Page 156 of Worth Every Penny

EPILOGUE

“A little to the left,” Mum directs Jack as he stands on a chair, a pencil between his teeth. He has one of Dad’s favourite paintings against the wall, moving it millimeter by millimeter until Mum is happy. “That’s it. There.”

Jack snorts, his sweat-damp hair clinging to his forehead. The house is muggy, despite the back doors to the pool being wide open. There’s barely a breeze outside.

A few weeks after we got back from New York, we headed down to Mum’s for the weekend to help with unpacking Dad’s art collection. Seeing as she hasn’t found a new boyfriend yet, or decided to move anyone else into the house, we’re putting them all back up. Curtis’ supposed art collection was nothing more than a load of cheap posters. Jack suggested we donate them to charity, but Mum’s intent on burning the lot on a bonfire in the field next door after sunset. It’s symbolic, or so she says.

I hold the painting at one edge, taking some of the weight so Jack can make a pencil line on the top. Then he sticks the pencil behind his ear and climbs down, propping the picture against the wall.

Jack scans his work down the hall, where a few of the pictures already hang. They’re not entirely level and the sight makes me giggle.

“What?” Jack says.

“They’re wonky.”

Jack scratches the back of his neck. “Are not.”

“Actually, darling, they are a little uneven,” Mum says. “Maybe you should start again.”

Jack swears and throws the pencil to the floor. “Fuck’s sake. I need a drink. Anyone else?”

“I don’t know why you didn’t pay someone to do this for you,” Nico drawls. He’s leaning against the opposite wall, a glass of scotch in his hand. “Or asked me to help.”

“I didn’t think it would be this bloody hard,” Jack says. “I bet you’ve never hung a picture in your life.”

Nico pushes off the wall. “Actually, I hung one last night. In Kate’s apartment.”

His lips part in a gorgeous smile, which never fails to take my breath away. He’s wearing swim trunks and a t-shirt, a pair of sunglasses pushed back in his thick dark hair.

He brought the reframed charcoal sketch of Dad over last night and proceeded to get out the toolbox and hang it in the sitting room. I know it was just a hammer and a nail, but there was something undeniably sexy about him rolling his sleeves up and setting about doing the job himself. Even Marie was late to her shift as she stopped to watch him work.

Elly was worried that my dad looking down on our sitting room would upset me on a daily basis, but I like to think I’ve done enough healing to look at his face and remember the man who loved me, not the one who lied to me. I know he’s both, but they’re two halves that make a more genuine whole.

“Why don’t you fix these for me then, instead of standing there grinning like an idiot?” Jack argues.

Nico smiles, raising his glass in a mocking toast to Jack before taking a sip. “I’ll sort it.”

Jack scowls, flips him the middle finger, and stomps off to the kitchen. Cupboard doors creak open and slam, and ice clinks aggressively in a glass.

“You shouldn’t wind him up,” I reprimand.

Nico pulls out his phone, presses a few buttons and fires off a quick message.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve got a couple of my guys on standby to come and hang the pictures. Jack was never going to be able to do it all himself.” He pulls me towards him, pressing my body against his. “And with you dressed in this”—he tugs at the turquoise beach dress that flows loosely over my body, covering a white bikini beneath—“I can think of other ways I’d prefer to spend the afternoon.”

“My goodness, you two. I’m blushing,” Mum cries, hands pressed to her cheeks.

I’d forgotten she was still there, and from the widening of Nico’s eyes as he steps back, so had he.

“Sorry, Mrs Lansen,” he says before glancing at me and winking. “But you have the most irresistible daughter.”

“Oh, Nico.” Mum giggles, flapping a limp-wristed hand at him. “She gets that from me, of course. I was quite the beauty in my youth.”

Nico suppresses a smile, and I hide mine behind a cupped hand.

His phone buzzes and he glances at the screen. “They’ll be here in half an hour.”

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