Page 100 of Begin Again Again

“Yessss!”

Byron walked in front of her, unlocking his car, and Beth touched her lips just to feel an echo of that small, tender kiss.

“Can I play a song?” she asked when they settled in their seats. She knew exactly what she wanted to listen to while the sunset dipped, and the promise of Byron and burgers was still in front of her.

“Sure,” he said, pulling out his phone. “I’ll get it though, the Bluetooth’s fiddly as fuck. What do you want?”

“‘Never Seen the Rain’ by Tones And I.”

“Got it.”

The opening bars pounded through Byron’s speakers and Beth felt a little embarrassed. It was a pretty girlie song. She cleared her throat. “What do you mean, the Bluetooth’s fiddly?”

“Just weird,” he said, reversing out of the car park. “Siri always connects without me asking and plays my messages out loud.”

Beth saw Byron’s phone light up on the dashboard, the words‘play my messages out loud’flashing up on screen. “Um, I think—”

‘You have two new messages from Baby. Baby said, “What have you been up to? I miss you. Kissing face emoji. Red love heart emoji. Cat heart eyes emoji.”’

Byron scrambled for his phone, but he seemed to be moving underwater, unable to save either of them.

‘Baby said, “I mean it, I really miss you. Peach emoji. Sweat droplets emoji. Kissing cat emoji.”’

Beth flinched so hard something in her neck twanged. The worst part was the emojis, she thought. Because she wasn’t going to be able to tell anyone about this without them laughing at her.

Chapter 15

Byron lay on his back listening to Brahms’ Symphony no. 1. His sheets still smelled like Beth. His head felt like it was splitting open. The music washed over him in a rolling boil as he tried to concentrate his thoughts on the melody, over his head and away. His phone buzzed. He picked it up expecting Beth, expecting Audrey, but Sal’s name flashed in front of his eyes.

Come pick me up? Please?

He stared at their message. Symphony no. 1 melted into Hungarian Dance, an unwelcome acceleration. There were five days until Christmas. Couldn’t they keep their shit together for five more days? He checked his watch—midnight. He did the mental calculations. He’d stopped drinking around nine. He should be fine. He unlocked his phone.

Be there in 20.

He stood, collected his keys and pulled out his AirPods. Derek was downstairs, watching The Witcher, Tracy tucked under his arm. They both turned to look at him.

“Where you headed?” Derek asked.

Byron grabbed his wallet and shoved it into his back pocket. “To get my sister.”

“Oh, you’resucha good brother!” Tracy smiled at Derek, as though he was the one going to get Sal. Derek returned his gaze to the TV.

Byron cleared his throat. “D, I’m gonna bring them back here if they need somewhere to stay.”

He didn’t turn around. “Sure thing.”

Byron toed on his Nikes and headed for the front door.

“Bye,” Tracy called after him.

She was nice, but Byron had a feeling she was on the way out. Whenever Derek started watching TV with girls, they usually only stuck around another week. He unlocked his car and climbed in. His headlight illuminated Tracy’s BMW, showing the pink dice fixed around her mirror. Something about it made him miserable. Why did Derek go through the bullshit of getting a girl all excited, almost clicking, almost making the commitment while knowing he was going to pull the plug? But wasn’t that exactly what Beth had accused him of tonight? Stringing her on? Moving the goal posts?

Byron started the Hilux, turned up Kerala Dust and headed to Sal. The roads to his parents’ place were still wet. It had been raining when Beth arrived. He’d met her at the door and found her dancing on the spot, her hands over her head.

“What’s that doing for you?” he’d asked.

She’d stuck her tongue out at him. “A lot more than you are. Let me in, ass-clown. I’m wet.”

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