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“We need your help.” Liv announced, walking into the Mill, Gabby and Leanna following behind. “Well, Gabby does. Leyla does.”
“No.” Robert said right away, without looking up from his laptop.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say yet.”
“And yet I still say no. I’ve got work to do.”
“So do I.” Gabby cut in.
That made Robert look up.
“What’s that got to do with me?”
“Both of you actually.” Liv said, scanning the room. “Where is Aaron?”
“Upstairs, bathing Seb. They were both wearing his breakfast.” Robert explained. “But you haven’t answered my question.”
“We need models.” Gabby told him and Robert frowned.
“Models.”
“Yes. Take a vow has this big deal with a wedding magazine and we get to style the photoshoot for the new issue.”
“Ok…”
“And that’s where you and Aaron come in.” Liv told him. “We need you to model the clothes.”
“You what? Shouldn’t you hire professionals for that?”
“She did.” Leanna spoke up. “But one of them got sick and now none of them can come and we’re screwed unless we find new models.”
“Like other professionals you mean.”
“There is no time for that.”
Robert narrowed his eyes at the girls.
“When exactly do you need these models?”
“This afternoon.”
“And you’re only asking people now? Bit short notice isn’t it?”
“We only got the call an hour ago!” Leanna protested and Robert wondered when Leyla had hired her too… or when Liv had become friends with her.
“Right. Well. We’re busy. We have work to do.”
“You two are always skiving off.” Liv reminded him. “Oh babe let’s take the rest of the day off and have a quiet afternoon and an early night.” She mimicked.
“I… We… I…” Robert sputtered. “Neither of us call the other babe!”
“That’s what you’re going with? Really?”
“Ok we might not always be that busy… but we have Seb. We can’t just dump him on Vic or Diane all the time.”
“He can come with.” Liv shrugged. “Both of you will be there, the three of us, Leyla, the photographer, Charity and Vanessa…” She trailed off and looked at the other girls.
“Leyla is working on David, Matty said he’d do it, so did Ellis and Billy. Dawn said maybe… and Matty was going to ask Amy.” Gabby added.
“My dad.” Leanna said. “He’ll be there before Leyla’s finished asking the question.”
“Exactly. So there are plenty of people to keep an eye on Seb.” Liv reasoned. “Next excuse.”
“Aaron will never do it. You know he hates having his picture taken.”
“He doesn’t like you shoving your phone in his face 2 minutes after he woke up.” Liv said and Robert rolled his eyes. “But if I can get Aaron on board… are you in too?”
“In for what exactly?”
“This.” Leanna sat down at the table and pulled something up on her phone. “I designed it. Well… I helped. It’s basically all wedding settings. We got Harriet to agree to let us use the church and we’ll take some pictures in and around the village. All to showcase the different themes and outfits.” She showed him the screen and swiped through sketches and photos.
“Ok but how do we fit in there?”
“You’ll be the couple getting married. I mean we did technically design these for a man and woman…”
“I’m not pretending to marry Charity.” Aaron said, coming down the stairs with Seb on his hip and Liv following behind with a satisfied grin on her face. Robert hadn’t even noticed her go up.
“Nobody is asking you to.” Gabby rushed to say. “We can change it and make it LGBT friendly.”
“You two can just be your own soppy selves and relive your wedding day. Or plan your third.” Liv said as she took Seb from Aaron.
“We’re very happy and very legally married, why would we want to get married a third time?”
“I don’t know.” Liv shrugged. “You’ve already done it twice so why not a third time? Right Seb?”
“Don’t we have a setting with kids too?” Gabby asked Leanna. “The three of you could do the shoot together.” She suggested, looking at both Aaron and Robert.
“Oh yeah that would be nice, wouldn’t it Seb? We can get you all dressed up with your daddies. Just no silly cap this time, eh?”
“Hey he looked cute in that cap!” Aaron protested. “It matched his suit. And ours.”
“Well now you can match again.” Leanna interrupted. “Meet us at Take a Vow in an hour. We’ll set everything up and sort out the outfits.”
The three girls started to leave but Robert stopped them.
“Hang on. We’ll do it… if Holy Scrap and Home James get a shout out in the magazine.”
“Rob…”
“No, Aaron, this is business. We’re helping Leyla, she can help us.”
“Do you really think people reading wedding magazines are the kind that would be interested in doing business with us?”
“Why not? Even scrapyard owners get married.” Robert said and leaned over the table to kiss Aaron.
“Ok. That’s our cue to leave. We’ll see you in an hour.”
The three girls walked out of the flat, Liv still carrying Seb.
“Oi, where are you going with my son?” Aaron called out after her.
“Saving him from the soppiness here!” Liv replied laughingly and closed the door behind her.
“What did just happen?” Robert asked after staring at the closed door for a few minutes.
“I… think we just became models…”
An hour later the two of them made their way over to Take a Vow where they were met with a stressed out Leyla, yelling at people, the three girls all dressed up in white suits, and Seb playing in fake snow.
“So… what’s the plan?” Robert asked, looking around.
“We’re going to do a shoot outside the village with you.” Gabby explained. “We were thinking out by the cricket pavilion. Or even further out. Depends on where the photographer thinks is best.”
“Leyla left us in charge because she’s having a meltdown over my dad thinking she was proposing to him.”
“Uh…”
“Yeah. You don’t want to know.”
“Now come on, let’s go. We’ve sorted out your suits and you can change in the pavilion.” Liv said, ushering them out the door and picking Seb up from the floor.
Robert wrapped an arm around Aaron’s waist and pulled him close to whisper in his ear.
“It wouldn’t be the first time we take our clothes off in the cricket pavilion.”
Aaron blushed and pinched his side.
“Shut up. And behave.”
At the cricket pavilion Gabby gave them both garment bags and told them to change inside.
“There are a few outfits in there but we put them in the right order. So don’t pick and mix please.” She stressed.
The two of them went inside and were surprised to see a makeshift dressing room with some screens and two chairs.
Aaron was the first to unzip the garment bag and take out his first outfit. Stylish black shoes and trousers, a white shirt, a deep red tie, and a white jacket with the lapels in the same colour as the tie.
“Not bad.” Robert commented as he unzipped his own bag. His outfit being almost the same as Aaron’s, only his jacket was the same deep red as Aaron’s tie with white lapels, and a white tie on his black shirt.
They posed for pictures, pretending to say their vows and exchange rings, as well as the holding hands and walking down the aisle together as newlyweds pose.
Their next outfit was a more traditional black suit with a grey waistcoat and white shirt for both of them, the styles just slightly different from each other, followed by a bright purple jacket for Aaron and a floral patterned one for Robert that they both decided were atrocious.
There were pinstripe suits that made Aaron feel like a mobster from an old black and white film but Robert insisted he looked good in, and blue suits that looked a lot like their own wedding suits.
The last outfit had tailcoats for both of them. One black, one grey, and when Leanna handed them both top hats and canes Aaron complained he felt like a right twat.
And of course his stupid gorgeous husband looked good in everything.
Around the last set of pictures Seb was getting restless and nothing the three girls did could hold his attention anymore.
Robert walked over to him and scooped him up in his arms.
“Do you want to take a picture with daddies?” he asked the boy as he took his place next to Aaron again.
Seb just gave his father a funny look, taking in his new outfit.
“What do you think, Seb, do we look good?” Aaron asked him and put his hat on Seb’s head and wrapping his arms around both him and Robert.
“Ooh don’t you look smart.” Robert said, bouncing Seb up and down in his arms. “We should get a hat like that for you too. You can wear it to nursery and when your mum comes to visit. That would be nice wouldn’t it.”
Seb began to squirm and Robert put him down. He started to run away so his parents would chase after him, squealing with delight when one of them would catch him and then pretend to have to let him go again because he was just too strong.
None of them realised the photographer was still taking pictures until a few weeks later when the finished magazine came in the post.
“It turned out really well.” Aaron commented, flicking through the magazine.
“Yeah it did.” Robert agreed, looking over his shoulder. “Maybe we can request the originals and get them framed.” He suggested and turned to Seb who was playing with his Lego on the living room floor. “Look Seb, you’re in the magazine! You’re famous!”