Page 40 of Marley

Ashley arrives with a bottle of Mo?t and two more flutes. “No more for her.” I tell Ash, pointing at George.

“Fuck off, Marls.” I get from all three of them, followed by “Love you, Rock Star,” coming from Ash.

“Love you, baby.” I tell her back. I know I sound like a wuss, but it makes my wife happy and horny when I call her baby so I do it as often as I can. Because at the end of the day, I like my wife happy, horny, and knowing that I love her.

I head out to the kitchen to ring my brother in law. “Marley, you heard from the girls? I was just about to call you. Georgia’s not answering her phone.”

“She’s here, mate.” I reassure him. “The three of them are here, a little worse for wear, and very emotional.”

“What, pissed you mean?”

“Yep, and as much as I’ve tried to stop them, they’ve just opened a bottle of Mo?t and seem determined to carry on the party.”

“For fuck’s sake.”

“Funny, Len said those exact same words.”

“Right. Let me get the kids sorted and I’ll be over.”

“Bring them with you if you want. Len’s on his way, and I was gonna ring him back with a food order if you fancy staying and eating.”

“Yeah, sounds good. Marian’s here, actually. I’ll get her to stay with the kids. What were you thinking of eating?”

“Whatever you fancy, mate ... Chinese?”

“Yeah, sounds good. Tell him to get plenty and I’ll sort him out the money when I get there.”

“Will do.”

“Does Georgia need anything?”

“Just you I think, mate.”

“What’s that mean? How drunk is she?”

“Yeah, they’re all pretty gone and about to get worse.”

“She cried?”

“She has.”

“Right.You got any decent bourbon or single malt?”

“I’ve got Jack, Jim, or Laphroaig. Take your pick.”

“Good, I think we’re gonna need it.”

“I think you’re probably very right.”

“I usually am, ask my wife.”

“Yeah, don’t know if I’ll get much sense from her right now.”

“Great,” he replies, sarcastically. “I’ll see you in a bit. Try and get them to slow down.” He hangs up before I can reply.Well, good luck to me then.

I call Len back and ask him to order everything off the menu from our favourite Chinese takeout and to pick up some mixers for the bourbon as Ash doesn’t allow fizzy drink in the house as a rule.

The girls have taken the party out to the deck by the time I get back to them. For some reason, best known to themselves, they have Right Said Fred’s,‘I’m too sexy’playing from one of their phones and are doing their best ‘model on the runway’ walk. It’s bad.