Page 165 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
“I told him that he’d feel the pain of a cricket ball to the eyebrow if he even thought about it this close to the wedding.”
Hazel sat up, laughing, and pulled the mask gloves off her hands. “At least he listened to that.” She paused and looked down at me, rubbing hands together to work in the leftover moisturiser. “What happens now?”
“What do you mean?”
“After the wedding. You’re only here for another, what? Ten days? What do you do when you go back to your regular life?”
I pushed myself up to sitting and slowly pulled off my hand masks. “I… don’t know,” I admitted, laying the gloves in front ofme and mirroring Hazel’s hand movements. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
“You? The ultimate Type-A?”
“This is different. It’s not something I can unilaterally decide on my own.”
“True. Not to mention it involves you having to be honest about your emotions, and that’s not really your strong suit.”
“Eldest daughter syndrome. I’m a product of my environment.” I shot her a look before pulling the sheet off my face with a sigh. “I know. It’s a conversation we have to have. I’m just…”
“Scared.”
I swallowed. “Yeah.”
“Wow. You actually admitted it.” Hazel pulled the mask off. “Dreams do come true.”
I glared at her.
She smiled. “Well, if you ask me—and everyone should.”
That was debatable.
“In my very humble and exceptionally important opinion, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” She pulled off her feet masks, then mine, and gathered all our rubbish to throw in the bin. “If you lined up one hundred blind people and asked them how Thomas felt about you, even they’d be able to see it. I mean, he orchestrated the pulling together of a wedding inthree daysbecause of how much it means to you. He even told me he wasn’t doing it for me and couldn’t give a shit about my feelings.”
Yep, that sounded about right.
“All that is to say…” She grabbed the wine glasses and handed me mine, sitting back on the bed, facing me. “I think he would do whatever you wanted to do. If you wanted a long-distance relationship, he’d move mountains to make it happen. That’s the kind of person he is. That’s what you mean to him.”
I stared into my glass. Tiny bubbles formed as I swilled the wine inside it, making a tiny whirlpool that kept spinning even when I stopped. “I know that, but it’s not that simple, is it? Sure, we could try a long-distance relationship, but based on what? A reconnection over a week-long fling over Christmas? Less than two weeks ago, we were still biting each other’s heads off. What happens if I go back and everything changes? There’s nothing to build a relationship on right now, Hazel.”
“Your feelings are enough.”
“My feelings are—”
“Enough,” she repeated softly. “That’s what makes a relationship work. Not seeing each other face to face every day. Not holding hands and walking across beaches in the sunset or whatever else people do to show off on the Internet. It’s caring. Caring enough to fight for each other, caring enough tochooseeach other every single time, even when it’s hard.”
Wow.
I never thought I’d be getting a relationship therapy session off my little sister, of all people.
“Is that what you do?” I asked. “Choose Julian every time?”
“We choose each other. Over everything. Over everyone. Every single time. We choose us and the life we want to build together.” Hazel reached over and pushed my hair behind my ear with a gentle smile. “He said he’d marry me in an alleyway, you know?”
I returned her smile with a small laugh. “I heard something like that. Isn’t it hard, though?”
“Sure, it’s hard. But that’s what love is. I love him enough to know I would choose him from thousands of miles away, no matter the situation.”
“Sounds like a fairytale.”
“Ah, who knew a woman who provides other people’s happily ever afters could be so cynical?” she teased, nudging mewith her elbow. “You know what you need to do, Sylvie? Choose yourself.”
