Page 107 of The Wedding Pact
‘I’m sorry about that,’ Flynn said, re-entering the living room after his shower and seeing August curled up on her big green armchair. His flight home had been smooth sailing, way nicer than the trip over last summer. Perhaps it was because, back then, he had been leaving the familiar and entering the unknown. This time he was returning to August.
‘About the underwear thing? Don’t worry about it.’ August stood up and faced him, and it was as if neither quite knew how to behave, like there was an invisible layer of ice to crack through before they could get back to normal. ‘How was Japan?’
‘It was … ’ Flynn couldn’t find the words, not because he didn’t know them but because he lost himself in her face. So instead he smiled, and pulled her into a hug. ‘Hi.’
‘Hi,’ she laughed against him, the tension breaking. ‘Welcome home.’
They broke apart and Flynn sat on the sofa while she returned to her chair. ‘Japan was good, great even, you were right, it was exactly what I needed.’
‘I’m so glad,’ she replied, and he searched her face to try and guess what she was thinking. ‘You look happier.’
‘I think I am.’
‘Did you manage to see Yui?’
‘Yes, it was really nice.’ He paused, wanting to tell her all about it, to open his heart to her about how he felt, but she seemed a little distracted. Was it because of what just happened with Callie? August was close with her, so if Callie felt betrayed it was bound to be playing on her mind. ‘How are you? How have your last couple of weeks been?’
‘Good,’ she smiled. ‘Actually, I got to know Abe a little more, he’s been visiting his mum a lot while you’ve been gone.’
Did he imagine it or was she holding her breath, waiting for his reaction?
‘You did?’ Flynn swallowed.
‘Yeah, he’s a good guy, actually. We get along well.’
His indecision, his lack of spontaneity, all these things about himself he so desperately wanted to change, but was it all too late? Had he lost her?
Not knowing how to respond, he changed the subject. ‘That thing with Callie just then … that didn’t sound good.’
August grew sad and serious all at once; it was a face he rarely saw.
‘I feel bad, Flynn,’ August admitted, knotting her hands together. ‘Callie definitely knows something’s off. I feel really bad for lying to her, and Mrs Haverley, and our other neighbours. Do you?’
‘I do, I have for a while,’ he answered.
‘How would you feel … ’ August paused, unable to form the words. She gulped, and let the words blurt out; as was always her way. ‘How would you feel about us coming clean? Telling everyone the truth? Stopping this façade?’
‘Is it because of him?’ Flynn asked, quietly.
August took a beat. ‘Abe?’
Flynn and August locked their gaze, and he knew the answer without her having to say it. He wasn’t angry – what right would he have had to be angry? – but he missed her without her even taking a step away from him. He missed the way she’d kissed him, he missed her climbing into his bed, he missed the way she was unafraid around him and how she brought his life colour.
Everything would need to change if she and Abe became a couple. Even if they kept living under the same roof, for a while, that wouldn’t last for ever.
August spoke, breaking him from his thoughts. ‘It’s a little bit about Abe, but it’s mainly just about us. I don’t want to pretend and lie and live my life this way anymore. Do you?’
Chapter 81
August
August let Flynn sleep off his jet lag the next day, and took charge buying some supplies for the neighbour drinks that evening. She didn’t buy much – to be honest she was hoping to have everyone in and out in under an hour, so she could have a good talk with Flynn.
He’d come back, and she didn’t know what that meant, but she knew she was more pleased to see him than anything else she felt right now.
In the afternoon she crept into his room, where he was snoring softly, and climbed onto his bed.
‘Flynn?’ she whispered. She watched him, not in a creepy way, but just for a minute so she could remember him like this if it turned out they needed to go their separate ways.
