28
Chapter 28
Fia
I had no memory of the flight or the drive back home. I slept in Everly’s bed, letting her hold me, shush me to sleep, and moisturise around my eyes because “the last thing you want is dry skin.”
A noise that would have once sounded like laughter came out of my mouth, but it was raspy and broken.
Everly held me tighter.
On the fifth day, while she was out, I left her room for the first time, refusing to face the matted mess of my hair in her en-suite.
My muscles were stiff from staying horizontal for so long. My stomach muscles hurt from all the crying.
Stairs were a chore.
I needed a coffee and a massage.
The second I got to Nana’s after the French track, I put my phone facedown and didn’t pick it up again. Finally back home, my only entertainment was Netflix, which Everly puton in her room. We watched our favourite comedies on repeat. Phone hidden, warm under the duvet, only taking breaks for naps, I’d got through the first three seasons of New Girl easily.
Tears dried into the pillowcase.
Tissues covered the floor.
I’d picked up a smutty fantasy, but when they mentioned the male character’s huge cock and burly bad-boy energy, I realised I was crying onto the page.
So, I’d switched to thrillers. Murder. Mystery.
But then I wanted all the characters to lock themselves up like I had, safe and untouchable.
And it was making me worse.
In the kitchen, I poured myself an iced coffee and admired the flowers on the kitchen side, rolling the soft petals between my fingers as I heard Dad shouting on the phone.
“And my word should be enough!” he roared. “I have told you enough times, she is my daughter, and I know exactly what she is and is not capable of.”
The lavender smelled fresh, just like the summer in Zoltán’s garden by the lake.
And our parents’ wedding.
Fear started to bloom in my stomach.
“No, no, she’s not his daughter. He didn’t raise her. She wouldn’t do this for him. She has integrity. Loyalty.” A pause. “She’s a fucking Bacque!”
Twirling the vase round and round, I found the card. It would be from Luca to Ever. It had to be. They were so loving in private. In public, they were good at keeping their hands off each other, which I would need them to do for the rest of my life.
The envelope was unopened, my name scrawled on it:‘Fia.’
And I swiped them away, out of my sight, until glass shattered and flowers flew across the floor, water splatting my leg.
“Fuck sake,” Dad cried, but when he came to the kitchen door, he hung up the phone and crunched the glass beneath his slippers to hug me. I sobbed, unable to look away from the broken pieces on the ground.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he soothed.
“I don’t want him— I don’t want anything to do with him—I can’t—”
“They were from Jordan,” he said. “He came by yesterday after his shift to see how you were. Ifhehad sent anything here, it wouldn’t be here for long.”
