Page 141 of Muddy Messy Love

Jen sets the bowl back down and throws her arms around me. “Thank you. I love it.”

“Good. It’s my thank-you to you. For everything. Not that a bowl will ever be enough, but you know what I mean. I love you.”

Jen pulls back and meets my eyes. “Ditto,” she says, giving my hands a squeeze. “Always.” She kisses my cheek, then lets me go.

We both turn to face Liam. He stands before the counter quieter than ever before, staring at his gift with a lone tear rolling down his cheek. Roughly, he brushes it away.

“You like?” I ask.

His Adam’s apple bobs. “It’s the most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever seen.” His voice comes thick and raspy.

“I grabbed some photos of Betsy from your Insta and modelled her from that.”

He runs his fingers over the tiny tin bumpers, shaking his head. “You nailed all her chrome parts just right.”

“I tried my best.”

Liam looks at me, his face furrowed with emotion. I’ve never seen him so serious. “If you ever need help to move again, Aves, you just let me know, all right?”

“Will do,” I say with a smile. And then, after two more hugs, I walk my best friends outside.

When their truck disappears, I grab Beth’s hand and drag her to the studio. “Your turn.”

“Oooh,” she coos. “Do I get a bowl covered in tiny barrister wigs?”

I laugh at the visual. “Um, not exactly.”

We stop next to the pack of tables where the kids played, and I fan my hand, silently requesting she shut her eyes too. “You know the drill.” Beth’s present is big. She wanted a gallery-worthy piece to live alongside her Hesters and Boyds, and I’ve done my best to deliver. I rest it down on the table, my arms straining under its weight. This piece has been months in the making and was inspired by everything Beth. “You can open them now.”

She does, and her pouty mouth drops open, her wide eyes flickering to mine. “Aves,” she whispers, clutching her chest. But that hand slowly reaches out, and she traces her fingertips down the edge of one rippled wing. “It’s stunning.”

“That’s what you are to me,” I say. “My earth angel.”

Her eyes glisten, and she reaches out her slender arms. “Come here this instant.” I tilt my mouth into a smile as I step inside her petite embrace. She sniffs back tears and shakes her head. “Welldone. You’ve successfully made me into a blubbering mess.” I chuckle. “Thank you,” Beth says. “I’ll treasure it forever.”

I pull back, holding out her shoulders. “I love your guts, sis.”

“Love yours more,” Beth says, drying her tears with the heels of her palms. She does her best to rally composure but then pins me with big-sister sincerity. “Congrats on today, and promise me, tonight when you fall asleep, do so with a smile on your face. You should be so proud.”

“I will,” I whisper.

And that night, for the first time since…everything, I snuggle up in bed fear-free and no longer wracked with pain. A Cole-shaped ache remains, cookie-cut out of my heart, and it likely always will, but it’s one I can learn to live with.

The weekend replays in my head, which makes me smile. And that’s exactly how I fall asleep.

Twenty-Nine

On Monday morning, theshop’s deserted, but that’s okay. I’ll probably stay closed on Mondays anyway. I settle in behind the counter with my laptop to finish watching a free bookkeeping tutorial.

The brass bell above the door finally jingles an hour later, and I glance up to see a ghost. A pretty ghost with wavy cinnamon-brown hair and a cherub perched on one hip. My muscles jellify, but I rise, screeching my chair against the waxed hardwood. “Hannah.”

A tight smile pulls at her plump mouth. “Hello, Aves.” There’s frostiness in her tone, subtle, but it packs a punch in contrast to her usual easy warmth.

Cringing, I scramble to find words. “You’re not working today?” is all I’ve got, and it comes out fast and jittery with a strong urge to explain myself and make excuses in a rush of verbal diarrhoea. The urge surprises me, but it also tells me something. It tells me I never truly believed Hannah wasinvolved in any of this. But hell, I’ve been wrong and burnt before, so who the fuck knows?

Hannah shrugs. “I took the day off.”

Right. While that might be normal for most people, it’s not for her. She has the immune system of an alligator and a work ethic like her brother’s, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

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