Page 17 of A Breath of Fresh Air

“And Ellie will be a short flight away with her millions of dollars. She can travel the world! You’ll see her just as often as you do now, you can guarantee that. And I’ll probably be dead by then, so that doesn’t affect me.”

“Dad!”

“I’m just being realistic. I’ve lived a good life. I want you to live a good life.”

“You lost Mum early.” Dad never remarried, never had any other partners. Once he lost Mum, that was it.

“I did. But you know what, I had thirty happy years with her before that, and they were the best bloody years of my life. I wouldn’t change it for a thing, even if I’d only gotten to love her for a year, I still would have loved her.Anytime with her was worth it. That’s how you know they’re the one. Is he worth it?”

I nod, staring out the window at the trees that line the retirement village grounds. I’ve been a bloody fool.

Of course he’s worth it.

I toywith the idea of just showing up at his place completely unannounced. The part of me that loves to avoid big problems wants to do that, but it’s foolish and cowardly. Still, I hold off on messaging him until I’m already on the ferry. It’s a freezing, crisp air, still ocean kind of morning, and I send him a photo of my car on the boat, the stunning Hauraki Gulf in the background.Guess where I’m heading,I caption it. I buy myself a coffee from the small cafeteria on the upper deck, and settle into one of the seats that overlooks the car deck below.

Brett sees the message but doesn’t reply, and I feel sick to my stomach. I’ve fucked this up. Really fucked this up, and he’s not going to want anything to do with me.

The wharf for the car ferry is on the quieter side of the island, away from the passenger ferries and the larger hoards of tourists. I’ve always enjoyed the scenery in this bay, but it’s something else on the shore that catches my attention as I climb down the steps from the upper level.

There’s a wolf on the beach, and I recognise him immediately. Tears blur my vision as I lift a hand to wave at him, and when his loud bark echoes across the bay, his tail wagging, I burst into tears. I’m a sobbing mess as I drive my car off the boat and pull into the very first carpark on the wharf.

He’s already there when I open my door, whining and licking the tears from my face as I cry even louder. I’m vaguely aware that there’s some onlookers with their phones pointed in our direction, but I couldn’t care less right now. Brett’s huge wolf body shudders as he shifts, and in an instant he’s a man, naked, pulling me into his arms, wrapping me up in his warmth.

I love him. It’s not about the fact that he’s a sex god or that he has a handsome face or the fact that he’s got his shit together and is a decent man, though he is all of those wonderful things. It’s justhim.

“Hey,” he says softly, rubbing my arms. “Hey,” he repeats, tilting my chin up, wiping tears from my eyes. His yellow eyes are full of warmth. “Hey,babe, you don’t need to cry.”

“I’m sorry,” I blubber. “I’ve been a fucking idiot.”

He shakes his head. “You were scared. Change is scary.”

“It’s been shit without you around. I missed you so much…” I missed his texts and his voice messages, the random videos he would send. I missed our friendship just as much as I missed all the physical chemistry between us. “I can move here. You deserve better than me, but I…I…” I trail off,stillsomehow afraid to say how I feel. You’d think I’d be braver at fifty, but I’ve built a wall around me for so long and now it’s all crumbling down.

He can see that. The wonderful thing about Brett is that he makes everything easy. Nothing is too much for him to handle. “I love you,” he says, as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.

And suddenly, it is.

His kiss is all-consuming. I want to drown in him, but eventually I come up for air.

“I love you too.”

I cuddle into him, laughing when he notices the crowd watching us for the first time. “Hey, fuck off, would ya!” he yells, gesturing for them to leave. “And you better bloody not have any pictures of my bare ass!”

“Come on,” I half-laugh, half-sob, tugging on his hand. “Get in the car. I’ll drive us home.”

EPILOGUE

JANUARY

Glass doors open ahead of us and my new suitcase — a gift from Ellie — rolls over the polished floor, the wheels snagging only slightly on the small lip of the doorway. Hot air hits me as soon as I step through from the air-conditioned terminal to the pavement outside, and I grin, tears pricking at my eyes behind my sunglasses.

Twenty eight years and I’m travelling again.

“Babe.”

Brett’s huge hand grabs mine, tugging me against him. I breathe in the smell of him, pressing a kiss to his broad chest. His smile matches my own.

“Amaia,” Alice says, smiling sweetly at me. She has her father’s grin — complete with sharp canines — and his yellow eyes. Everything else about her, from her button nose to her mousy brown hair, is from her lovely human mother. “When we get to my Nan’s house, can we have ice cream? It’s so hot!”

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