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“Jamie!”

Mum appeared in front of us with a frown on her face, her eyes narrowing as she took me in. As I stiffened, Hayden’s arm tightened around my waist. He stepped forward slightly, almost putting himself in between me and my mother and that had my heart clenching.

But it didn’t stop her.

“Where have you been? You were supposed to be here early to help set up, and where’s Brock?” Her eyes narrowed as she took Hayden in. “I rang him and told him about today.”

“I know you did,” I replied in a tight voice. “Just like a mother organising a playdate for her toddler. Mum, this is Hayden. Brock was busy with something at work and you said you wanted to meet the other guys I was dating, so I brought him along. Hayden, this is my mother, Majorie.”

“Lovely to meet you,” he said, offering her my hand.

“And you.” Mum’s response was automatic, but she shook his hand, however briefly, before performing a thorough inspection. Thank god he wore more formal clothes. “So what do you do… Hayden, was it?”

“I’m a carpenter by trade,” he replied.

“And a model!” Steve’s wife, Amber, came rushing over and checked Hayden out quite blatantly. People did it all the time, but for some reason this made me bristle. “Damn, Jamie, where did you get this one from?” She looked him over like he was a side of meat. “Did you hire one of the Billabong boys?”

Bloody hell, Amber, I thought silently.

“What’s a Billabong boy?” Mum asked, looking both irritated and flustered.

“I did a modelling campaign with a surfwear company called Billabong,” Hayden informed her. “It was printed on billboards all over Australia and featured in international surf mags.”

“Oh.” Mum blinked. Her shift in demeanour was almost comical. “Oh! Is that well paid?”

“Mum—” I groaned.

“Well, it’s important to know these sorts of things before the relationship gets serious.” Mum turned back to Hayden. “Are you serious about my daughter?’

Shut up, I thought. Shut up, shut up, shut up!

I was almost scared to look up and check his expression, but I needn’t have been. He met her gaze head on without flinching for a second.

“Deadly.” He was the perfect fake date, because right now no one would have doubted him for a second. “And yeah, modelling can be a pretty lucrative gig.”

That gleam in Mum’s eyes, along with the more affronted expression Amber was wearing, was enough to prompt me to keep things moving.

“You can go over Hayden’s financials another time,” I said, shooting the two women a dark look. “This is my sister-in-law, Amber.”

“Hi.”

The woman wiggled her fingers at Hayden and smiled.

“I’m going to introduce Hayden to everyone else and then I’ll come and help with whatever needs doing in the kitchen.”

I didn’t wait for them to agree to that, dragging him towards the barbecue.

“Yeah, you are not leaving me,” he said as we got closer. “I’m happy to chop, dice, make potato salad, ‘whatever needs doing,’ but you are not walking into that lioness’ den on your own.”

“No soldier left behind?” I said. “Now you’re getting it. OK, well, you’re going to get the third degree from Dad as well, so here’s some tips. He’s really, really focussed on financial security. Not as snooty about working with your hands as Mum is. For him, it’s more about you being able to support me through a nuclear winter or something.”

“A man that plans ahead for a nuclear holocaust. I like it,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze. “Thanks for the heads up, but I’ve got this.”

He didn’t.

“JJ!” Steve looked up from the grill as I got closer. “Haven’t seen you in bloody ages. Still pretending to fix cars for a living?”

That loose smile, the casual way he dismissed my job, my passion, would be why I hadn’t bothered to come around lately.