Page 22 of Before You Say Goodbye

“Yeah, like tomorrow-tomorrow.”

She laughed. “How many tomorrows are there?”

“Not many for me. That’s the whole point.”

She leaned up on her elbow and stroked his chest. He could barely keep his eyes open.

“Rule number one . . .” she murmured.

“There are rules?” He groaned softly.

“Yes . . .” She hesitated. “Relationship rules.”

The word ‘relationship’ sounded strange to Autumn coming out of her own mouth. Bowie whimpered theatrically, then smiled.

“Rule number one,” she repeated. “You are not allowed to remind me all the time that you’re dying. I won’t be able to do this if you do.”

He nodded in agreement. His eyes had closed now. He sounded drunk when he spoke.

“My turn. Rule number two. You’re not allowed to treat me as though I’m dying all the time. That includes asking me if I’m well enough to do things I like to do. Like have sex.”

He grinned lasciviously.

She smiled and draped her body over his. He wrapped himself around her. She kissed his jawline and tugged gently on his ear with her fingers, hoping it might soothe him into slumber. She knew he needed it. He moaned at her touch and spoke again, although Autumn could tell that he was somewhere between asleep and awake.

“Rule number three. Sleep is always a good thing.”

“That’s not a rule.”

“My mother would disagree with you,” he said.

Chapter 6

They were woken by a knock on the door. It was light outside. Autumn jumped up from the sofa and ran to the bedroom to get her dressing gown. She was too tired to ponder who it might be. She hurried clumsily across the living room. Bowie had barely moved. She checked him over and was relieved to note that he was still breathing.

She yanked the door open and did a double take. She had forgotten just how similar Bowie and Marley were.

“Hi.” Marley waved awkwardly. She pulled her dressing gown further around herself.

“Hi. Shit. Hi.”

“Sorry to burst in on you like this but I told Mum Bowie and I would be home for lunch in an hour. If I don’t take him with me, she’ll have a nervous breakdown.”

“Come in,” Autumn said, stepping away from the door to reveal his brother. Bowie was covered in a blanket but he was clearly naked underneath it. Marley grinned.

“Big fan of sofa sex,” he said.

Autumn cringed. She and her sister, Lilly, may have talked about sex a little bit when they were much younger but she couldn’t imagine being so open with her about it now. Still, she didn’t get the impression that he was trying to make her feel uncomfortable. If Marley was anything like Bluebell, and Autumn suspected from the ease with which he teased her that he must be, then he wouldn’t feel sex was something to be embarrassed about. He nudged his brother’s leg with his foot.

“Bowie, get up.”

Bowie opened his eyes and sat up, leaning on his elbows.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“It’s midday. We have to go home. Mum called last night to talk to you and was ranting and raving about your appetite, so I agreed, on your behalf, that you’d let her feed you lunch today.”

“I hate it when you do that.”

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