Page 50 of The Player

He released her hand to rub his together. ‘Great. I get to ride in the people carrier.’

‘You’re still making jokes about my car, even when you know it’s used for a wheelchair?’

He tapped her on the nose. ‘Hey, we’re genuine from now on, okay? No holding back, no watching what we say. Full disclosure, so I’m teasing you.’

Liza nodded slowly, wondering how he’d feel if he knew all of it.

She didn’t have time to find out when he closed the distance between them and kissed her, effectively eradicating all thought and going a long way to soothing the emptiness when he’d walked out earlier.

She hated being abandoned. It dredged up too many painful memories. She never wanted to feel that way again.

Liza didn’t know what she’d expected when she invited Wade to accompany them to Luna Park on the spur of the moment, but a small part of her had probably wanted to test him. To see how he acted around Cindy.

Because when he’d misjudged her initially and made those horrible assumptions about why she hadn’t included Cindy in her biography, she’d come to a few realisations. Wade was the only guy she’d ever genuinely cared about and for that reason, after seeing his disgust when she’d withheld the truth, she’d had enough of the lies and the fake life.

She wanted to be herself around him and that included Cindy. They were a package deal and if he couldn’t handle her sister’s disability, Liza didn’t want to get in any deeper.

Cindy was the deal-breaker.

By the way he’d teased and laughed and chatted with her sister for the last few hours, he’d passed with flying colours.

Liza had seen many people interact with her sister over the years. Some looked away or pretended not to see Cindy. Some stared at her clawed elbow and wrist, at her scissored thighs, at her equinovarus foot. Some patronised by speaking extra slowly or very loudly. Some looked plain uncomfortable.

But from the moment they’d picked up Wade this morning, he’d been at ease with Cindy, treating her like the intelligent nineteen-year-old she was, and in turn, Liza had progressively relaxed as the morning wore on.

She liked not having to pretend around Wade. It was a nice change, not having to fake it all the time. Something she could get used to given half a chance.

While Cindy texted a friend, Wade sat next to Liza and bumped her with his shoulder.

‘Having a good time?’

She smiled and nodded. ‘Absolutely. I always have a ball when I’m with Cindy.’

‘She’s amazing,’ he said, sliding his hand across her lap to grasp hers. ‘And so are you.’

He waved at Cindy with his free hand as she glanced their way. ‘Honestly? I don’t know a lot about cerebral palsy. I’d planned on researching it last night but got caught up with conference calls.’

Liza admired his interest. Hopefully, it meant his interaction with Cindy today wasn’t just a token effort and he genuinely wanted to be involved in Liza’s life—which included Cindy too.

‘It’s a physical disability affecting movement, caused by an injury to the developing brain, usually before birth.’

The corners of his beautiful mouth curved upward. ‘You sound like a medical dictionary.’

‘With the hours I’ve spent with doctors and allied health professionals over the years I reckon I could recite an entire medical website.’

‘What’s her prognosis?’

‘Normal life expectancy. The brain damage doesn’t worsen as she gets older, but the physical symptoms can.’

As people on the rollercoaster screamed when it plummeted, Cindy glanced up from her phone and laughed, and Liza smiled in response, never tiring of seeing her sister happy.

‘Cindy’s cerebral palsy is fairly mild. She’s diplegic, which means it only affects her arm and leg on one side. And she has spastic CP.’

Wade frowned. ‘I hate that word.’

Liza shook her head. ‘It’s not derogatory. Spasticity means tightness or stiffness of the muscles. The muscles are stiff because the message to move is sent incorrectly to the muscles through the damaged part of the brain.’

‘That makes sense.’ He frowned, deep in thought. ‘Can she walk?’

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