Page 82 of It Was Always You

‘Get the kettle on, Adders, I’m gasping for a cup of tea.’

Adam stood open-mouthed. ‘Lily?’

‘Erm… last time I checked, yes. Can I come in or what?’

He stepped aside, feeling bemused at the way she had just waltzed back into his life as if nothing had happened. He followed her into the lounge, and she flopped down onto the sofa.

He stood over her in his jeans and T-shirt with bare feet. ‘Is everything okay?’

She inhaled a long deep breath. ‘Look, Adders, you hurt me, okay? Don’t do it again. I didn’t like you very much for a while, but you are my best friend, and I didn’t like that I didn’t like you. I’m sure you get my drift, so can we just get back to being us again?’

He leaned down and grabbed her hand, pulling her to a standing position. Wrapping his arms around her, he mumbled, ‘I’ve missed you, Cheesy.’

She hugged him back. ‘Well, yes. I’m sure you have. After all, you can’t function without me in your life. How have you managed to get dressed and stuff?’

‘With great difficulty,’ he mumbled into her shoulder as he grinned.

‘I can imagine.’

He pulled away and fixed his gaze on her. ‘Look, Lil… I’m so sorry for the things I said. I was a complete shit.’

She nodded. ‘Yes… you were.’

‘I didn’t mean to hurt you, you know?’

Her cheeks flushed pink. ‘Well, you did. But I’ve forgiven you now. So, let’s just drop it, okay?’

Adam made a pot of tea and brought it through to where she waited in the living room. It was good to see her sitting on the sofa in his house again. He laughed at the sight before him. Monty had clearly missed her, too. He had climbed up and spread himself across her lap. He had filled out quite a lot and was far too big to be a lap dog. But Lily was happily scratching him behind the ears and he was loving it. His tongue was hanging out again and every so often he licked her from chin to brow.

He gestured towards the contented canine. ‘Ah, I see I’ve been replaced, eh?’

Lily giggled. ‘I think you have. This one doesn’t give me half as much grief. And I’m sure he can manage to dress himself when he goes out on a date.’

Adam grinned. ‘Funny. I’ve missed being insulted constantly.’

She giggled. ‘Ah, well, don’t you worry. I’ve been saving it all up and I have a couple of months to catch up on, so brace yourself!’

TRACK 34

‘CRAZY’ (CEELO GREEN)

June 2025

Supermarket shopping was the bane of Adam’s life. Eve used to make it more bearable and even fun. These days he favoured shopping later in the evening when it was quieter.

Thursday night was shopping night. The supermarket was a little busier than he was used to and it irritated him. He was feeling particularly lazy and didn’t want to cook from scratch, so he was standing in the tinned food aisle trying to decide between a Fray Bentos pie or a tin of chicken curry for dinner when suddenly a trolley crashed into his legs, sending him careening across the aisle and onto his side, sprawled on the tiled floor. Expletives flew from his mouth as the air pretty much turned blue around him.

‘Oh my God! I’m so sorry!’

Adam looked up, lips pursed, into the face of a very pretty young woman. She had beautiful red hair that fell in long waves around her shoulders and vivid green eyes that were wide with horror.

He clambered to his feet. ‘What the hell were you doing? You obviously weren’t watching where you were going!’ he snapped.

The young woman’s bottom lip began to quiver, and her eyes welled with tears. ‘I’m really very sorry. I was, I was texting my mum, and no, I wasn’t looking. I’m sorry. Are you badly hurt?’

His frown softened at the poor woman’s expression. ‘No, it’s okay. I’ll live,’ he chuntered, as guilt needled at him.

The woman cringed. ‘I bet you’ll have a bruise there tomorrow.’