Page 169 of Brighter Together

“Still a cunt.”

I laugh loudly.

Tommy kisses my hair.

“Not taking that back.”

“Fair.”

We start walking again, slower this time, his arm around my shoulders.

The path curves back towards the hotel.

I can see lights moving behind the windows and somebody crossing the lobby in the distance.

Home, almost.

Not quite in the way it is for Tommy.

But increasingly in the way it feels for me.

I reach into my coat pocket and pull out my phone.

No missed calls.

No messages.

Nothing.

Tommy glances down.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

I put it away again.

“I hadn’t checked it all evening.”

His smile is small.

“That’s good.”

“It is.”

I tuck myself closer against him.

For once, I don’t feel guilty for being happy.

I don’t feel as though I have to earn it.

And I’m beginning to believe that maybe the worst of it is finally behind us.

Chapter 15

Ella

Iglance at my watch as I walk towards Tommy’s BMW behind the FMR building.