Page 11 of Play On

Melanie twists her fingers in front of her lips in a sealed lips gesture, and I hurry off down the hall. I stop right at the den and knock on the door.

“Nicholas?” I ask. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah,” he calls out.

I pop open the door, not sure if I’m walking in on an argument or not. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“Don’t worry,” Amelia says, grinning at me. “He’s not going to kill me.”

“Kill you? Is that why you looked so terrified?” Nicholas asks, furrowing his brow.

“I thought you’d be so angry with me,” she confesses.

“Why? Did you run around screaming and throwing paint all over this room? Is your name Roy or Carl? Of course I’m not mad at you.”

“Oh my God, you’ve totally taken the grump out of him, Amelia,” I say excitedly. “I thought he’d kill you, too. Anyway, I come bearing excellent news!”

“I should be offended that my own twin thought I’d murder my girlfriend, but please, go on.”

I ignore him and wave the phone in my hand. “Just heard from Mum. They’re having breakfast at a café, and on a whim, they’ve decided to go toLondonstraightaway. Not only that, but they’re staying the night so they can shop tomorrow. We have at least twenty-four hours to clean this up. They might never know this happened!”

Amelia gasps. “This is brilliant!”

“Really?” Nicholas asks hopefully.

I nod.

“Shit. This is like one of those predictable teen movies where they get the break to hide disaster from the clueless parents,” he says.

“I know, right? This can work, Nicholas. I’ve already spoken to Melanie and Cara. Not only are they not going to say anything, but they want to help us clean up. They adore you, Nicholas. All the staff here do. Everyone wants to help you. Now, we need to get the painters sorted out—perhaps they can paint around where we have to clean. I’ll go talk to them and then I’ll be right back.”

“If I need to pay them out of pocket to not put overtime on the bill, let me know,” Nicholas says.

“No. I’ll pay for that, it’s my fault,” Amelia says.

“No, Peahen, you’re not paying for it, that’s ridiculous.”

“No, what is ridiculous is the fact that you had peacocks flying around your den and painting it, thanks to me—so I’ll handle the charges,” she insists.

“Okay, you two argue, but I’m going to see what I can work out with them.” Then I leave the room, shutting the door behind me and heaving a huge sigh of relief.

We’re going to be able to hide this episode.

And I have something to do now instead of thinking about Noah.

But as soon as I have that thought, I can’t help but wonder what his reaction would be to this story. He would laugh. Would his eyes light up in amusement as I gave him all the details? Would he tell me he wishes he could have seen it? Would I hear that laugh reverberate from his chest?

I exhale softly, and my chest physically aches inside as I think about this.

Because I’ll never have the opportunity to know.

Chapter Three

Out of Beer

“I’m so exhausted,” Nicholas says, draining the last of his beer.

I nod in agreement. I’m sitting with Nicholas and Amelia in the kitchen, two large boxes of pizza flipped open on the table, and we’re celebrating the cleanup of the Carl and Roy shit show, so to speak.

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