Chapter Thirty-One
Mia
Four o’clock came and went, and with it Luke’s window for being caught in traffic.
Dick.I tossed my phone on the kitchen counter, sending it clattering towards Gus.
He caught it, thick eyebrow raised. “I don’t know what you’re getting shitty about. You’re the one who bitched him out and hung up.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Did you?”
“Yes,” Igrowled, before remembering Gus was neither psychic or had access to my messages. “I sent him a text.”
Gus snorted. “That’s a copout. You don’t get to be a moody cow then get out of it with a lazy message.”
“What else do you suggest I do? It’s not like you’re going to let me out of the house, is it?”
“I never said not to go out, just that you should maybe keep a low profile for a coupleof weeks. See what happens before you figure out what to do next. I haven’t locked you in, have I?”
More rage bubbled inside me, and I fought to keep it there. My childish temper had weakened as adulthood had progressed, but there was a huge part of me that wanted to reach across the counter and dunk my brother’s head in the vat of tomato soup he was eating. Besides, he might not have lockedme in, but he’d made his feelings and his fears perfectly clear, and the part of me that didn’t want to deck him agreed with him. Rebecca’s theory made perfect sense, but it just felt...off.
I reclaimed my phone.
Mia:Are we still going to see Billy?
The message delivered, but Luke hadn’t been online since I’d last spoken to him, and the two ticks next to my innocuous words remainedresolutely grey.
I wondered if he had his phone set up to show previews of messages on his lock screen. If he was reading them without having to open the app and show his face. I’d never thought to look at his phone.
Perhaps he was waiting for me to say something nicer.
Mia:Look, I said I was sorry, and I really want to be there for you tonight. Please don’t go without me xx
“Go where?” Gus peered over my shoulder.
“To see Billy,” I said absently. “He had surgery at the weekend.”
“He okay?”
I glanced at him. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because he’s Luke’s brother and I’m not a cold-hearted wanker.”
Fair enough. “He’s okay, as far as Luke knows, but they need to reconnect.”
Gus nodded. “Makes sense. They’re quite similar in that respect. That’swhy it’s so hard for them to move forward.”
“I didn’t know you were the expert on the Daley brothers.”
“I’m not, but we lost Mum just like they lost their dad. You ran away and I stayed here, but we never shut each other out the way they did. Yeah, shit went down we didn’t tell each other, but we were still... I don’t know. We were stillus, I guess. Fuck, I ramble when I’m hungry.”
I couldn’t see how he could possibly be hungry after three tins of Heinz and most of a loaf of bread, but the rest of what he had to say sank in. Festered. Luke and Billy needed each other, and the idea that me being a grumpy bitch had waylaid Luke somehow galled me.
Back in my room, I sent another text.
Mia:Me again. And I’m sorry again. Go without me if you’re pissed off with me, butPLEASE GO. And give Billy my love xx
