Ed’s lip curled in an ugly sneer. ‘Yeah, that’s what I thought.’
He would’ve walked away if Harry hadn’t reached out and grabbed his arm to hold him. ‘We’re just worried about you, bro. You’re lurching from one bad relationship to another, losing jobs you can’t afford to. I haven’t heard you say a word about your degree for months, other than you started seeing that girl in your class and now you’ve dumped her too! That’s going to make things really awkward for both of you.’
Ed gave a hollow laugh. ‘Wow, you’ve really been keeping a tally of all my mistakes, haven’t you? Do you keep a little chart on your wall? It’s been zero days since Ed last screwed up.’
This wasn’t going at all how Harry had expected it to. ‘Of course not! I don’t care about you making mistakes, Ed, I only care you’re hurting yourself in the process.’ Stepping closer, Harry released his hold on Ed’s arm and rested his hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. ‘Talk to me. Let me help you with whatever’s going on.’
His brother shook him off. ‘Help me, how? Are you looking to take the blame again so you can nurse that martyr complex of yours?’
Harry staggered back in disbelief. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘You know exactly what I’m talking about.’ Ed slapped the side of his damaged leg to emphasise his point. ‘Do you have anyidea how guilty I felt when I woke up after my operation to find out you’d taken the blame for us being on the rocks that day? How much worse it was when Mum and Dad sent you to live at Ma and Pa’s as punishment?’
‘They weren’t punishing me, they just couldn’t look after me, manage their jobs and spend the time they needed to at the hospital.’ It had felt like punishment at the time, but Pa had explained it to him when he’d found Harry crying in his room one day.
‘I needed you, and you let them separate us. Just like you did when we were at school.’ The hurt and anguish in Ed’s voice wasn’t that of a man, but of a child who’d nursed a pain for too many years.
‘They had to separate us, Ed. I was holding you back, we both know that.’ He stepped closer again and put his arms around the man who was the other part of his soul. ‘You did everything you could to help me, and I’ll always be grateful how hard you tried, but it wasn’t fair on you.’
Ed struggled for a moment but Harry gripped him tight until Ed eventually yielded and slumped against him. His arms came around to hug Harry and his voice sounded wet, even muffled against Harry’s shoulder. ‘But it wasn’t fair on you either!’
Harry held him tight as his brother wept. No, it hadn’t been fair that Harry had been born with a brain that processed information differently. For a long time, he’d thought he was broken, that there wasn’t a decent future for someone like him, but the right people had intervened in his life at the right time and shown him the truth. He had skills and worth and value. It broke his heart that Ed had carried his bitterness around for so long, hiding it behind an endless stream of jokes and banter. Harry should’ve seen it sooner.
He patted Ed on the back. ‘I’m fine, bro, I promise you.’ He pulled back so he could look into a face that was a mirror of hisown, apart from a telltale scar bisecting one eyebrow. ‘You have to try and let this go, okay?’
Ed shook his head. ‘Not until I tell Mum and Dad the truth.’
A lead weight settled in Harry’s gut. ‘What good could that possibly do now?’ It was twelve years ago and a traumatic and unhappy time for them all. Raking over those coals would only stir up trouble as far as Harry was concerned.
Ed stiffened and pulled away. ‘See, you just can’t help yourself, can you? Stop trying to protect me, okay?’ Ed stormed up the garden path and into the cottage, slamming the back door behind him. Harry was close enough to hear the key click in the lock.
Planting his hands on his hips, he huffed out a long, frustrated breath. At least he knew now what was eating at his twin. Whether talking to him had made things better or worse, though? Harry tilted his head and looked up at the sky as if the answer might be found in the clouds.
A cold, fat raindrop hit him square in the forehead, followed by another and another and then a solid curtain of freezing rain hammered into him, soaking him to the skin in seconds. Harry cast a quick glance at his brother’s door, but it remained firmly shut. Ducking his head to protect his face from the worst of the icy, stabbing downpour, he headed home as fast as his feet could carry him.
17
A loud bang jolted Kat awake and her eyes flew open. She clutched a hand to her suddenly racing heart as she tried to orient herself. The sound of rain hammering against the window over the bed grounded her in reality. She was in Harry’s flat.Herflat. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep; it wasn’t quite dark, but the light was fading rapidly. Shoving the quilt aside, she groped around for the light switch on the bedside lamp. Without the warmth of the quilt it was chilly in just her pyjamas, so she fetched a thick hooded sweatshirt from the cupboard and tugged it on before opening her bedroom door.
Her mouth dried at the sight of Harry dressed only in a pair of black trunk-style underpants. She’d seen him on the beach dozens of times wearing not much more than he was now, but this was different somehow. He was bent at the waist, gathering a pile of clothes at his feet. Not wanting to get caught ogling him, Kat took a step back towards her room and banged her heel hard on the doorframe. ‘Ouch!’
Harry’s head whipped up and Kat’s entire face turned so hot she wondered if this was how people died of spontaneous human combustion. He straightened up slowly, the bundle of clothingheld against his thigh. ‘There weren’t any lights on so I thought you must be out.’
‘I, uh…’ Kat gestured behind her towards her room. ‘I fell asleep.’
Harry’s body rippled slightly and the last of her sleepiness and the shock of seeing him nearly naked disappeared under a wave of concern. ‘Oh my God,’ she exclaimed as she hurried across the open lounge area towards him. ‘You’re freezing!’
Harry shivered again. ‘I got caught in the rain. I was going to put my wet stuff straight in the machine.’ It was his turn to gesture behind him, this time in the direction of the kitchen.
‘Here, let me do that.’ Kat grabbed the bundle of soaking wet clothing from him. ‘Go and jump in the shower before you catch your death!’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ Harry quirked her a smile and strode the few short steps to the bathroom.
Kat swallowed as her mouth went dry again. He really did have the most delicious backside she’d ever seen. Horrified by the errant thought, Kat spun on her heel and made a dash for the kitchen. She shoved the wet things into the washing machine, then hunted in the cupboard under the sink for the box of cleaning capsules he’d shown her earlier. She tossed one into the machine then decided to wait and see if he had anything else to go in there first.
While she waited for him to finish in the shower, Kat made herself busy. She filled the kettle and switched it on then opened the fridge to see what there was to eat. There was plenty of fresh veg in the bottom drawer and a packet of chicken breasts on the shelf. A bit more exploration and she’d found some double cream and an unlabelled pot that when she removed the lid and took a sniff she was delighted to discover was homemade stock.
By the time Harry padded into the kitchen, his feet bare but the rest of him decently covered in a pair of thick grey joggingbottoms and a black long-sleeved T-shirt, Kat had the chicken diced and was chopping garlic and onions. She smiled over her shoulder at him. ‘I’ve put a pod in the machine but left it in case you had anything else to go in it.’
