Page 50 of Even Ground

He stills, glancing between Delaney and me.

“I’m talking about me.” I shake my head and start eating again.

Reece chuckles, and Josh seems to fight a smile.

I don’t want this time together to ever end.

After breakfast, we walk outside where a shiny new-looking Toyota RAV4 sits.

“This is Reece’s?” I ask.

Delaney pulls open the back door, and Melly climbs up into a booster seat. “Yeah. He’s got a few cars in that garage. Not sure how often he gets to use them.”

I open the passenger seat and climb in, sinking into the soft leather seats. “I like hanging out with you rich people.”

She laughs, closing Melly’s door and opening her own. “Stop it.”

“You know what my car is like. This is luxury.”

Buckling her seat belt, she then adjusts the rear view mirror and slides the key into the ignition. “Let’s go spend Josh’s money.”

We take in the soft breeze as we drive along a long road with houses few and far between, and a lot of foliage. That soon changes to a more urban setting, and Delaney parks the car not far from a sea of brightly coloured stalls.

I climb out of the car and take a deep breath.

We’ve just eaten ourselves silly, but the smell of fried chicken and donuts floats through the air and makes my mouth water.

“Last time I was here, I walked from Reece’s house to get to the markets and ended up with heat stroke,” Delaney says, opening Melly’s door.

“Oh, that was coming here?”

She nods. “I was so low. Josh and I had argued and then I ended up in hospital and all I wanted was to come home.”

“But you didn’t.”

She walks around the car and grips my arm. “No. And I’m glad I didn’t because I loved my time here. Last week, we didn’t get out a lot to go shopping, so this week I plan on making up for it.”

Leaning my head against hers, I laugh. “Josh won’t know what hit him.”

“That’s the plan.”

* * *

By the time we get back to the house, I’m just about dead on my feet, but happy.

I’ve got bags and bags of gifts to take home—Delaney spent a small fortune, and I got to spend the day with two of the people I love most in the world. It’ll be hard going back to a world where they’re not with me.

“Ready?” Reece asks.

I whine, “I’m tired now.”

His lips curl into a smile. “I promise it’ll be worth it.”

“Is there any walking?”

Reece cocks his head. “Maybe about thirty seconds worth.”

Delaney walks up behind me and grabs my shopping bags. “Go. I’ll get all this unloaded, and you go for a drive with this one.”

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