Page 112 of The Bad Wedding Date

Did the responsibility of her tiredness lie solely with Matteo Vega, or were there other things making her hide away in this place, covering herself in clothes too large for her slim body?

“Mum, this is Charlotte,” Fraser said.

“Hi.” I offered her a small smile, feeling awkward about being in her personal space, which consisted of basic furnishings, cream walls, and beige carpets. Something told me she valued that above all else. “Nice to meet you.”

Keira held my gaze, her face blank, making me wilt under it. Time seemed to pass slowly with her looking at me, and I saw Fraser take a step forward. I could have sworn he opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get any words out, Keira moved. She marched across the apartment until she was standing in front of me, only inches away. A moment passed in silence, and then she wrapped her arms around my body and pulled me into her, her chin resting on my shoulder as she squeezed me tightly.

I froze, unsure what to do. Looking up at Fraser, I hoped to see some kind of advice, but he looked as caught out by the moment as I was. His brows high, lips parted.

“I knew it would happen,” Keira whispered against my shoulder. “I knew it wasn’t impossible.”

I didn’t know what the hell that meant. She pulled away, standing in front of me to hold my cheeks in her hands, and I saw her pale blue eyes were covered in unshed tears.

“I’ve waited years for you, Charlotte,” she said quietly.

“It’s nice to know someone is pleased to see me,” I said to Keira. I had a lot of experience with these kind of interactions with the men and women at my care home. Not everything made sense, but it was always best to let them believe that it did so as not to create more distress or confusion. If Keira was currently mixing me up with somebody else, or she’d had a momentary lapse in composure, who was I to make her feel like an idiot for it?

“You can see it in him, can’t you?” she asked in a whisper, as though Fraser wasn’t right there beside us. “You can see what I’ve been begging him to show to the world for thirty years.”

“What is it that you see?” I asked her.

“That he’s capable of living.”

“He’s as capable as any of us.”

Keira nodded a little frantically, her eyes locked on mine like she daren’t blink in case I disappeared. “He’s capable than most of us. And you… you’re it.”

“It?”

“What he’s going to live for.”

Side-eyeing Fraser, I saw him rub his hand over his mouth and beard before he rested it on Keira’s shoulder, trying to bring her attention back to him. Keira shrugged him off, a small smile lingering on her dry lips.

“He’ll tell us both I’m talking nonsense when I let you go. That’s what he’ll say. It’s what he always says when I see things he doesn’t want me to see or things he hasn’t seen for himself yet. But…” She laughed, a mere huff of amusement I imagined she’d been waiting to set free for a decade as it lit up her eyes and brought a rush of blood to her pale cheeks. “I saw you together just now in the carpark. I saw more than he wanted to show, I’m sure.”

Reaching up to hold her hands against my cheeks, I brought them down between us, keeping eye contact and my face light, despite the rapid racing of my pulse.

“Your son is one of the best men I’ve ever met,” I told her because Keira deserved the truth. “You should be very proud.”

“How does he make you feel?” she asked, begging me to share a secret with a conspiratory smile on her face.

“How does he make me… feel?”

She nodded once.

“Well… I…” I glanced at Fraser, who looked completely frozen in place, before I looked back at Keira. “Safe. He makes me feel safe.”And loved,I added in my own mind, shocking myself with that little admission.

I knew he cared, but I had no idea how far his feelings ran on that front.

Everything had happened so quickly, but all I could go on were the things Fraser did rather than the things he said. His actions over his words. Him bringing me here and letting me meet his mum was something I’d never expected so soon into our… whatever the hell we were.

“He makes you feel safe,” she said in a breath. Keira seemed to linger on the word ‘safe’ until the light went out of her eyes and her shoulders sagged, the answer clearly a disappointment. “That sounds like Fraser.” She dropped her hands and turned around to walk back to the window that overlooked the ocean, her back to us.

I caught Fraser’s eye, wondering how I’d messed up so quickly. Had she wanted more from me? Maybe for me to tell her that her son made me feel like I was constantly riding on a rollercoaster, and his company was nothing but exhilarating, even in the quiet moments, because my heart never stopped racing when he was nearby.

“Safety first. Living second,” Keira said, pulling her cardigan around her as she stared out of the window.

“That’s not what I meant—” I tried to say, only to be cut off by Fraser.

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