Page 90 of That Secret Something

She squeezed my hand, forcing me to look at her. “I know. I know it’s a lot. I know it’s bad timing, but I really want you to consider it.” Her eyes twinkled under the moonlight.

“Consider what?”

A grin spread across her face. “Coming with me.”

My mouth dropped open. “With you? But…”

Sausage. My job. My apartment. My head swirled. Leaving Lily, my mum, my town… I’d never lived anywhere else before. I didn’t know if I had the courage to go through with such an enormous change.

Change wasn’t my strong suit.

Rebecca chuckled. “It’s a little crazy, I know. But I think we can do it.”

“Really?” She nodded, but reality sobered me. “What about my apartment? My business… I can’t afford to just gallivant off to London.”

She smiled. “Gallivant. Good word. But who said anything about gallivanting? There’s quite a few people in London, you know. Pretty sure party-planning works down there, too.”

She had a point. But everything there was so different. Change was scary. And I was…well, me.

But change had brought me here, and looking into Rebecca’s eyes filled me with a unique swell of wonderment. Like anything was possible.

“What about Sausage?” The thought of being away from him pricked my eyelids. He was like a safety blanket to me in many ways. He’d always been there for me, knew all my secrets, and I loved that pudgy little dog more than anything in the world.

But I couldn’t uproot him and move him to London. Not only would Mum—and Mike—be against that, he hated crowded spaces, and would have to spend more time on his own in the apartment. It didn’t feel fair.

Her eyebrows drew together, and she brushed her hand over my cheek. “I know…but it’s only for a year. We can visit a lot. It’s only a few hours away. And your mum can teach him to video call.”

I laughed. “She doesn’t even know how to do that.”

She took my hands in hers again. “I know it would be difficult being away from everyone, but…I don’t want to be away from you.”

Our eyes locked, and Rebecca’s smile warmed my heart. My silly lovesick heart. My brain always tried to complicate things, but my heart, that little sucker would follow her to the ends of the earth. No questions asked.

“I don’t want to be away from you, either.”

She grinned. “We don’t need to work out all the details yet, but you’ll think about it?”

“Of course I will.”

“Amazing.” She planted a kiss on my fingers. “Once I have the job experience, we could move back up here. I reckon a year working with Jackie Cochrane is gonna open a lot of doors for me in Manchester.”

I nodded. A year didn’t sound so scary. “Well, we don’t need to work out the details yet,” I teased. “But we should definitely talk about it more. First, though, I want you to show me some more moves.”

She raised a suggestive eyebrow. “Here? I don’t know… Anyone could see us here.”

“Dance moves.” I swatted her, and she broke out the famous Rebecca Lawson smirk.

“You spoilsport. I suppose I could spare you a few—under one condition.”

“Oh, no. Not more rules.” I put a hand on my forehead, channelling my GCSE drama class. “We’ve never been very good at those.”

“Okay, not a rule, more a…request.”

“Now I’m curious. What is it?”

She leaned in closer, her perfume tickling my nose. “Do you remember when I showed up at your apartment in my coat? Wearing a certain something underneath?”

The recollection caused my throat to clog. That entire night had been a ridiculous turn on. My insides rolled at the memory of her grip on my waist. The wild look in her eyes as she fucked me. “Yes. How could I ever forget?”

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