Page 179 of Brighter Together

I don’t care.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Alex is standing in the doorway. “The police are outside. They’d like to speak to both of you. Do you want me to send them up?”

My stomach tightens.

The choice becomes real.

For one second, the old fear surges again.

Then I look at Tommy’s hand resting beside mine.

I straighten. “Yes.”

Alex looks at me. “Okay.”

He disappears down the stairs.

Tommy reaches for my hand.

“You ready?”

“No.”

His thumb brushes mine.

I take a deep breath.

“But I’m doing it anyway.”

By the time we get back to Tommy’s flat that evening, I feel as though every part of me has been hollowed out.

The police took initial statements at the FMR building and then asked me to come to the station to give a full account.

Two hours.

Two hours of dates and questions and trying to remember things I have spent years deliberately not remembering.

Tommy couldn’t come into the interview room with me.

I hated that.

But when I walked back out, he was exactly where he said he would be.

Waiting.

He didn’t ask what I had said.

He just stood and opened his arms.

Now he switches off the main bedroom light and climbs under the duvet beside me.

I reach for the bedside lamp.

His hand gently catches my wrist.

“Before you turn that off—"

I look at him.