“Remember when you started calling me that? When I wore a bikini for a first time?” He looks at me blankly. “France? You were trying to impress those boys playing football because you wanted them to invite you to play.”
He looks off into the distance, searching for the memory. “Oh shit. I’d completely forgotten that. I really am a shitty brother, aren’t I?”
I chuckle thinking of Lisa’s words before Harry came to collect me. “You’re not a shitty brother. And I’m not a shitty sister. We just need to find our vibe again.”
“I don’t judge you, Nel. I worry about you, and I guess it comes out wrong sometimes.”
“What are you worried about?” I ask, hoping to maybe alleviate some of his concerns.
He sighs again. “You were so dependent on Mum and Dad; I know you don’t have many other people—”
“What makes you think that?”
“Uh…I guess, just that I’ve never met any of your friends and you never really talk about them.”
“I have friends, Harry. My roommates are my friends, I have people from uni that I still see, and I have clients who became good friends. I see them, talk to them, go out for dinners, coffee. I wascloseto Mum and Dad, Harry, I wasn’t dependent on them.”
“How come I’ve never met them?”
I squeeze my hands between my legs to try and warm them up and suck in air through my teeth. “As we’ve already established the names, the teasing, the judgement makes me uncomfortable and I don’t want to be like that around my friends. I don’t feel like I’m that person anymore. Only when I’m here.”
“I’m sorry, Nel. And I’m sorry about the jokes. I honestly thought you were laughing with me.”
“I know. I think we both need to stop apologising,” I chuckle.
“One more?”
I nod.
“I’m sorry I reacted poorly to you and Jake; it was…a shock.”
“To you and me both,” I laugh.
“It might take some getting used to but if you’re happy, I’m happy.”
“I am.”
“I told him if he ever hurt you, I’d break his face.”
That makes me laugh, loudly. “Oh my God, that is so cringey.”
“Maybe, but it’s true.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“I’m a man-friend now?”
JAKE
Oscar and Lucas are calling me from the lounge but I’m skulking in the kitchen like a busy body. I’ve been pretending to wash the same glass for about ten minutes. I know Harry took Nel out to the back garden to talk and I’m trying to see them through the kitchen window but they’ve gone right to the bottom of the garden. I’m more nervous for him to be speaking to her than I was for him to speak to me.
“You know, a watched pot never boils,” Lisa says, emerging from the garage with yet more snacks.
“God, woman. You trying to kill us all with food?”
“No one goes hungry in my house, Partridge.”
I take the giant plate from her and place it on the dining table. She disappears again, returning a moment later with another platter filled with cheese and crackers.
