Page 48 of By His Play

“I’m going to be standing right by your side through all this. We’ll never convince them, Effie. It’s pointless trying. We have time to figure it all out. It’s not important right now.”

“But everyone thinks you’re engaged. Surely you’re not happy about that.”

I shrug the shoulder I’m not lying on.

“You, Effie Campbell, are more important than what everyone out there thinks of me.”

Leaning forward, I press a quick kiss to the tip of her nose.

“And right now, you need coffee and food,” I announce before throwing the covers off and rolling out of bed.

I keep my back to her as I sink my hand into my sweats to rearrange my morning semi before taking off across the room.

“I’m not hungry,” she whispers predictably.

“That’s okay. It’ll take us a while to bake the cinnamon buns anyway,” I shoot over my shoulder as I leave the room.

I’m sure she wants to argue, but I don’t hear anything as I make my way to the bathroom.

By the time I emerge again, there’s movement in her room. I pause at the doorway to find her sitting at her vanity and staring blankly at a photograph of her and Grams when she was a child.

“I’ll be right there,” she says, her eyes lifting to the mirror so she can see me.

“Whenever you’re ready. No rush.”

She nods. “There are things I need to do.”

With a nod, I duck around the corner and head toward the kitchen.

I might want to be beside her every second of the day, but the reality is that she needs some time alone to try and figure all this out.

Hopefully, once everything here is finalized, she’ll move back to Chicago. But even if she does that, she has her own life, her own apartment. There are going to be plenty of times when I’m not there, especially once the season starts again.

Questions about how we’re going to handle the next few weeks spin around my mind, but I don’t have answers for any of them.

If we don’t immediately deny the rumors, we’re as good as confirming them. But right now, that feels easier than fighting when we should be grieving.

With a loud sigh, I move toward the coffee machine and turn it on before pulling out the ingredients I’ve become all too familiar with since arriving here.

I can make these buns without the recipe now, and even better than that, I can’t remember the last time I burned one. Grams would be so proud.

Not as proud as I know Effie will make her in the next couple of weeks. I do not doubt that her granddaughter is going to give her a send-off full of love and happy memories.

13

EFFIE

My heart is racing and my hand trembles as I lift my cell to my ear and wait.

I hate calling my parents. But it’s definitely preferential to seeing them. That’s a whole level of hell I don’t need in my life.

My body locks up as the first ring pierces through my ear. Kieran hears it too, because his hands tighten around my free one.

One of the nurses at the care home offered to make the call for me. Kieran did as well only minutes ago. But this is something I need to do.

I don’t know why; it’s going to cause me even more pain, but I’m doing it anyway.

It rings and rings, and I start to think that I’ve psyched myself up for this conversation for no reason when it finally connects.

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