She nodded and gave Cleo a wave before allowing Quinn to lead her outside into the coolness of the snow.
‘Why are you trying to wind Tina up?’ Quinn asked. ‘She’s the biggest gossip I’ve ever met.’
‘Why is she bothered by this?’ Alex shrugged. ‘It doesn’t affect her or anyone.’
They started walking up the hill towards her house with Quinn holding her hand. ‘Some people will find this weird, they’ll judge you for sleeping with yourhusband’s brother and judge me for sleeping with my brother’s wife.’
‘If Liam was alive, sure, I could understand people getting upset by that level of betrayal but, beyond that, surely the only thing anyone should care about is that I’m happy for the first time in years. Besides, where were these people when I was living with a verbally abusive alcoholic? All these people who are so invested in my life now didn’t give a crap about me back then. So they can talk and bitch and whisper but you have made me the happiest woman alive and if that upsets them that says more about them than it does about me.’
Quinn stopped walking and turned to face her. He cupped her face and kissed her and she smiled against his lips.
‘You make me ridiculously happy too and to hell with what anyone thinks.’
She took his hand and started marching up the hill with some speed. ‘Come on, I want to show you my bedroom.’
He laughed, caught up with her and scooped her up into his arms, then ran the last little bit to her house. He put her down as they reached the door.
They tumbled into the kitchen and Immy looked up from where she was working on her laptop.
‘Hey lovebirds.’
‘Hey, we’re, umm… just going to—’
‘Listen to music in your bedroom?’ Immy laughed.
‘Yeah, something like that.’
‘Don’t worry about me, I’ve got a big date with anaction movie I want to watch, lots of explosions, gunfire, cool stunt driving, it’s very loud. I won’t hear a thing. And it’s a long one too. Just in case you want to… listen to more music later. And when I go to bed, I’ll sleep with my headphones in and David Attenborough talking to me about the forests and the oceans. Just for your information.’
Alex grinned. ‘Good to know.’
She took Quinn’s hand and led him up the stairs. ‘This is my room,’ she showed him the door. ‘Immy’s room,’ she gestured to the door right next to it. And then pointed to the one opposite hers. ‘Zara’s room.’
‘Ah yes, I can see we’re going to have to work on being really quiet.’
She pulled him inside her room and started work on removing his clothes. ‘I’m not sure you can do quiet.’
‘I’m not sure you can either. I’ve heard you scream. So maybe next year, or whenever you’re ready, we get a new place together. Somewhere that isn’t overtaken by Santa and his elves every December, somewhere that isn’t tainted by memories of Liam and somewhere where Zara’s room is a significant distance from ours.’
She laughed.
‘And somewhere that has a little granny flat for Immy,’ Quinn went on.
She smiled with love for him that he would include her sister in their future plans.
‘That sounds perfect.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, providing the weirdos of the town don’t come after me with pitchforks and burning torches.’
‘There is a real possibility of that,’ he said. ‘But I’ll protect you.’
‘Will you fight to the death for me?’
‘Always,’ he assured her.
‘Fortunately, I don’t think it will come to that. A few busybodies getting upset about me having the best sex of my entire life. They can jog on.’
