Henry grinned.
Henry:I think you got off lightly.
Dom:Me too. She made my brothers sing Christmas carols when they broke her light-up Santas. By the front of the café as people were coming in.
Henry laughed againand hurried to reply.
Henry:She sounds fearsome.
Dom:Nah, she’s five foot four and soft as a brush. They just wanted to get in her good books to get free cakes.
Henry:Is that why you’re wearing antlers?
Dom:Busted.
Okay. So maybe Dom wanted to try and be friends first before meeting up again? Henry could do that. Play the texting game while they found their feet back in their normal lives.
He only had a few more minutes left on his break, so he hurriedly texted back.
Henry:Fair enough. I’d wear antlers for free cake.
Henry: Got to get back to work now, chat later.
He hesitated before hitting Send, finger hovering over the x key, but didn’t press it. Dom hadn’t added a kiss to any of his messages after all. With a sigh, he sent it off, and returned his phone to his locker.
Only another three hours to go.
* * *
Henry went straightfrom work to Ella’s. She’d offered to cook him tea in exchange for details about his holiday.
Since he’d probably tell her everything anyway, Henry figured he was getting the better deal. He checked his phone as he parked on her drive. Dom hadn’t sent him anything since their conversation earlier. Not that Henry had sent anything either, but then Henry had worked until eight o’clock in the end. Surely Dom finished earlier than that?
Henry frowned. He actually had no idea what time garden centres stayed open till.
But then Dom didn’t have to message him. It wasn’t as though they were together or anything. Tired of looking for hidden meanings in everything, and just fucking tired in general, Henry got out of his car and shoved his phone in his back pocket.
Ella would kill him if he sat staring at it all night.
“Henry!” She greeted him at the door with a hug and a smile.
He sank into her arms, closing his eyes and hugging her back for a long moment. As annoying as his sister could be, she was also his rock when his life invariably turned to shit.
She gave him a curious look when they separated. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just tired.” He ushered her back into the house when she seemed about to interrogate him. “Something smells good.” Praising her culinary skills was a sure-fire way to distract.
Always worked like a charm.
“Mum finally got round to sending me her lasagne recipe, so I thought you could be my guinea pig.”
“You’ve only got one brother, remember.”
Rolling her eyes, she turned and headed into the kitchen, Henry hot on her heels.
Distraction techniques aside, it did smell amazing, and he was starving.
“I bought the garlic bread,” she said, fetching a tray out of the oven. “Couldn’t be arsed faffing about with that.”
