Dad looks thrown. “’Course not, lad.”
“Fab.” I shuffle forward so I’m perched on the edge of the chair. “In this new spirit of openness, I’m going to share the way I feel about you.”
Dad rests his tea on the side. “Oh yeah?”
“I love you, Dad.”
He looks shocked. “Really?”
“Yeah. Even if I haven’t always shown it.”
A smile sweeps across his face and into his eyes. “I love you, too, Adam.”
“I know,” I reply. “Or at least I do now.”
“I always have,” Dad goes on. “I never stopped loving you.”
I stand up and hold out my arms but Dad struggles to get to his feet. I lower a hand and he grabs onto it. Once he’s standing up, I draw him into a hug. He feels warm and his back is slightly damp, but I hold onto him tightly and breathe in his familiar earthy scent, overlaid with deodorant and beer.
“I may not have understood you properly in the past,” I say. “But I do understand you now and I’m looking forward to understanding you even better in the future.”
I pat him on the back and he pats mine several times. “Same ’ere, lad.”
We come out of the hug and he wipes a tear from his eye.
“That’s beltin’ that is,” says Debbie. “Seein’ you two have a hug.”
Dad sits down again and she links her arm through his.
“Well, get used to it because it’ll be happening a lot more often,” I say.
Dad wipes another tear from his eye. “Good. I’d like that.”
“Me too.”
As I step outside, I notice that the sun has started setting. I wonder if I can slip away and go up to the castle to watch it.
Theo slides in next to me. “Come on, let’s get up there,” he says.
I smile. “I was just thinking the same thing. But where are the kids?”
The last time I saw Archie, he was playing with Giuseppe—ridinghim like a horse; Mabel was lying in a hammock with Freya, monitoring our likes on TikTok; while Callum was leading Lina into the grain store. I don’t like to think what for.
“Don’t worry about the kids,” Theo says. “Kate will keep an eye on them. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
My breath stops in my chest. Maybe Dom’s right; maybe Theoisgoing to propose. Come to think of it, Gloria’s been teasing me about it, too. Do they know something I don’t?
I swallow and nod. I follow Theo around the edge of the dance floor, behind the chapel wall and over to the bottom of the hill, my heart galloping.
As we walk up the steps, I notice the blackberries on the brambles are now perfectly ripe. I pick one, put it in my mouth and lick the juice off my fingers. I grab another for Theo and when we make it to the top, pop it in his mouth. We look into each other’s eyes and I realize I’ve nothing to be nervous about.
“Surprise!”
I almost jump back in shock, then turn around to see Callum, Mabel and Archie.
“I thought you were with your mum,” I splutter.
“I just said that to get you up here,” admits Theo. “Come on, come over here and sit down.”
