Brand new fiction - Leap Year - Chapter 3
squeezed up inbetween her sister and her dad, in one of the booths. The waitress came over and replaced her dad's drink with a new one.
"Thank you m'lady. Look at those eyes ey? Beautiful," he grinned at the waitress while she smiled back politely.
"Dad! She's old enough to be your granddaughter," shuddered. joined in and looked at the table.
"Oh lighten up you two! Can your old dad help it if he falls in love easily hm?" he elbowed in the ribs.
"But do you have to do it every place we go?" grimaced.
"How did I raise such a pair of romantics?" rolled his eyes sarcastically, "the world is ripe with possibilities!" He raised a toast to his little speech - didn't join in, but changed the subject.
"So, do you want to open your present?" she grabbed a parcel from her oversized bag.
"Oh yes!" smiled, grabbing at the box wrapped in black patterned paper. He ripped off the paper to reveal a box that read "The new Blackberry Bold!" and his face dropped, "a phone! Just what I wanted..."
"It's not just a phone! You can book in your appointments, read your emails, surf the internet, download apps..."
"Or you can just use it as a phone!" Libby butted in, knowing this was a bad idea.
"Girls, girls! I'll look at the instructions when I have a bit of spare time! So, how's that ? How are things in all the medical business?" changed the subject.
"Yeah, he's great, everythings great," said through gritted teeth, reaching out for her glass of water.
"Wowa! Where did this come from?! It's blinding me!" tapped a bony finger on the bracelet poking out from under her sleeve.
" got it me for my anniversary," said quickly.
"What about the ring?! How long does it take for that guy, sheesh!" rolled her eyes.
"Well not everyone proposes to the waitress who brings their drink, some people like to think things over, don't they?" attempted to dust it off.
"There's only one thing for it, you need to pull a Grandma Jane!" raised his glass in the air.
"A what?" and said simultaneously.
" has just gone to Ireland, right? Half of the job is done then! Grandma Jane joked that Tom took so long to propose she nearly dragged him off to Ireland!" started to get excited.
"Why? What's so good about Ireland?" looked puzzled.
"When it's a Leap Year, women can propose to men on the 29th! It's a tradition over there. If she had enough money for the plane tickets I think she would have done it, but Tom finally stepped up by himself. What shall we do then banana? Shall we send you off to Ireland?" chuckled.
"No!" nearly choked on her water.
"I'll pay for your ticket! Well half... maybe if you want to do it now then you should maybe pay it and I'll pay you back later..." blushed.
"No! No way," crossed her arms.
"I've got some cash coming in at the end of the month, I'll pay then," continued.
"Dad, I'm not going to Ireland, and that is final. Thanks for the advice, but it's not for me," said strongly.
"So, lunch, what we having?" butted in to relieve the tension.