I pull away and stand. “I’m just so angry at you. Why didn’t you talk to me first?”
“You know me. Act and then think.”
“Six months?”
He stands and wraps his arms around my waist. “So, I’m an idiot. But I did it for the right reasons. You have to know that.”
“Of course I know that. Doesn’t make me feel any better.”
He holds me close, and I slip my arms around his neck. Being in his embrace always brings me comfort, but right now it feels like a band-aid for what’s happened.
What the hell am I going to do?
18
CASSIE
I’m still so angry.
Mark took a job without any thought about me or Sophie.
And before I know it, he’s on a plane and heading overseas.
Eight years as his partner and while I know he was thinking of the money, he never thought about the six months we’d have apart.
Sophie and I had no sooner got over the shock of him taking the job then he was off to Dubai, flying out a week after he signed the contract.
“My brother is an idiot.” Lauren sighs before leaning her head on my shoulder.
It’s the first night since he landed over there, and we’re sharing a tub of ice cream in front of the TV.
“He is, but he means well.”
She laughs. “You’re so mad at him but still sticking up forhim. That’s love.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m hurt. But I know he didn’t do it to hurt me. You know what your brother’s like—he has to be the provider. And I’ve never expected that of him, but he can be a bit old fashioned like that.”
Lauren straightens up. “It’s my fault.”
“What? Why?”
She shifts uncomfortably in her seat. “I think it’s to do with when our parents died. Mark was never responsible. He dropped out of school, and he had a big falling out with Mum and Dad over it. I’m not sure we ever told you the full story about our parents dying.”
“Not really. I know you moved in with him.”
“He never liked talking about it. I was ten, and he was twenty. He left home when he was sixteen, and he became a builder’s apprentice. He was nearly finished his apprenticeship when our parents went out one night to celebrate Dad’s promotion at work. They never came home.”
I gape at her. Mark’s never shared the full story, and I respected his privacy. He has a lot of hang-ups about Lauren drinking and how responsible he feels for putting her on that track.
But he was a young man working through his own life issues while raising a child.
“Yeah. I woke up in the morning to Mark telling me that they died. I was glad for the age gap that we had between us because it meant that by Mark having a steady job he could take guardianship of me. But it put him in a role he wasn’t really ready for. He’s never said he resents it, but what twenty-year-old wants to take on a ten-year-old kid? Hestepped up for me, but I always wondered if it meant he’d made sacrifices in his own life.”
“He had to grow up earlier than he wanted to.”
She nods. “I think he gets those old fuddy-duddy ideas because he had to be old before his time. But he never let me down. I can’t pretend that our life has been perfect, and we’ve both done some really dumb things. But I always knew that he would be there to protect me. This is the longest he’s been away from me since that night.”
I tilt my head. “Come and stay here while he’s away. I could do with the company, and it sounds like you could too.”
