Page 9 of Milo
I come back to the now and shrug. “And that’s how Niall dragged me back into the land of the living.”
Oz laughs but there’s a softness to his face. “And that was it?”
I nod. “It wasn’t easy. I went to speech therapy and saw the therapist they found for me, but my real salvation was that picture. I swore and cried at the bloody thing, but it was my way back and I took it.” I pause. “Although thinking of the ancestor I discovered under the dirt, I think everyone might have wished that I hadn’t bothered.”
He stops and hugs me, his smaller body strong and warm. “I love you, Milo,” he says fiercely. “And nothing will ever changeit.” He pauses. “Niall’s actually getting easier to love the more stories you tell me about him.”
“I don’t love him,” I say sharply and shake my head emphatically when he looks at me. “I know you think there’s something between us, but there isn’t. I’m not what he’s looking for. He goes for confident people who are the life and soul of the party. He thinks of me as a little brother. Someone to look after and watch over all the time. Someone a bit pathetic who needs rescuing.”
He opens his mouth but the knowledge that he can’t argue with this statement is plain in his face along with a tiny hint of pity, so I rush on. “I don’t want rescuing. I don’t ever want that to happen again. I won’t do anything anymore unless I can see the way it’s going to be. I don’t like surprises. The next time I go out with someone, I want them to be calm and easy-going. I spent too long being swept along by the force of someone’s will to want to go back. I need a clear, safe, and calm path.”
I look out to sea and the red sky and nod to emphasise my point. He looks at me for a long second but then, to my relief, he nods. We walk silently for a few minutes, but my words still seem to hover on the breeze like smoke.
Chapter
Two
You want to leave a baby with me? Have you gone fucking mental?
Milo
I come awake that night suddenly and with a gasp as I realise that someone is in my room.
“Sorry.” Silas’s voice is loud in the quiet. “Sorry to wake you up, Milo, but it’s an emergency.”
I reach over and switch on the bedside lamp and the two of us hiss and shield our eyes for a second. When I uncover them, I cast a quick look at the clock. “What’s the matter?” I ask slowly. “It’s three in the morning.” Then his words sink in and I bolt upright. “What emergency? Is it Cora?”
He shakes his head immediately. “No, calm down. It’s Oz’s mum. She’s fallen and broken her hip.”
“How did she do that?”
“Rollerblading, for God’s sake.” Oz’s voice comes from the doorway and I look up to see him bleary-eyed and dishevelled, dressed in jeans and a crumpled t-shirt and hoody. He’s holding Cora and doing that slight side-to-side sway that I’ve noticed most people do automatically when they’re holding a baby. Anything to stop them from potentially crying.
“Is your mum okay?”
Oz nods. “I’ve spoken to her. She’s in pain, obviously, but she’s in hospital. They’re waiting to see the surgeon in the morning to discuss the options.”
I straighten up, pulling my tangled hair away from my face. “So, you’re obviously going to her. That’s fine. We can manage here.”
Silas shakes his head. “It’s not quite that simple.”
“Why?”
Oz comes nearer the bed. “We can’t take Cora with us. I want to, but Silas isn’t keen on exposing her to a hospital and all those germs. She’s just got over that horrible cold.”
“Oh, okay,” I say slowly. “So who are you leaving her with …?” My words trail off as the two of them look straight at me. “Oh my God,” I say slowly but any other words trail away as heavy footsteps sound on the attic steps outside and Niall appears in the doorway.
He’s rumpled like Oz and wearing pyjama shorts, battered old motorcycle boots, and an ancient-looking hoody, but unlike the rest of us he actually looks rested and alert. “What’s up?” he says deeply. “You said you needed me and it was urgent.” He looks at the three of us with Oz and Silas grouped around the bed with me in it and blinks. “Okay. If you’re thinking of a threesome, I’d totally leave Cora out of the room.”
I shake my head.
“You’re disgusting,” Oz mutters but it’s in a slightly admiring tone. He and Niall always spark off each other.
“I know,” he says happily before his eyes take me in. I self-consciously scrub my hands through my hair, wishing it was tied back. His face darkens. “Is the urgency you, Lo? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I mutter, grabbing my hand back that he’s just seized.
“It’s my mum,” Oz interjects. “She’s fallen and broken her hip and Silas and I need to go to her.”
