‘Well they aren’t your tears so I’ll do what I want with them.’
He held onto her hands, locking their fingers together untilthey were bound tight. ‘I’m sorry I lied to you, Hayley, and I’m sorry I let you down.’
‘Shut up. Just stop talking,’ she ordered. ‘I don’t want to hear any more sorrys from someone who’s been living a half-life, picking up random women and having an intimate relationship with an android tablet.’
‘Ouch.’
He watched her close her eyes, then she tightened her grip on their interlocked fingers. She was so beautiful. He would happily spend the rest of his life just looking at her. He swallowed. He had given up on that chance, but at least now he had finally been honest. All he wanted was for her to be happy. Maybe with Michel, she could be.
She snapped open her eyes, holding his gaze.
‘I actually think it’s pretty presumptuous of you to assume I wouldn’t be interested in what we have just because you have a rapidly expiring eat by date.’
‘Eat by date?’
‘Short shelf life. Use by.’
He shook his head, unable to keep the smile from his lips. ‘Food.’
‘It scares the hell out of me, Oliver.’ Her voice shook. ‘And… I have to think of Angel.’
He watched her swallow, drop her eyes for a second. Of course she was right. What good was a dying man to a nine-year-old? Especially one who had spent her whole life without a father figure. The child needed more than he could ever give her.
‘But I also know that I’ve spent the last nine years on my own with my daughter and I’m not about to pass up something special just because I might end up being alone again some day.’ She sighed. ‘I thought that for a minute when Michel almost didn’t come through. I thought maybe it had to be just me and Angel, twogirls road-tripping through life, not letting anyone else in. But… life’s all about taking chances, isn’t it?’ She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘We all know the end destination; it’s all about the stops along the way.’ She smiled. ‘And how boring would it be if everything was calculated like sat-nav?’ She squeezed his hands again, bunching them tightly in hers. ‘The Oliver I know isn’t afraid of anything. And he’s clever and funny and ever so slightly sexy and?—’
‘Whoa, hold up there a second.Ever so slightlysexy?’ He twisted their fingers together. ‘I challenge that.’
‘I challenge you back. I challenge you to take a chance on me, because however this pans out, I want to start something with you… here, now… then via Skype, seeing as there’s a little distance issue, but…’ She paused. ‘I want to be more than just the woman you called Lois once. That’s what I deserve, not this talk of replacements and switching off.’ She held his gaze. ‘And it’s what you deserve too. Me and Angel, two crazy chicks who won’t bore you with wishes but might want you to join in singing toLip-Synch Battle.’ She smiled. ‘Something real.’
He gazed into her eyes, seeing her feelings for him so openly displayed. He swallowed. He was a fool to think he could live without trying to love. And hedidlove her. Helovedher. Whatever time he had left he wanted to fill it with feelings just like this.
He pulled her into his embrace, wrapping his arms around her, loving the way she fell against his body. ‘God, how could I think I could live without you?’
‘Yeah, how could you?’ She took a step back from him, picked up her jumper sleeves and wiped her eyes with them. ‘Multiple uses. I should patent these.’
He swallowed, then let out a breath. ‘I am scared, Hayley.’
‘I know,’ she replied. ‘Me too. But the way my ice skating’s been going today, there’s every chance I’ll be dying before you.’
‘Do you look on the bright side of everything?’
‘Is your glass always half empty?’
He smiled. ‘I’m not going to win this one, am I?’
‘You know how I am with the last word.’
‘I remember.’
‘Good.’
‘So, there we are.’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m not letting you have it.’
‘Oh yes, you are.’
