“I’m so happy for you, Lo!” She pulled back, squeezing my hands.
“Really?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because it’s Alfie and he’s done some batshit bullshit in the time we’ve been together.”
“Oh.” She sniffed. “Yes, that’s true. But he’s also proven more than once that he loves you. And you trust him now, right?”
That was hard to answer after last night's revelations but I couldn’t deny the truth. “Yeah, I do. I trust him. Hey, um, we haven’t officially announced it yet so…”
“Mums the word. Got it.” She suddenly let out another gasp. “Oh we could have a joint wedding!”
“No. No way. You’re getting your own day. Don’t even think about sharing it.”
My sister was the most selfless person I had ever met. It was my favourite quality about her but it also meant she was always at the bottom of her own list. She deserved a day that was just for her.
“And if you want John there at your wedding, I promise to be civil about it.”
“Thanks. And if you don’t want him at yours, I promise I’ll be civil about it too.”
“Deal.” I squeezed her hands. This wasn’t how I’d envisioned telling her I was getting married but she was happy for me, thatwas all that mattered. “So, do you wanna see my engagement ring?”
After Natalie left, I took a long bath. Seeing my sister had left me feeling both better and worse. I was relieved she knew about Alfie and I, more relieved that she approved, but it hurt how easily she was letting our father back in. I envied her gentle disposition. Forgiveness didn’t come so easily to me.
I pulled my knees up to my chest as more tears fell. I wished I could be the kind of person that didn’t care whether someone that abandoned them came or went, but I did care. These wounds were old, deep and now freshly reopened. It was a painful irony that often the person who could heal your wounds the best was the person that had caused them in the first place. I’d learned that lesson with Alfie. I’d given him another chance and I didn’t regret it one bit. Did my father deserve another chance? I couldn’t decide.
I needed Alfie but I wasn’t ready to see him. I needed my mum but she wasn’t here. I needed a father but I didn’t trust the one I had. I needed?—
My thoughts were cut off by a knock on the door, not to the bathroom but to the sitting room. I groaned. I didn’t want to get out of the comforting warmth of the water just yet.
“I’m in the bath,” I yelled to whoever it was. “Can you come back later?”
The unannounced visitor knocked again, obnoxiously loud this time.
God damnit.I got out of the tub, shivering at the cold air on my skin.
“Who is it?” I called as I wrapped a towel around me.
“It’s me,” answered a familiar voice. “Will you open the fucking door? I have to pee.”
No. No way. It couldn’t be. But it was. I’d know that voice anywhere.
Barely holding onto my towel I ran for the door and yanked it open. There was my best friend holding a bottle of Prosecco in one hand and a tub of Ben and Jerries in the other.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, too stunned to move.
“Alfie flew me in, he said you needed me.”
My chest tightened. Of course he’d done this for me. That’s who Alfie was. A man who worked hard to fix his mistakes.
Keira pushed past me and kicked the door shut behind her. She dumped the prosecco and the ice cream and ran into my bathroom to pee. “I’ve been trying to call you all day. Did you switch your phone off? A touch dramatic, don’t you think?”
I didn’t answer. I was too busy swallowing the lump in my throat. She was exactly what I needed right now. The toilet flushed and my best friend re-entered, folding her arms with all the attitude of a Londoner-turned-New Yorker.
“So, who am I taking down first? Alfie’s mother or your father?”
Fifteen
