Page 71 of Be With Me (Adair Family 4)

Clasping my face in his hands, Arran looked deep in my eyes. “Now you listen to me, Eredine Willows. You did all you could to protect Kia. To get justice for her. Sometimes corruption wins, and it’s fucking awful, and I can’t even imagine the depth of your anger … but the very fact that you live each day treating everyone with patience and kindness and gentleness … I have never met anyone as strong or as good as you. And I won’t let you feel guilty for doing something I know, without even having known her, that your sister would have wanted you to do. You lived, Ery. You’re living. And maybe this new you is broken, but we’re all a little broken. I just need you to be you. I’m not going anywhere.”

Gratitude for this man sank heavily into my bones, and I wrapped my arms around him, breathing him in, feeling his tight embrace and hoping that his compassion could bring me a whisper of peace.

28

ARRAN

Much to my relief, Eredine slept through the night. I worried that after everything she’d confessed, the darkness of her past would keep her awake. Instead, she curled up in my arms, and though she stirred a few times during the night, I managed to soothe her back to sleep.

Around six o’clock when we were usually up and preparing for our run, I called my brother, and quietly, so as not to wake Eredine, explained what had happened. That she’d told me everything. I told him Ery wouldn’t be in to work that day and neither would I, and he understood. He asked if she was okay, and I told him I’d make sure of it.

After we finished, I nestled next to the woman at my side who elicited feelings I honestly never thought myself capable of. Not once did it cross my mind to be afraid of her baggage, to worry if I had the emotional capacity to support her. I only cared about protecting her from any more hurt. About making sure I was there for her in case opening that trunk had opened old wounds.

Exhausted, Ery slept right through until around eleven a.m. She woke groggy and in a panic that she’d missed work until I told her I’d called Lachlan and he’d given her the day off.

We made breakfast, talking softly, the shift between us noticeable. It wasn’t a bad shift. The opposite. There was something deeper between us that hadn’t been there before. Like we’d been attached by a string since the moment we met, and that string had pulled us closer and closer over the weeks until there was barely space between us.

“Do you feel like getting out of the house for a while?” I asked as we ate.

Eredine shook her head, her curls wild this morning. “Everywhere will be packed with tourists.”

It was true. Even the trails were busier during the summer months.

“Stay here, then?”

She considered that. “We could go for a drive up the coast.”

“A drive it is, then. I’ll need to stop at my place to get a change of clothes.”

“Why don’t you do that after breakfast while I shower?” Ery tugged on a curl. “I didn’t prep my hair last night, so I’ll need to figure out something to do with it.”

“Prep your hair?” I gave her a teasing smile.

“Hey”—she pointed a fork at me—“you have no idea the amount of product and energy that goes into caring for curls.”

“I do. I’ve watched you.” I grinned, feeling smug that I knew Ery’s haircare routine because I’d been there to see it in action. It was something no one else knew about her, an intimacy between just us. Among other things.

“So. You get ready while I get ready, yes?”

Unease shifted through me. “I’ll wait with you and then you can come with me, and we’ll set off from my place.”

She lifted her gaze to meet mine. “I’m okay, Arran. You can leave me alone for an hour. I won’t break down.”

“I’m not okay,” I told her honestly. “I need to be with you right now. As long as that’s all right with you.”

Ery reached across the dining table and covered my hand with hers. “That’s all right with me.”

* * *

We were about half an hour into our leisurely drive around the coast, the Range Rover’s AC blasting, our sunshades down, sunglasses on, as the humid, sunny weather of the past week continued. It had been an unseasonably warm summer so far. “Did you ever find out anything about your father once you moved to LA with your granny?” I asked.

If Eredine was startled by the question, she didn’t show it. “No. Kia and I asked, of course. But Granny said she didn’t know who he was, and we believed her. I often wondered if it was partly the cause of the rift between her and my mom.”

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