Page 54 of The Two Halves of My Heart

“Sure. Just cover the deposit and the forms, and you can be in at the weekend,” the agent explained to Mads.

“Taken care of. We’re all set.”

“Okay, then.” She motioned towards the front door. Our cue to leave.

We waited on the doorstep, the reality of what we’d just agreed to, sinking in.

“Better get planning. We’re moving at the weekend, Grace.” The smile on his face was enough to melt me into a puddle in the middle of winter, let alone on one of the hottest days of the year.

“Can you cook? Please say your mum taught you how to recreate her lasagne?”

“I have a week. I’m sure I can learn.” His smile turned sexy and dangerous, and I moved my gaze before I was pulled in too deep.

I looked back at the house and knew that this was the right call. Second-guessing wasn’t getting me anywhere, and I was overdue some happiness.

Mum was a mix of giddy excitement and anxious stalker for the week of our move. She constantly asked what she could do to help, checking on everything I could possibly need and making me up little care-packages, and I hadn’t even moved out. She acted as if I would be hundreds of miles away, not a five-minute journey to the other side of the village.

Mads sorted all the heavy lifting, which I was thankful for. All I had to do was pack up my belongings and get Bob ready to move. It was going to be a squeeze to fit everything into the shoebox I was moving into, but the room was more than just the space. It was the first steps to my independence—finally doing something for me.

Of course, it had to be hotter than hell the day we had to move everything in. As much as I wanted to help, I was pretty rubbish at lifting the big-ticket items. Mads told me to wait until after lunchtime to come up to the house. He’d collected the furniture from my room the night before with a friend I’d never met before.

I loaded Mum’s car with the rest of my things, leaving Bob behind until we were all in. As I arrived, I spotted Mads sitting on the back of the moving van, his shirt off and his sweat-drenched skin glistening in the afternoon sun, and a bottle of beer in his hand as he leaned forward on his knees. It was one hell of a welcome. It suddenly hit me that we were potentially going to see each other in a lot more situations like this.

Messed up hair from the night before.

Just showered.

Topless.

I shook away the images dancing in my mind. I didn’t need anything to add to my rising temperature.

“Hey.” I went over to greet him and checked on what he wanted me to help with.

“Hey, yourself. We’re about done with the big stuff. I sent Leo home, so we should be able to finish up. Your room’s all ready for your things.”

“Great. I’ll go and start.” I gestured to my mum behind at the car, but he snagged my hands before I moved away.

“It’s going to be great. I promise.”

I looked up into his eyes and saw both determination and fear.

“I know. Don’t worry.” I squeezed his hand. “I wouldn’t have agreed if I wasn’t sure of this. Relax.”

It took Bob exactly two days to go back to normal after moving in. He hid in my room for a day. Then ventured out, worked out where his food and temporary litter tray was, before heading back to my bedroom and staying put.

I wished I could have said the same for me. While I loved that this was now our home, I didn’t feel as settled as Bob. Or Mads.

Over the next few weeks, I saw first-hand how hard Mads worked. He was up and out of the house before I was awake, leaving the place to me unless I was at Uni. And he was often out in the evenings working as well. I chose to ignore that, hoping it wasn’t at the fight club. I’d find myself checking for bruising when we did see each other but saw no marks or damage.

Considering we shared a house, we hardly saw one another. I had hoped we’d be able to spend more time together, watch TV, trying cooking, or simply hanging out. But it wasn’t like that. I wondered why Maddison kept himself so busy and how he wasn’t dead on his feet all the time. He made me tired just thinking of all the work he did. It certainly deflated my expectations of what living together would be.

“Hey.” I stopped on the stairs watching Mads shove his feet into his shoes, ready to go out by the looks of it. “Will you be back later?”

“Yeah, maybe late.”

I nodded. “If you’re in tomorrow, I was thinking about giving a lasagne a try. I’m missing your mum’s.”

“Sure. That’d be good. See you later.” The door shut behind him and left me with the hollow silence of the four walls around me.

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