Her head listed, looking at me like she could see throughto the very centre of me. Years of knowing her every facial expression had my shoulders tensing.
One brow quirked as she fought a smile. ‘You gonna tell me about it?’
Shifting into a sitting position, folding one leg over the other, I shook my head. ‘Nope.’
‘It’sthatserious.’ I was being less than forthcoming, but she wasn’t offended.
I frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Rosie,’ she said my name like I was missing something incredibly obvious. ‘You've told me everything about the people you date. Often in far too much detail. There was one story about a hot fudge sundae that I’m honestly still grossed out by.’ Her shoulders shook with a shudder.
‘Oh, that was a good night,’ I said wistfully. Honestly, I barely remembered it, but the eye roll it earned me was worth it.
‘My point is, this is different.Youseem different.’
I had no desire to tell her she was mistaken. That it wasn’t true that my entire world had been shifted from the inside out. My head bobbed. I wanted to tell her, but I needed to tellhimfirst.
‘I will tell you,’ I promised. ‘But not yet.’
That same beautiful smile graced her delicate face. She collected my hand in hers and squeezed. ‘Love you.’
I squeezed them back. ‘Love you too.’
37
‘I’m sorry.’The words fell from my lips on a broken exhale. Oliver stood to my left. I sat on a lumpy chair beside the bed of someone who looked like a hollow scooped out version of my father. The doctor had come in not long ago, giving us the news. The blockage in his heart was fixed and he should make a full recovery. In time.
The tubes coming out of what looked like every vein of his body tugged as he lifted a weary palm, resting it on the top of my hand that was gripping the bed sheets tightly.
‘Why? You didn’t give me the heart attack, did ya?’
Oliver let out a watery laugh.
I swiped a hand down my cheeks, a reluctant smile pulling at my lips.
‘Sorry I wasn’t there.’ I wove our fingers together, gripping his hand as gently as I dared.
‘I’m seventy-eight. Bound to get in a few scrapes. But now that I’ve got you both here, I want a word with you both.’
‘You could have called.’ Oliver said with a grim smile.
‘Thought you boys needed a bit more drama in your life,’dad chuckled.
‘It can wait until you feel better,’ I started, stopping when his chin dipped and those dark blue eyes fixed us both with a stern glare.
‘It’s not very often I see you both in the same room when I'm the centre of attention. Now shut up or I’ll have another attack out of spite.’
We both wisely kept our mouths sealed.
‘I’m no fool. You both have been dealing with a lot lately. I thought I’d wait for you to tell me, but this ticker apparently had other plans.’ He waved a hand across his chest like having a heart attack inconvenienced his plans. ‘So you’re both gonna sit down and tell me what I already know, but you won’t say.’
He pointed to the sofa in the corner behind Oliver. ‘Sit.’
Like he was ten years old again, being told off for trampling mud over the house. My brother sat, lips pressed into a thin line.
‘Who wants to go first?’ His eyes danced from me to Oliver.
I shuffled back in my chair, back tense. ‘Uh, Dad, what are you on about?’
