Page 149 of Pure Recklessness

So now here we were on the way to God knows where.

‘How was the rest of your day?’ Blake asked and I filled him in on my disastrous attempt to watch the film.

‘What about you? Did you get all of your work done?’

‘The most important things. I spent a lot of time speaking with my brothers.’

‘How often do you get to see them?’ I asked.

‘Depends. Heath is mostly based in the London office. He’s the only one with a wife and kids.’

‘Oh! I didn’t realise he was married!’ My eyes popped.

‘Yes. So he needs to be close to his family. Oscar is mainly based in Paris and Seb heads up our Spanish HQ, but we all try to meet in person once a week.’

‘Cool,’ I said.

‘You never mentioned if you had any brothers or sisters?’ Blake asked and my stomach tightened.

‘I… No. Not any more,’ I said quickly. ‘I’m adopted,’ I added, moving the conversation to safer ground.

‘Really?’ Blake’s brows shot up. ‘Have you always known?’

‘Pretty much. I was adopted when I was three, so obviously I wasn’t aware then. But after a while, it was pretty obvious.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I have brown skin and my parents are white.’

‘I see,’ Blake said.

‘It was a long time ago, but in the early years I didn’t really pay much attention to the fact that my parents and my sis—’ My stomach clenched again. ‘I didn’t really think about it. But as I grew older, I became more aware.’

‘And your birth parents? Have you ever made contact with them or vice versa?’

‘No.’ My pulse quickened and my mouth went dry. ‘They’re… They both died in a climbing accident. That’s why I was adopted. Mum was best friends with my biological mother, so…’

‘I’m so sorry.’ Blake reached over and squeezed my hand.

It was then that I realised that my eyes were watering.

‘It’s… Thanks.’ I swallowed the lump in my throat. ‘I was too young to remember them. My parents were the ones who raised me so although we’re not related by blood, they’ll always be my mum and dad.’

I didn’t speak about it that much.

Like me, both of my parents were only children, so I didn’t have any uncles or aunts and my biological grandparents had long passed.

I owed everything to my mum and dad. If it wasn’t for them adopting me, I might have ended up in a home or worse. I think that’s why I stayed in the village for so long. Because I wanted to make them happy and show that I appreciated everything they’d done for me.

For most of my life, it was just the three of us.

Once upon a time it used to be four, but…

‘Can we talk about something else, please?’ I asked, trying to hold back the tears and reduce the tightness in my gut.

‘Of course. What other films do you have on your pop culture list?’ Blake asked and I was instantly grateful that he’d changed the subject.

‘What haven’t I got!’ I laughed, relief flooding my chest. I pulled out my phone, brought up the list that Joe had sent, then handed it to Blake.