I stared at him in disbelief. “You want her to move in – you’d have never brought it up otherwise.”
AJ scowled. “Don’t overanalyse things, fanny boy.”
I widened my eyes when he appeared . . . flustered.
“You’re in love.”
“I am fucking not.”
“Ye are.” I hopped down from the counter. “You’re in love with Dani and you’re havin’ a silent panic attack. I can see it in your eyes!”
“You shut your whore mouth!”
“Admit it!” I demanded. “Admit you’re in love with Dani.”
“Okay!” AJ shouted, his hands flying up in the air. “You’re right, I love her. I am a man in love. Christ, help me. I’m freaking the fuck out. I only realised it this morning when I caught myself smiling at her like a fucking creep while she slept. What do I do? She can’t know; the power it’ll give her over me will be a force to be reckoned with.”
I burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“Me boy is a man, he’s in love.”
“Stop smiling at me like a proud mother and help me. Slap this out of me! Do your duty as my brother!”
I hugged him instead, making him curse me as he gave my back a rough slap.
“Tell her,” I said, ruffling his hair like he was a kid. “Trust me. Tell her all the time, she’ll love hearin’ it and ye’ll feel good sayin’ it.”
“I’m shittin’ it . . . What if she laughs at me?”
“You just echoed exactly what I said back when I told Noah I liked her on me eighteenth birthday . . . Ye told me then that ye know women, so why are ye askin’ me?”
“’Cause Dani’s not just any woman, she’s my woman, and I love her so much it scares the shit outta me.”
I snapped my fingers. “Repeat those exact words to her. That was gold.”
“I have to time it right,” AJ said, scratching his chin. “How did you tell Noah?”
“She was actually in the middle of breakin’ up with me when I told her, and then we had sex for the first time in her parents’ house right after.”
“You’re no fucking help, Irish.” My friend looked me up and down. “None at all.”
I was chuckling as my phone began to ring. It was my mother, and I answered it straight away.
“Heya, Ma, I’m at work—”
“Elliot!” My mother’s voice sobbed through my phone, pulling the smile from my face. Suddenly I got a feeling in the pit of my stomach of sickening dread. “Oh, Elliot. Noah knows . . . she knows about Bailey! Please, come! Oh, Elliot. Please.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
NOAH
Three days had passed since I was discharged from the hospital, and I had been in a bubble of love with Elliot for two of them. We were holed up in our flat just enjoying being with one another. We ate together, watched films together, showered together and made love to one another every chance we got. I was happier than I had ever been, and the only thing that was stopping me from throwing myself into my new life was Anderson Riley. The man deserved better than what he thought I could give him, and I hoped that, with time, he would understand that the divorce I wanted would be as much for his benefit as it was for mine.
I just had to get up the courage to tell him.
Elliot was supposed to have four days off work. That was how his shifts worked – four days on with two day shifts and two night shifts, and four days off – but a friend of his on a different watch had poorly twins and an ill wife, and had asked if Elliot could cover his watch today. Elliot had been reluctant but I encouraged him to go – and to get out of the flat we had been locked inside for more than forty-eight hours. He’d kissed me senseless before he left and told me all the things he was going to do to me when he got home that evening, making me tingle with excitement.
In the meantime, I wanted to get some fresh air . . . and visit a flower shop. I missed being around the scent of them – and being surrounded by them. I knew I was likely to get a telling off for going into town by myself, but I needed the time outside and some alone time in general. I just wanted to take a stroll . . . or as much of a stroll as I could take while walking with the aid of crutches.
I had been cooped up in the hospital for so long that two days inside of a flat was killing me inside. I was desperate to develop a somewhat normal routine where I wasn’t staring at walls every hour of the day. I was very conscious of not overdoing it, but a little fatigue was worth it in order to feel like I was living again. I had always been quite independent, and after the last couple of months of being helpless I wanted to prove to myself that I could be alone and still be okay.