CHAPTER EIGHT

Over an hour later when Mary and Donna come back into the kitchen it's almost completely clean again, the smells of the herbs are coming from the oven and there is a pile of fresh cupcakes cooling on the bench. The only bit of mess they can find is the peelings in a bowl and the veges floating in the sink.

"Sorry D, but you're now out of potatoes, carrots and broccoli. We'll have to go shopping tomorrow. But, please tell me that Charming on the Green is still there?"

Donna nods, "Yep, and they still buy most of the fruit and veges from within California."

The tiny green grocer in town had always been like that preferring, like most of the people who lived here, to pay a little more and buy local.

Glancing at the clock on the wall I note that the roast should be ready in about an hour, going to the oven I peek in and see that it's time to put the veges in. After adding the veges and announcing it'll be about 90 minutes till we eat I pour a glass of the wine that Donna had in the fridge.

The three of us go back to the lounge and play with the twins for a while before we hear the sound of a bike coming down the road. Donna smiles widely and jumps up to get her husband a beer as he opens the door.

Opie looks around his lounge and accepts the can Donna holds out. Holding another in her other hand she looks past him, "Where's Jax?"

"Don't know, he took off from the garage about 3 hours ago and we haven't seen him since, he swore he'd be here for dinner though."

I can't help but snort as I get up and say "Yep, heard that before. Well, regardless of if he's here or not dinner will be ready in 30 minutes."

Heading into the kitchen I lean against the wall just inside the door for a second before going to the oven and pulling the roast out, wrapping it in tin foil I start making gravy, hoping that the simple tasks that I've become so used to will calm my mind.

25 minutes later, Jax still hasn't shown up and I'm about to put the last dishes on the table. The roast is carved, the potatoes are perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. I walk into the lounge and announce dinners ready.

Opie shoots a look at the door, before pulling his phone out, calling to find out where his absent best friend is. Hearing the phone ring with no answer doesn't surprise me in the slightest and I just shrug to Opie's look and say, "It's ready now, I'm not keeping it warm, it'll be ruined."

Plonking the twins in their chairs at their little table with a slice of meat, a carrot, potato and spear of broccoli each I leave it up to their parents to decide on the issue of gravy, but I haven't bothered with plates for the pair, having learnt that morning with breakfast that their plates end up on the floor and food ends up on the table anyway.

Donna pours a little gravy for each them and Kenny seems to delight in slapping his hand down in it until he gets a little on his lip and realises that it tastes good and tries to stuff his whole hand in his mouth. The four adults are laughing so hard that none of us hear the sound of the door open, or footsteps in the hall till Jax's voice from behind me makes me startle in my seat "What's so funny?"

Opie looks at his best friend, then the clock, which is currently pointing out that it's 6:40, I guess the twins had us entertained for a bit longer than we realised.

"Yeah, I know, I'm late. Sorry guys." Jax doesn't offer any reason, and I'm sure I'm the only one to notice that he's brought in the smell of weed and whiskey. Thankful that he seems to have showered since Tara's call earlier lightens my mind a bit, but I'm still more irritated with him then I have the right to be.

Filling my plate with what I know will be a perfect roast meal I look up and meet Mary's eyes, surprised at how aware she seems of the issue between Jax and me. I shake my head at her but then look over at Opie, "Hey, why isn't your old man here?"

Opie shrugs, "I did tell him to come for dinner, but I think he was planning on staying at the Clubhouse tonight."

"Oh, well I'll put a plate together and take it over after dinner." I offer, knowing that as soon as I've finished eating that will give me an excuse to leave for a while.

Jumping up I grab a plate, fill it with food for Piney then place it on the kitchen counter with foil over it to keep it warm.

Opie looks over at his wife and says "Well I hope this is good." Before shoving a massive forkful of meat and gravy into his mouth. Watching his eyes close and hearing the appreciative noise he makes as he tastes it is one of the greatest things about feeding friends, being able to see the enjoyment of something you've made really does make the hard work worth it.

After he's chewed and swallowed he grins and me and says "You know, maybe I should marry you too. Then I'd have Donna to clean, and entertain me. And you could cook."

I feel Jax minutely stiffen beside be but I crack up. "Ope, didn't Donna and I tell you in high school you could only have one of us. Neither of us shares."

Donna grins and after swallowing her own bite, "I'm not sure there Sarah, maybe I could make an exception."

I just laugh and start my own meal, my chef's mind always analysing the herbs and if the balance is right or not. Listening to the cutlery clinking and the sounds of my friends eating makes me think that it must be good enough. "Oh and there is dessert too, so don't eat too much."

Jax's eyes light up, "What did you make?"

I remember that he loved the baking I used to do compulsively every weekend as a teenager, in the years of friendship I never found something he didn't like. "I made cupcakes."

Jax looks slightly disappointed, "But you can't feed cupcakes to bikers."

"Oh well, I guess us women and the kids will have to eat them all. But they are chocolate with marshmallow frosting." I say, probably ruder then I intended.

"Hey, speak for yourself there Jax, I intend on eating cupcakes with my family for dessert." Opie says, and I wonder for a second if he realises how challenging that sounds. But then I look at him and our eyes meet, the grin hiding in his eyes showing that he knows exactly what he's saying to Jax. The challenge seems to be hanging in the air, will Jax stay with his family and have 'girlie' dessert, or will he bail again.

"Besides, Jax, you don't get dessert until you've eaten dinner." I point out that he has yet to try anything and wonder if the reason he's late is that Tara knew he was coming for dinner and fed him first.

He picks up his knife and fork, looks at his plate then says "I'm starving." As if to prove his point even though he was the last started, he was the first finished.

Through dinner we manage to make small conversation, Donna asking me more about my artwork, and Mary asking about chef's school. Jax and Opie seem to be having a silent question over all our heads and we just ignore them till they decide to join our vocal conversation which happens just as I am talking to Mary about my latest tattoo.

"It's still being done, I've only got the outline so far, but Al, my tattoo artist, is coming down with Cam so I should be able to get it finished. I'm really glad it's summer though, I learnt about getting tattoo's that require you to be naked in winter the hard way."

Jax knife clatters to his plate and he looks at me but doesn't say a word. I wonder silently if it's due to the fact I have tattoos that required me to be naked during the inking process, or if it's completely unrelated to what I've just said. Finally deciding it's not my problem if he has issues with me and my choice of body parts to be inked.

Opie looks at me and asks what I know he's wanted to ask all night, "Are you okay, you seem a bit annoyed?"

I shrug and reply "I got pocket dialled earlier today. Some people just need to be careful when they butt dial while going at it." I shoot a glare at Jax and he looks surprised before patting his pockets.

Finding his phone he pulls it open, checks something and says "Wasn't me, this time, I haven't done that since I was a teenager."

I shoot a glance at Donna which Jax sees and miss-interprets; he passes me his phone and tells me that I can check if I want. Pushing back from the table I go over to the kitchen bench and retrieve my phone then sit back down with them both. Opening his phone, I go to his phone book and note that my name has been saved in there, with a number that isn't familiar to me, so I guess it's the phone Gemma gave me and give it a test call which causes the silver phone in my left hand to vibrate with his number across it. Ending the call I open my phone and select the 'received calls'. Scrolling down through Jax's phone book I compare Tara's number and the one that dialled my phone today. I'm not sure if I should be even slightly surprised when they match.

Closing Jax's phone I pass it back to him and say "Wasn't you, that's for sure. I think I'll just have to stop answering numbers I don't know."

Sitting the phone on the table again I finish my dinner and go back to the kitchen, taking a pile of dirty dishes with me. Looking over at Piney's plate I pick it up, stick my head into the dining room and let them know where I'm going and that I'll be back in 15 minutes.

Donna looks over from where she's loading the dishwasher and asks quietly, "Do you want me to come?"

I think about it for a minute before I realise that having her there will be both a blessing and a curse. She won't care about the stop I plan on making on my way back, but she will care if I get arrested. I nod, and she puts the last plate in the washer before letting Opie know she's coming to and that they can hold dessert till we get back.

Climbing into my car Donna looks at me and says, "Take the old man his dinner before you go and kick some Doctor ass."

Grinning over at my best friend I can't help but be thankful she didn't even try and talk me out of it, but I nod and turn the car in the direction of the garage.