Page 76 of Reawakened

My gin catches in my throat. ‘I—No...’

‘Yes! And he told you he loves you, just the way you are.Actuallylovesyou.’ Her brows lift to the ceiling as she throws back a gulp of gin, swallows it audibly. ‘And my God, sis, is he hot.’

‘He’s also twenty years younger than me.’

She frowns. ‘I’m sure he’s not.’

‘Okay, sixteen, but it’s just as bad.’

‘It’s less than the gap between you and Nathan.’

‘I’ve done that argument to death already with myself, with him. I don’t need to go over it again.’

She studies me quietly for several moments and then she places her glass down on the side, takes my hand.

‘Look, Liv, I love you and heaven knows you’ve worried me silly this past year, but part of you had a point.’

‘Part of me? How generous of you.’

She ignores my gibe as she squeezes my hand. ‘Look, I know you and Nathan loved each other, but surely you must see how he changed you, how you changed yourself being with him. It wasn’t healthy. You spent years trying to get Dad’s approval, another two decades hanging off Nathan’s. And now you have a guy telling you he loves you just the way you are...’

‘And?What does that have to do with me having a point?’

‘Correction.Hada point. Because it seems to me you’ve lost your way again. You were all about living each day to the full after Nathan passed, living for the now and making the most of the time you have.’

‘And that’s what I’m doing...or at least trying to.’

‘No, you’re not. Right now, you’re cutting your nose off to spite your face, because you think some time in the future he’s going to regret this, that he’ll commit to you and twenty years down the line wish he’d run a mile.’

‘Christ, I’ll be sixty-five and he’ll be forty-nine.’

‘And?Is that really so shocking? Have you forgotten that there’s fourteen years between Pete and me?’

Her words dance over my heart, a lightness lifting inside.

‘Don’t you think he has a right to decide on what future he wants for himself and if he wants you in it?’ She cups my cheek, her eyes searching mine. ‘Don’t you owe it to him—Christ, don’t you owe it to yourself to give this relationship a shot and let the future land how it may?’

‘God, Fee, when did you get to be so wise?’

‘Hey, I’ve popped out four kids, and I think they take a few brain cells with them each and every time.’

I place my glass on the side next to hers and pull her to me, squeeze her tight. ‘Thank you, sis, thank you.’

‘Does this mean you’re actually going to listen to me for a change?’

‘Yes! Yes, I am.’

‘Bloody hell, look at that!’

She yanks me away from her and points to the sky through the window.

‘What?’

‘You missed it! There was a giant pink pig flying through the air.’

‘Shut up, Fee!’ But I laugh, hard, delirious almost, and it’s overtaken by a child’s gasp.

Billy’s head is poking through a fresh gap in the doorway, his mouth agape, his blue eyes dancing.

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