‘Then you call Jake and set out what you’ve decided, and you tell him that you love him.’
‘I don’t know. That’s a scary idea.’
‘Scary?’ Maria laughed. ‘Telling him you love him is scary? You got bitten, several times over the years, and yet you went back in with those bushmasters of yours each time. Surely, that’s scary?’
‘Not if Jake walks away from me. He already has done once.’
‘Because you sent him away.’ Maria blew out a deep breath. ‘I don’t know, that’s just my two cents’ worth. But ultimately, Flávia, it’s down to you.’
And the words echoed through Flávia’s head all afternoon and all the way home.
Ultimately, it was down to her.
* * *
Jake leaned on his car as the kids were let out of school, waiting at a distance the way that Brady had asked him to do. Still, he didn’t miss the march from the building, or the tightly locked jaw.
‘How was your day?’
‘Three words,’ Brady bit out mutinously as he practically threw himself into the vehicle. ‘Brazil. Right. Now.’
Each word was punctuated by the little lad counting a finger in mid-air. The worst of it was Jake couldn’t agree more. But he couldn’t say that; it was his job to make his nephew feel better.
‘Listen, mate,’ he offered, ‘I’m sorry that it was a bad day, but—’
‘I want to go home.’
‘This is home...’
‘No. Home was in São Paulo. I miss those weekends in the rainforest,’ Brady cut in, his eyes locking with Jake’s in challenge. ‘I miss Julianna and Marcie, and Vovô Eduardo. And I miss Maria and Luis. Most of all, I miss Flávia.’
‘I miss Flávia, too, mate,’ Jake answered before he could even stop himself.
Even the closing soirée had been hell, being back in that hotel ballroom. Everything had looked the same, from the same tablecloths to the same people in the same evening clothes.
But it hadn’t been anywhere near the same. Because Flávia hadn’t been there.
‘Then why are we even here?’ Brady demanded, yanking Jake back to the present.
That was a good question.
‘It isn’t as black and white as you think,’ Jake began. ‘There’s your school, my job...’
He stopped, running out of excuses, and Brady narrowed his eyes at him, for all the world looking at least twice his seven years.
‘I hate this school, so what does it matter if I go to school out there instead? And if you really wanted to, you could change jobs and work out in Brazil.’
‘Me going to work out there isn’t that simple.’ Jake shook his head, holding on to the only part that he could of what his young nephew had said. ‘It’s complicated.’
‘Mummy always said that’s what adults say when they don’t want to explain something. I’m not a little kid,’ he spat out.
‘I know you like to think you’re mature and understand life and the world around you,’ Jake cut in firmly, shutting the conversation down. ‘But that’s exactly what you are, Brady—a kid. Something you have to understand is that adults know more than you do. And that we know what’s best.’
‘This is so unfair!’ Brady cried, but at least the conversation was over.
So why did he feel so bad about it?
It felt like they’d made such progress in their relationship whilst they’d been in Brazil, but returning home had cost them, had propelled it all backwards.