a little bit more.
*JL*JL*JL*
The new year was celebrated with a huge party for the entire Branning family, the main purpose of it though was to say Farwell to Alice, George and Martha. Joey had noticed Lauren was acting differently when they saw in the new year, they'd shared a pretty amazing kiss as the clock hit midnight and Lauren had gone very quiet after.
Once they arrived home, Joey had questioned her and Lauren had confessed she felt out of place and didn't feel like she had a family anymore. It was just him and her. And whilst Lauren was upset over the idea, Joey had firmly told her that she was part of the family, that his Dad and uncle loved her like a daughter and deep down his Mother did too.
As the weeks went on, Lauren started her new job teaching art like she'd wanted to do. It was a 6 week course she was teaching and then after that she'd run one off courses as and when she wanted to. Joey's work picked up too in the first few weeks of January there had been a lot of interest in him opening a club near Shoreditch and after speaking to his financial adviser, the figures were in his favour. So a new club was in development.
Joey and Lauren had also started looking into ways they could track down her father and so far no luck. But Joey had told her they would keep trying. New year, New start.
Just a little filler chapter ...So is it really going to be New year New start ? Leave me a review, Back tomorrow! Xxx