“You’re a lot more forgiving than me,” Milo said as he looked across at Alfie, the tiniest smile curling the corner of his mouth. It was a sight which frightened me more than his anger.
“Yeah, well, I’ve made a lot of mistakes this summer too.”
“You didn’t break Jonathan’s heart though.”
“I nearly did,” he said softly, a sadness crossing his face that made my chest ache. “I’m doing for you what Theo and Laurie did for me: giving you a chance to fix your mistakes before you ruin your life.”
“I think I’ve already ruined it,” I said, trying not to give in to the despondency threatening to cling to me. Darcy deserved so much, and I didn’t want to hurt him. Not again.
“If that’s your attitude, then yes you have. But if you try, then who knows? Things might just turn out all right.”
“As long as you grovel,” Milo said. “If not, I will set fucking seagulls on you. It might be illegal to weaponize drones in this country, but there’s nothing illegal about weaponizing birds. Don’t think I won’t do it, because I will.”
“I believe you.” I’d seen Milo feeding the gulls near the bins before and I had no doubt he’d be able to turn them into his own private, demon army. And if there was any bird I wasn’t keen to pick a fight with, it was the British seagull. They were utter bastards.
Looking between him and Alfie, the tiny prickle of hope in my stomach began to spread. I still didn’t really know what Iwanted with my life, not completely. But I did know one thing. It had to include Darcy.
Because without him, my life would be meaningless.
I could search the world a million times over and never find someone like him, and I would be the biggest dumbass imaginable to let him slip through my fingers. Yeah, there was a chance he might not want me, but I had to try. If not, I’d never forgive myself.
“Where is he?” I asked as I took a step forward across the cold sand.
“At home, I think,” Alfie said, putting his hand out to stop Milo from following me. “Why?”
I smiled slightly as I turned to jog across the beach to grab my stuff. “Because I have some grovelling to do.”
Chapter Twenty
Darcy
I didn’t really feellike getting out of bed. I simply wanted to lie there, under the duvet, and rot while scrolling mindlessly through my phone.
I knew I should get up.
That I should shower and get ready for work and maybe eat something.
But I couldn’t find the energy to do any of it.
Everything seemed pointless and I wasn’t convinced getting up and doing things would make me feel any better. I hadn’t taken a day off from work since Lick It! had opened, but maybe now was the time to start. Milo and Alfie would understand, especially since things were starting to get quieter, and if all else failed they could close up early. Nobody would mind.
And if anyone asked, I’d say I’d had a terrible headache and hadn’t been able to get out of bed.
It was sort of the truth anyway.
I scrolled down through my Reels again, a tiny smile pushing at the corner of my mouth as I watched a video of a man holdinga tiny squeaking, chattering bird of prey on his hand. I’d never realised they were so loud.
Mind you the local seagulls were noisy as fuck, so I didn’t know why I was surprised. Although the bird in the video was much cuter than a seagull. I hoped Milo didn’t see anything like this and get ideas.
I didn’t think seagulls were that trainable.
There was a sharp buzzing noise from outside my room, which meant someone had pushed the button by the front door. I lifted my head slightly and frowned, wondering who the fuck it could be. Maybe an Amazon delivery for Milo? Whatever it was, it wasn’t for me.
The buzzing sounded again, twice in quick succession.
Why the fuck wasn’t Milo answering it? Unless he’d already left for the day. Or he’d gone out and forgotten his keys and needed me to let him back in for something. Probably his phone since he hadn’t messaged me to let him in.
I was going to have to get him one of those extendable clip things to put his keys on, so he always had them with him. Or a second set for his bag.
