‘So. I was thinking …’ Patrick started.
I grabbed my coffee and began walking again, trying not to glance over at him too many times. ‘Yeah?’
When I chanced a look at him again, though, Patrick seemed … curious. ‘Tell me about your sister. You’re twins, right?’
‘Yeah. Non-identical, obviously,’ I said with a shrug as we passed a volleyball match someone had set up on the grass. I halted, my wandering feet warring with my tongue, which won. ‘She’s great – I’m lucky, so many people don’t like their siblings.’
‘I wouldn’t know.’
‘Only child?’ That made sense. Patrick hadn’t mentioned any brother or sisters on any of our outings, and I was relieved to know he wasn’t just hiding them from me. I was starting to get used to this new-found trust between us.
He nodded. ‘Yeah. Probably a good thing.’
Now that was interesting. ‘Come on.’ I tried to say it lightly. ‘You can’t just leave me with that.’
When Patrick’s gaze met mine, I had to remind myself to breathe.
There was something so … so enticing about him. Something that drew me to him, even in the most mundane of moments. When I wasn’t with him, I was struggling to stop thinking about him, listening more and more to These Exiles, trying to remind myself that the guy I was listening to was not my actual boyfriend.
I seriously needed to get a grip. This whole charade was going to be over soon, and I would be going back to my regular, celebrity-fake-boyfriend-free life.
And oh, how I dreaded it.
Patrick shrugged and started walking again. ‘There’s no story, not really. What about your parents? Are they still together?’
Ah, deflection. I was the master – the mistress? – of that myself.
But something told me not to follow down the same old paths I’d always trodden. This wasn’t Ross, or any one of my other failed relationships.
This was Patrick. And he had trusted me with parts of himself. It was only fair I did the same.
‘Your parents,’ he repeated. ‘Still together?’
Right. Conversation. Words.
‘My dad left when we were little. Like, really little,’ I said, finishing up my iced coffee and dumping the empty cup in the bin we passed. ‘I can barely remember him. He sent child maintenance, but other than that, nothing.’
‘Ouch. Sorry, Jessy.’
‘Don’t be, honestly – it’s not a sob story,’ I said swiftly, trying to reassure him. ‘It’s all I’ve ever known, so I don’t feel like I’ve missed out.’
And yet his gaze seemed to pierce through me far more effectively than I had hoped. ‘Liar.’
My breath caught.How had he –
‘Takes one to know one.’ Patrick shrugged, dropping his own coffee cup into the next bin. ‘My mum didn’t even know who my dad was.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, feeling the awkwardness creep over my skin.
‘Don’t be,’ said Patrick with half a smile as we wandered closer to a copse of trees. ‘You can’t miss what you never had.’
This time my smile was natural. ‘You get it.’
‘Oh yeah,allthe daddy issues,’ Patrick said with a laugh that drew one from me in response, all the tension in my shoulders melting away. ‘Why didn’t he stay, why didn’t he want to find me –’
‘Was it something I did,’ I chimed in as we stopped by the trees, the wide canopy a welcome relief from the evening heat.
‘What the hell did my mum do, how many guys are we talking,’ said Patrick, making a face. ‘Ohhh yeah, I’ve asked all the same questions.’
