I’m not sure that he ever threw his part of me away. I’m not even entirely sure that I wanted him to. But we can carry on pretending.
The next morning, I drive the fast route back to Cork. When I write up this chapter for my blog, I’ll say I did the journey in reverse, stopping along the way and walking down to the glassy water’s edge. I can imagine I found his piece of my heart there in among the stones.
As I say, we can carry on pretending.
Chapter 20
Before I put my key in the lock on Monday morning, the door swings open and Charlie is standing there, smiling.
A warmth bubbles up inside me at the sight of his friendly face.
‘Hello!’ we both say.
He holds the door back so I can wheel Nicki’s bike into the hall.
‘How was your weekend?’
‘How did it go?’
We speak at the same time.
‘You first,’ he commands.
‘No, you,’ I reply, unclicking my helmet.
He shrugs. ‘It was fine. Nothing eventful. Adam and I spent Saturday nursing our hangovers. Took April to the beach yesterday.’
I follow him into the kitchen. April beams and babbles at the sight of me, so I go over and pick her up. She presses her cheek against the nape of my neck, clutching onto my shoulders with her little fingers. The radio is on, playing ‘Manic Monday’ by The Bangles, and the atmosphere is so bright and cheerful that the bubbly warmth inside me expands further.
‘Ooh, you’re so lovely and cuddly,’ I say to April, squeezing her to me.
Charlie hops up onto the kitchen counter and sits there, his tanned legs dangling over the side.
He’s in a good mood this morning, as am I. After the upheaval of the weekend, I’m happy to be back into my routine.
‘This hug is longer than seven seconds.’ I glance at Charlie with a smirk.
He shakes his head, amused. ‘That was a good night.’
‘Hilarious. I’ve been giggling about you doing DJ Kool all weekend.’
‘Iseriouslydon’t know how you got me to do that.’
‘A deal’s a deal.’
He creases his brow at me.
‘Don’t you remember?’ I ask. ‘You said you’d do it if I took on Eminem.’
His face lights up with the memory and he throws his head back and laughs. God, thatsound...
‘That was one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever seen,’ he says. ‘How did you know all the words?’
‘Oh, “Lose Yourself” is an old favourite,’ I reply offhandedly.
After a moment, he jerks his chin up at me. ‘So how did it go?’
It’s almost ten o’clock by the time I’ve filled him in on Ireland and made it upstairs to Nicki’s office. Soon I’m engrossed in the diary she wrote when she was twenty-four.
