Sitting in the local café by the beach the next afternoon Kate lifted her coffee mug to her lips when the seat across from her pulled out and Dylan sat down
"Afternoon" he smiled pushing his sunglasses up and into her hair
"I hope you don't mind I kinda already ordered, I needed my coffee kick"
"It's fine" he laughed "I'll just go order mine, you want another?" he arose
"Um.." she looked down at her half empty mug
"I'll get you another, cappuccino?"
"Yes thanks" she smiled when he walked over to the register, watching him order Kate sighed contently drinking the rest of her drink just as he sat back across from her this time pushing a plate towards her
"What's this?"
"A piece offering for being late"
"Vanilla slice?"
"If you don't want it" he reached across ready to take it back
"Don't even think about it" she hit his hand away
"Okay" he held his hands up pushing back into his chair "so how'd you sleep?"
"Like a baby, no feet or hands in my face it was like a dream"
"I take it your boy dosen't like to sleep in his own bed?"
"On a good night he's okay but he gets a lot of dreams and when I wake up I sometimes find him in my bed"
"How old is he?"
"Two, he turns three in December"
"Ah a December baby, what date?"
"Christmas Day"
"Your kidding?" his eyes widened
"Nope, born at exactly twelve on the dot"
"Your kidding, exactly on midnight?"
"Best Christmas present I ever received" she smiled
"I can't believe this" he laughed shifting forward in his seat "your kid and I share a birthday"
"No?" she paused with a spoon in mid air ready to cut into her slice
"Mmhmm"
"This is crazy"
"Tell me about it" he smiled when there drinks were placed in front of them "thank you" he nodded at the waitress, reaching across for a sugar packet he split it in half pouring it into his mug
"So were you a surprise or had your parents planned to have a Christmas baby?"
"I actually don't know my real parents, except that I was born on Christmas Day"
"Oh.."
"My Mother was a teenager when she had me, she ran away the day after I was born"
"And your adoptive parents what are they like?" she questioned spooning a mouthful and vanilla slice into her mouth
"Amazing, my Dad was a footballer too and my Mum was his assistant, they fell in love"
"And they couldn't have children or.." Kate held her hand over her mouth
"I've got three older sisters, all adopted as well from what Dad told us Mum had ovarian cancer a year after they got married and they had to remove her ovaries so she was unable to have children"
"I'm sorry.."
"They did fostering for a few years my three sisters came from an abusive home and mum fell in love with them so they fully adopted them"
"How old are your sisters?"
"Lucy and Karen are twins, there thirty-eight both married with three kids each and Camilla is thirty-six single and quite annoying" he grinned
"And you?"
"Twenty-nine, my parents adopted me when they were in there forty's they'd heard about the woman who'd run out after giving birth and they took one look at me and took me home"
"Sounds like considering everything you got pretty lucky" Kate smiled holding out a spare spoon for him, taking the spoon from her he cut into the slice bringing it to his lips.
"When I was eighteen my parents sat me down and told me all about my real mother they handed me a book of stuff about her, where she lived, what she did" he answered after swallowing his mouthful
"They gave you the option to track her down?"
"They did the same for my sisters, however given the way they lived before my parents adopted them they didn't want to see them"
"I can understand that"
"I tracked Lucille down before I went to Uni, she'd gotten married and had more kids two boys and a girl"
"Dylan I'm.."
"It's okay" he shrugged "I have a family; I didn't need to be apart of the one that she'd created after deciding to run"
"So what do your parents do now?"
"Well Dad is a football coach at the local Uni and Mum spends her days helping my sisters with their kids"
"What's your Dad's name?" Kate placed her spoon down reaching for her coffee
"Pat Mulholland"
"You know I think I met him once"
"No? for real?"
"God I think I was thirteen at the time and Dad was working on this article about local football players who'd retired I tagged along with my Dad, and saw yours kicking the footy with a little blonde-haired boy who wouldn't stop staring at me"
"That was you?" his eyes widened
"You were the little boy?" her own eyes widened
"What a small world" he grinned taking another spoonful of the slice
"Why did you keep staring at me that day?" she did the same
"Well if your beautiful now then I can only presume you were just as beautiful back then and given I would have been fifteen/sixteen at the time I can only presume my hormones were going crazy"
"The hormone excuse classic" she grinned
"Sorry I can't help it" he shrugged grinning along with her
"Right and that's the excuse I heard when I got Pregnant"
"Ah.."
"Sorry.." she shook her head "I don't know why I just said that"
"I take it you weren't trying when you got Pregnant?"
"Well no.." she shifted "we'd discussed it, but we'd only been married a few months and were both working quite a lot"
"How long were you and your ex together?"
"Since high school, then I caught him fucking his secretary six months after I'd just given birth"
"Wow.."
"And there getting married, so my best friend Nikki took me out yesterday to help me try and have some fun"
"Well I'm glad you were at the bar last night, otherwise we wouldn't be here having coffee" he lifted his mug
"Touché" she lifted her own taking a sip.
...
"So your ex, he's a douche" Dylan said through the silence as they walked along the pier
"Douche, that's a new one"
"What would you prefer I say?"
"Nikki says arsehole sometimes cockhead and when their in the same room prick"
"It would seem she has pretty much got all the names covered"
"I'd say so" she laughed when they stopped near the railing and looked down at the water
"Do you miss it?" he asked turning to face her so his side was against the railing
"Miss what?"
"Being married, having someone to come home to after a long day"
"I have someone to go home to"
"Oh.. see I knew it was to good be true you being single"
"Dylan.."
"There goes my chances"
"Dylan.." she tried again
"I seriously have the worst.." he stood still when her lips brushed against his "luck.." he finished his sentence when she moved back leaning against the railing again
"You weren't listening" she shrugged trying to hide her embarrassment
"You were talking about Theo weren't you?" he sighed turning back to the water
"Yeah"
"Well.." he cleared his throat "that's my awkward deed done for the day"
"It's fine really, for what it's worth I think your great"
"But.."
"I don't date football players" she sighed gaining the courage to look at him
"May I ask why?"
"Mike and I had been together since we were thirteen.. but when we turned fifteen he ended things said he wanted to explore his other options.."
"Okay?"
"I had this guy friend who was a football player well his was Mike's best friend and when he heard things had ended he saw it as his opportunity to swoon in apparently he'd always had a crush on me"
"I don't.." he shook his head
"At that time Mike and I had been separated for a year so I just assumed it was over ya know, so I started seeing him" she shrugged "we went to a party down by the lake for New Year's Eve where most of the seniors would hang out.."
"Your not about to tell me you were assaulted are you?"
"What?" her eyes widened "no! god no"
"So.. what happened?"
"I fell in love with him" she twirled her fingers "in the short span of the eight months we'd been dating I found the courage to tell him before the party that I was in love with him.. he was in shock said 'Thank you' and we didn't mention it again.."
"Then what happened?" Dylan found himself moving closer to her in the hopes of giving her some comfort
"A bunch of his friends were headed into town to get some more drinks; I was invited but I decided to hang back with some friends" looking back down at the water she held back her tears "Pete was driving because he was the only sober one in the group but.."
"Kate.."
"There was an accident someone from the party who'd gotten behind there wheel drunk, they weren't even four hundred metres up the road when it happened.."
"I'm so sorry.."
"I ran over to the car and pulled open his door, he was still alive but barely when the other car hit them he'd swerved into a tree one of the branches crashed through the window impaled him through the chest"
"Shit.."
"I held his hand while we waited for the ambulance to arrive, with his last breath he told me he loved me too, that he'd planned to tell me at midnight during the fireworks it would have been our nine-month anniversary.." wrapping his arm over her shoulder he waited for her to continue "he died holding my hand, Mike and I reconnected as friends at the funeral"
"But you and Mike got back together right?" he questioned getting a nod in return
"He was my safety net after losing Pete and in the time we were spending together again I found myself falling back in love with him a few years after Pete passed.."
"I guess when you know you know" he whispered brushing a loose tear off her cheek with his thumb
"I didn't mean to unload this all on you.."
"Hey I asked.." he turned pulling her into a hug
"Now you know why I don't date player" she sighed resting her head against his chest
"I'm hoping one day that'll change.." he whispered to himself kissing the top of her head they looked out over the water watching the waves.
So some drama in this chapter, just another character I added tto the mix(; Also next chapter will be continuing on then afterwards itll be a flash forward to the weekend of the Mikes wedding