Jo regarded her with a small, sad smile. “You’re not going to lose me. Not after everything we’ve come through just to be sitting here.”
Amelia leaned her head against Jo’s shoulder and closed her eyes. “I don’t know how to do this relationship thing. Not with all the history that I carry.”
Jo rested her cheek against Amelia’s hair, but not before she left a kiss there. “Then we’ll figure it out together. Day by day.”
Jo chose not to press for any other answers. She just held onto Amelia as though she would disappear if she dared to let go. Survival wasn’t always about fighting and fixing. Sometimes, it was about sitting in the quiet with someone while they remembered how to breathe. Jo had learned that through losing Callum, and the very woman in her arms had held her together.
Now, it was Jo’s turn to weather the storm with Amelia.
While the flat was quiet,Jo’s head wasn’t. She leaned against the kitchen counter, her arms folded, her gaze fixed on Amelia, who’d drifted off again on the couch. Wrapped in a blanket, her hair a mess, and with Jo’s hoodie still hanging from her shoulders. She looked peaceful, but only in that way people did when their body had finally given up trying to hold everything in.
Jo exhaled slowly and glanced at the time. Almost eleven.
She couldn’t stop replaying what Amelia had said. She couldn’t get the pain in her voice out of her head, and shecouldn’t stop seeing her trembling hands as she’d described her standoff with Callum. How dare her own son spew the very venom his father once had? After everything Amelia had done for him, how fucking dare he!
Jo had tried to drift off with Amelia in her arms after breakfast, but her mind constantly raced. And now, she couldn’t sit around doing nothing for another second.Fuck this!
She moved into the living room and crouched beside the couch, brushing a few stray strands of Amelia’s hair from her cheek.
“Mm…” Amelia stirred, blinking slowly as her eyes opened.
Jo smiled. “Sorry to wake you.”
“Did I fall asleep?” Amelia sat up slightly, rubbing at her eyes. “Again?”
“Yeah, but you needed it.” Jo sat down on the edge of the couch. “I need to head out for a little while. Just an hour or so.”
Amelia cleared the sleep from her voice and frowned. “Is everything okay?
“Everything is fine. I promise. I just need to clear my head. Take a walk. Grab a few things since I have nothing in the fridge, and I don’t want you to starve.”
Amelia nodded, though Jo could see the flicker of hesitation behind her eyes. “Should I?—”
“I want you to stay here. Don’t go back home, not today. Not until you’ve had a chance to just breathe.”
“Are you sure you want me here?” Amelia lifted Jo’s hand and kissed the back of it. “I can go if you need some space.”
“Of course I want you here.” Jo stood and fixed the blanket back over Amelia. “I want you to rest. Be in this space. Let the world fall away for a bit. You’ve earned that.” She leaned down and kissed the top of Amelia’s head. “There’s tea and coffee in the cupboard, oat milk and ordinary milk in the fridge, and a few bits if you get hungry. The password for the WIFI is stuck tothe fridge door with that ridiculous llama magnet you got me a couple of years ago.”
Amelia lifted a brow. “You…kept that?”
“Absolutely. Best gift anyone has ever given me.”
Amelia smiled as she relaxed her shoulders. “Thank you. For everything.”
“I’ve got you. Always.”
Jo grabbed her jacket and phone, her hands shaking slightly as she slipped on her trainers. Because the truth was, she wasn’t just going for a walk. She was going to see Callum, and this time,shewas the one who had things to say.
She wasn’t going to scream or shout, but she was going to look him in the eye and make sure he understood what he’d done. What he’d said. What he’d carried forward from the man who’d terrorised the woman Jo now loved more deeply than she knew how to admit.
Because Jo hadn’t been there for Amelia once before, and she wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jo stoodacross the road from Amelia’s house, her hands clenched into fists in her coat pockets. The street was quiet, it always was during the day, but Jo felt a fury deep inside of her she’d never experienced before. On the drive over here, once she’d called Callum to confirm where he was, she’d quickly had doubts about showing up. She didn’t want Amelia to think she was meddling, they’d only just reached a point of wanting to be together this morning, but Jo couldn’t sit back. Shewouldn’tsit back.
She wasn’t surprised that Callum hadn’t left as he’d been asked, he always did do his own thing when it suited him, but at least Jo didn’t have to chase him across the city, trying to find him. Still, he had some front, sitting in Amelia’s home as if nothing had happened last night.
