‘I knew it,’ Richard interrupted, lip curled. ‘I knew you were lying about him the moment I saw those clothes. How long has this been going on then, hmm?’
Trapped behind our legs, Charlie barked at Richard. Something I wished it was socially acceptable for me to do, honestly.
‘Oh, for God’s sake – I haven’t been seeing Cooper behind your back,’ I snapped, even though technically I had sort of nearly kissed him before Richard started banging on the door. But that was slightly different – I had been about to break up with Richard. Bloody well would have if he’d bothered coming home or been there when I woke up. He was on borrowed time as it was.
‘Sure, I believe that,’ Richard scoffed. ‘You must think I’m an idiot.’
‘And what do you think I am, if you really thought I’d buy that you were out with Rob, after you told me he was spending a fortnight in Tenerife!’ I couldn’t keep my voice from rising, ringing out over the canal and sending a moorhen thrashing across the water as if terrified of being included in our drama. That or it was off to spread the gossip to its little moorhen friends.
Richard’s mouth clamped shut and his eyes flicked from me to Cooper and back again. I could see him looking for an excuse or a way to turn this around and get angry with me all over again – for ‘spying’ or ‘checking up’ on him and I didn’t want to wait for that.
‘Richard, I made a mistake taking you back,’ I said, as firmly as possible. Cooper’s hand in mine made it easier to look Richard in the eye and make him hear me. ‘I think I was right the first time.’
‘Are you breaking up with me?’ Richard sputtered.
‘I think that’s fairly obvious,’ Adelaide surprised me by interjecting. ‘Now can you piss off so I can talk to my brother?’
Richard glared at her, then back at me. ‘We’re not over until I agree we are!’ Richard stamped on the deck and I caught Cooper’s wince out of the corner of my eye as the heel of Richard’s shoe left a dent in the old wood. ‘And I think you need to take responsibility for your part in…’
‘You screwing someone else on her handmade blanket?’ Cooper said, reaching up and leaning against the doorframe in what I realised was an attempt to look taller than Richard. Bless him. ‘What happened, she left an impractical boot on the floor and you tripped and fell into someone else?’
A laugh squeaked out of me and Richard shot me a poisonous look. Behind him I saw Adelaide’s eyebrows fly up. Clearly, she hadn’t expected so much extra drama when she confronted her brother. But she didn’t seem displeased. If anything, there was a smile struggling to escape through her huffy demeanour.
‘Maybe if she spent more time on me and less on her fucking knitting, I wouldn’t have gone elsewhere,’ Richard sniffed.
‘Crochet,’ Cooper and I said at the same time. I squeezed his fingers and he nudged against me. Richard looked at the pair of us in disgust.
‘Whatever!’ Richard clenched his fists. ‘That’s still no excuse to go off and screw the first… homeless river dweller you come across. God, have some self-respect, Tabs. He’sancient.’
Adelaide’s startled laugh was like a blackbird’s call, and she covered her mouth immediately. Cooper glared at her and I couldn’t believe I’d ever thought they might be married. That was pure sibling communication. The universal language of ‘oh sure, you can find it funny, but just you wait’.
‘I’m only thirty-one,’ Cooper muttered.
I slowly removed my hand from Cooper’s so I could wrap my arm around his waist. Cooper, after a slight pause, slipped his around me too. I glanced up at him and it all felt so right. So easy. I couldn’t believe I’d spent so long agonising over Richard and whether leaving him was the right thing to do or not. If it was that hard, and we hadn’t even reached the marriage and kids discussions, didn’t that tell me what I needed to know? It hadn’t felt right and I wasted so much time trying to work out why, when really the answer was simple. It felt wrong because it was. We were all wrong for each other.
And everything that had happened with Cooper since he’d arrived had been telling me he was right for me. From his tatty books and easy smile, the banter and his penchant for Dolly. We weren’t the same but, as Emma said, that wasn’t important. He just got me and I got him.
Richard looked like he was about to bite through his own tongue. ‘This is a new low, even for you. You have no idea what you’re… is that my fucking jumper?’
‘Well… mine now,’ Cooper pointed out. ‘Cheers for that, by the way – it’s great.’
‘It’s actually really nice,’ Adelaide put in. ‘Which is surprising, because you usually just order in bulk from the M&S sale page, like someone’s grandad.’
‘Thanks – it’s cashmere,’ Cooper said, with a smile like a cat looking at the sun. ‘Tabitha made it.’
‘For me!’ Richard snapped.
‘For my boyfriend,’ I retorted. ‘And you stopped being that when you cheated on me.’
‘So, what, you took me back for a few days, now you want to bin me off and make this… drifter your boyfriend?’ Richard said scathingly.
‘I…’ I stammered, face flaming. ‘I mean… we hadn’t really discussed if… but if he was open to it…’
‘He is,’ Cooper said quickly, like he was telling me a secret, giving my waist a squeeze. ‘He’s very open to the idea. Super bloody open.’
I turned towards him, my pulse singing in my veins. ‘Really?’
‘Yeah,’ Cooper’s eyes flicked to my mouth and my heart skipped like a stone over the water.
