Page 45 of The Jealous Girl

‘Just enjoying having you here.’

He smirked. ‘In your living room?’

‘In my life,’ I said, swatting him playfully with my hand. ‘Besides, it isn’t my living room any more.’

Ryan’s brow creased.

‘It’s ours.’

The word settled between us.

His expression shifted instantly, a wide grin breaking across his face. ‘Ours,’ he repeated. ‘I love the sound of that.’

I nodded. ‘Me too.’

He pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me, and I inhaled the sweet coconut scent of his shower gel. I’d missed that when we were apart. It seemed so insignificant. And, yet, so him.

The little things mattered.

Ryan stepped back, reaching for his phone in his pocket. His expression clouded and unreadable. ‘I should probably text Mum, let her know I’m back safe.’

‘Of course,’ I said automatically, but my shoulders slumped.

‘You know how she worries,’ he added, seeing my reaction.

I nodded. I was being unreasonable, I knew that.

‘Are you sure you don’t need to go back to the stables?’ I asked, determined to be more accommodating. ‘Check in on your parents? Pick up some stuff?’

Ryan shook his head.

I wasn’t sure why I’d asked. It wasn’t as though I wanted him to go. Especially not there.

The last two weeks had been like living in a bubble. Just us. Like it used to be. The last thing we needed was his family intervening again.

Things were finally the way they should have been all along, if we hadn’t left Malta for his dad…

Two Years Ago – Mid July

Our suitcases rattled behind us as we dragged them up the slope towards the entrance of Poole Hospital. My free hand was clasped in Ryan’s, his grip tightening until my fingers throbbed.

‘It’s going to be okay,’ I whispered, squeezing back, as though that tiny gesture could make it true.

He nodded, but his grim expression didn’t lift. The closer we’d got to Dorset, the more tension seemed to radiate off him. Even the news that his dad was stable hadn’t eased anything.

I swallowed. At least focusing on supporting Ryan was a distraction from my own anguish at accompanying him on this trip. Given I’d always felt like an inconvenience to my own family, the prospect of meeting his wasn’t appealing.

The automatic doors ahead slid open and a woman in her late forties hurried out. She stopped the moment she saw him.

‘Ryan!’ Her voice cracked as she rushed forward.

Ryan dropped my hand and his suitcase handle without hesitation, stepping into her hug as she reached him. They clung to each other, tight and desperate.

I grabbed the suitcase before it rolled back down the slope, and lingered behind them, unsure where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do. My presence felt like an intrusion.

When they finally pulled apart, her gaze shifted to me, sweeping over me from head to toe in a slow assessing gaze.

‘Oh.’ Ryan blinked, his attention snapping back, as though only just remembering I was there. ‘Mum, this is Kirsty,’ he cleared his throat. ‘My girlfriend.’