Page 81 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

And when he kissed her, she believed it.

“Nan,” Alex yelled as he stepped through the open front door. The smell of her cooking hit him first. There’d be a joint of roast beef, Matt and Jase’s favourite, and a ham hock because it was his and Ben’s. And he’d bet his last pound that there would be fairy cakes. A shit ton of them given their numbers kept growing.

“My boys,” Nan shouted, bustling towards them. “Happy birthday for next week, Alex. Your present is next to the couch. Oh, look at the two of you.”

Nan hyper-enunciated every word and syllable, each one pronounced at decibels twice as loud as normal while looking straight at Zoe with a gaze so intense, he expected laser beams to shoot out of her eyes.

Alex stepped between them and hugged her. “Just speak normally, Nan,” he whispered. “You make it harder when you shout.”

Nan nodded and hugged Zoe. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Zoe reassured her. “Really.”

“How were the cinnamon buns? Did you enjoy them?”

“The icing was even more amazing than normal, Nan,” he said, but he winked at Zoe, laughing as her eyes went wide.

Ben and Chaya came in behind them and Nan moved on to hug his brother, and Alex took Zoe’s hand to go greet his mum.

“Hey,” he said, bending down to kiss her where she sat on the couch. “Did you get all your books set up?”

“Hi, Alex. Zoe. I did. Looks lovely. I curled up under a blanket and read for two hours last night.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Zoe said.

“It sounds bloody pathetic,” his dad grumbled. “Grown woman behaving like a kid with a blanket and books. Be making dens and forts next.”

Alex turned to face his dad. “What’s bloody pathetic is you. Drunk. Miserable. Shitting on something that makes someone else happy.”

His dad sucked in a deep breath of air, his chest puffing out like it always did when he was angry.

“You don’t get to come in here and—”

“Come in where?” Nan asked, barging in-between Alex and his dad. “Come into my house? Sit in my chair? Drink my whiskey? I’ve had enough of you and your mouth.”

“Nan,” Alex urged, shifting so he stood between his dad and all the women he cared about. Between his mum, his nan, and his…Zoe.

He turned back to his father. “Shut up or leave.”

Muttering beneath his breath, his dad slumped back into the chair.

Zoe wrapped her hands around his bicep, squeezed it, then tugged him away. Alex kept his gaze on his father until they stood in the opposite corner of Nan’s living room, near the stairs.

She pointed to him, then gave him a thumb’s up sign that she circled in the air in front of him. “Are you okay?” she mouthed.

Alex formed a fist and pretended he was knocking on a door. He nodded just in case he’d got the sign for yes wrong.

“What did he say? I couldn’t lipread because honestly, your dad has way too much spittle and it makes me feel a little ill.”

He leaned closer so she could hear him, yet still lipread. “Shaming mum for loving her little library.”

“That’s awful, Alex,” she said, stepping into his space, wrapping her hands around his waist. “He’s terrible to both of you. Your mum is a lovely woman and reading is the greatest of hobbies. And who you are is truly incredible. As a person and a musician.”

He let her words sink in. Respect laced every word and he suddenly felt surer of himself. More certain it didn’t matter how things went with his father today, the two of them would still be okay.

Zoe stepped back from him. “You know, if you practise sign language enough, we could call your dad a motherfucker right in front of him and he’d never know,” she whispered.

He took a deep breath, reached for her hand, and pulled it to his lips. “I think that’s an awesome idea.”

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