Page 55 of The 21-Day Boyfriend
We both laugh before falling into a silence we both know is a prelude to a goodnight neither of us is willing to say yet.
“If you want… Well, I could drop you home?” I ask.
“There’s no need. Besides, as I told you, I like walking.”
“I want to walk you home.”
He studies me for a moment. “But then you’d have to walk back.”
“I drank more than necessary, too. A little air will do me good.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“In that case…” He steps towards me and takes off his scarf, looping it around my neck. “You’d better take this.”
Frozen and flattered by his gesture, I can’t seem to move a muscle, let alone speak.
“It’s cold,” he explains, but I barely hear him. Not when his eyes remind me of warm evenings gathered around the fire; of a new world opening itself up to me. A world I’ve been ignoring for too long.
“Will we go?”
He nods, encouraging me to start walking. I follow, and we wander down the pavement and along to the crossing. It’s not that late, but it’s a cold weekday evening. There aren’t many fool people like us walking on the street.
“Your mother really loved your cooking,” Sean says diplomatically. “She told me she’d never been to the restaurant.”
“The only time she’s ever eaten something I’ve made was when I used to make cakes with the nanny, like she said.”
“Got it.”
“They never accepted it.”
“What?”
“They never approved of the fact I dropped out of my Medicine degree to follow my dream.”
“Were they expecting you to follow in their footsteps?”
“They forced me to,” I say, bitterness simmering in my voice – the same bitterness I always carry with me. “I never wanted that life.”
“What life?”
“Have you seen my parents?”
He smiles.
“My father…” I sigh, my breath disappearing into the frosty night. “I barely saw him for the first twelve, thirteen years of my life.”
Sean frowns.
“He was too busy building a career for himself. He was a stranger to me. He still is,” I say bitterly. “And my mother was so busy trying to grow the family business. Investments, trades… I don’t even really know what I’m talking about, to be honest. I always felt so removed from their world. Does that make sense?”
“It makes perfect sense.”
His polite response makes me smile.
“Your family brought you up so well.”
