The rest of the meal went well. Once the food arrived, Aaron felt more at ease – and they laughed and joked through the two courses they ended up ordering. As Robert said, he might have recently had a windfall, but nobody could afford three courses for four people in this restaurant, particularly if Adam kept insisting on asking for more baskets of bread.
"Oi, Sugden," protested Adam through a mouthful of focaccia, "You've got the dough for this dough, so calm down."
Victoria rolled her eyes and Aaron wrinkled his nose while laughing, showing at once that he was amused and that he thought Adam was being ridiculous. Adam shrugged. "This one never cooks for me anymore, so I have to get in food when I can, mate."
"Hey! I cook all day for Marlon, and in the evenings I run my –"
"Fusion street food van!" said everybody in unison, and they all burst out laughing. Aaron wondered for a moment if they were causing a scene, but he no longer cared. It was so wonderful to all be laughing together. After all that the four had been through over the past year – the trial, Robert being shot, Adam's strife over Johnny – it felt as though they all deserved to have a bit of happiness for a while.
Aaron caught Victoria's eye. Adam and Robert were their respective partners, of course, but they were the two who loved everybody around this table, one way or another. They were the ones who'd had to try and maintain their friendship when Robert had been the biggest obstacle – because, of course, Victoria had never stopped loving him even when Aaron thought he and Robert would be enemies forever. What a strange thought now! His reaction had only been that strong, of course, because of how, deep down, he couldn't shake how much he loved Robert. Victoria nodded at him, and they exchanged a glance of understanding. This was what they, particularly, had wanted: the four of them together.
"Are you going to finish your dessert, A?" Robert lent over and looked pointedly at the half-finished cheesecake on Aaron's plate. He was so full after his steak that he couldn't eat anymore – but he wasn't going to let Robert have it that easily.
Swiftly, Aaron scooped up a piece on his spoon and moved it towards his mouth, enjoying the fake sulky frown that Robert pulled. At the last moment, he thrust the spoon towards Robert instead, taking him by surprise. But Robert wasn't going to miss a piece of cheesecake – he swallowed it quickly, and made as though he were going to give Aaron a cheesecakey kiss on the cheek.
"Oi, gerrof!" laughed Aaron, pushing him away – but simultaneously gave him a look that showed how tempting it was to abandon decorum completely and… well, see what happened.
"That's not what you say when you're at home," said Robert, winking – and, of course, Adam and Victoria groaned.
"Can we just agree to keep all flirting to a complete minimum?" said Victoria.
"Ooo, she's hot when she's strict!" said Adam, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Save some of that for later, Vic."
"See!" laughed Victoria, seeing Robert and Aaron's reactions, "You don't like it either, do you?"
"Let's all be on our best behaviour, eh?" said Robert. But as he said it he put one hand on Aaron's thigh, dangerously near the top of it, making Aaron swallow suddenly and dart Robert a swift excited look. Robert responded only by moving his hand still further – and kept talking to the others while he was doing it. "Do you two want anything else, or shall I settle up?"
Robert took the opportunity of Aaron being otherwise occupied to dart in with a spoon and eat the rest of his abandoned cheesecake, gave Aaron's inner thigh a light slap that Aaron was sure must have been audible to others – and before long they were in a taxi back to Emmerdale.
"Aw, that was a fab night, gentlemen," said Victoria, stumbling a little in her heels as she walked down the pathway to her house. "What now? Heading to bed or time for a nightcap?"
They all agreed that another drink or two couldn't hurt – bed was tempting, but it would wait. Once they'd opened a few beers, Victoria suddenly jumped up with excitement.
"You know what we should play?!"
"Two words," said Adam, "Strip. Poker." He earned himself a light slap on the side of the head from his wife, though Robert jokingly started to unbutton his shirt.
"No, you idiot – Scrabble!"
Victoria was greeted with surprised silence, but it didn't dent her enthusiasm.
"It'll be fun! I'll go and grab the board."
She dashed out of the room before anybody could protest – and, truth be told, they were all enjoying her excitement too much to try to stop her anyway. At the same time, they weren't going to miss the opportunity for a bit of light-hearted complaining.
"Scrabble?" said Aaron. "I haven't played Scrabble since… well, I don't think I've ever played Scrabble."
"Don't look at me, pal!" said Adam. "I don't think I could even spell 'Scrabble'. Hannah used to love it, though. She'd make me play it every now and then, but I reckon it was only cos she enjoyed making me look stupid."
"Doesn't take much!" laughed Aaron.
"You're staying very quiet, Sugden," said Adam. "Do you have a secret Scrabble fetish or something?"
"Ha! No," Robert said, "But we did use to play it with Dad. He taught Vic how to play when she was still really small. Cleverer than the rest of us put together, she was. Andy was never much of a player, of course."
Victoria had unearthed the board from somewhere – the box was still dusty, and she had to give it a quick brush with her sleeve. "Shall we play in teams?" she said brightly.
"Yes!" said Adam, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back. "I'll be a sleeping partner."
Aaron scowled at him affectionately.
"I guess that's fair," said Robert, starting to look like he meant business. "This way you've each got a Sugden on your team. And when Sugdens play Scrabble, they play to WIN."
"That's right!" said Vic, sitting back next to Adam and putting her legs over his, so that she was at right angles to him.
Needing to look at the same tile rack of letters brought each couple closer together – Aaron and Robert had their legs pushed against each other, and Robert casually put one arm around Aaron's back. As the game went on, he started rearranging the letters to make various words or parts of words, quietly pointing out different combinations to Aaron. But Aaron could only stare at Robert's face at close quarters, loving how intensely invested Robert was in the game. It was adorable, to see his man this competitive in a board game.
"You," said Robert, looking back at him when he realised Aaron's attention wasn't on the letters, "are being no help at all."
"You're doing better than me," said Victoria, nodding towards Adam – who had, by this time, fallen asleep.
"I've got a great word," said Aaron suddenly, grabbing the bag of letters and starting to pull them out. "Well, three words."
"Oi! That's not how you play!" protested Victoria – but he continued, and once he'd picked out eight letters, he put them down along the bottom of the board.
"Awww!" Victoria said, head on one side, when she'd realised what the letters spelled out. But Aaron and Robert could barely hear her; they only had eyes for each other.
"Well that's not how I thought you'd say it," said Robert contentedly. "But – "
"I know," said Aaron softly.
"Let me say it again!" said Robert, oblivious to his sister who was now taking photos of the board and the boys on her phone. He looked into Aaron's smiling face. "I love you too."
"I should hope so!" said Aaron, and, leaning forward, gave him a long, happy kiss.