Page 35 of Let Me Love You (Excess All Areas 5)

“You can do whatever you think,” she said. “Just…the pictures and that. Put them back where they were.”

Pictures of the five of them growing up, pictures of her with their grandad. And the ones of her with the celebrities she once knew. “I can do that, Nan. We were just going to paint everything a very similar colour to what it is. Kitchen cupboards, walls and the like.”

“Can you paint the kitchen pale grey and white? I’m a bit fed up with those cream cupboards. Maybe whiter than cream, in general. Bit fresher.”

Ben stood and sat on the side of the bed, holding his nan’s hand. “We can do anything you want. If you get inspired, just message me, yeah?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. “You look sad, Ben.”

Did he? He’d tried hard to soldier on.

“Did you chat with Chaya?”

Ben nodded. “We did. She picked up her stuff. We’re…” On a time-out. Taking a break. Never going to speak to each other ever again. “Apart.”

Nan squeezed his hand. “It’s a start.”

“A start of what, though?”

“Who knows, Ben. That’s the mystery of it. But the path you were on was going nowhere. Not forwards or backwards. Sometimes you have to wobble, to feel unstable, to find better footing.”

“She called me last night. She’d had a crash. Gone straight into the back of someone else’s car. And I’m worried about her.”

“But she’s made a choice to let it be someone else’s job to worry about her.”

“I can worry about her too, though.”

“If you werejusta friend, like you are with Iz or Willow or Zoe or Cerys. You could call them up and check in and it would be fine. But you and Chaya and Asher know it’s not. You’re a love triangle.”

“We aren’t. It’s not like we’ve…”

“Kissed? Had sex?”

“Jesus Christ, Nan.”

Nan closed her eyes and smiled again. “You seem to have forgotten that your very existence came about because of kissing and sex.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to chat with you about it.”

“All I’m saying is love has many forms. And if Chaya wasn’t so set on adhering to her religion and customs, you two would have been doing the horizontal tango a long time ago.”

“Can we stop please, Nan?”

“No.”

“I thought you wanted me to step back.”

“I said I wanted you to be happy. That’s all I ever wanted. I said be selfish. Don’t waste your life. But decide.”

“Wise words, Nan.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I’ll tell the others to give you some space today. Maybe just Mum for a little bit after work. You need anything else before I go?”

Nan shook her head. “No thanks, love.”

Ben left the hospital and drove home. Just as he’d let himself in the front door, his phone rang.

“Hey, Chaya,” he said, noticing that his heart had sped up a little. Not a good sign that he was on his way to being over her anytime soon.

His Nan’s word came to him.

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