AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hmmm.”
“You’re lucky.” I continue. “I always wanted a sister, growing up.”
Lu lifts her head a little, eyes half open as she tries to focus on me. “Why a sister?” she asks before resting her head on my shoulder.
I turn a little, press a kiss to her forehead. “Because she would have had a lot of girlfriends coming over all the time,” I say. “And you know, it would have…”
The rest of my words are cut off when Lu slides her hand off my dick and pinches me hard on the side. “Dirty perv,” she mutters.
“What?” I say, feigning innocence.
Her fingers slide across my skin, settling on my stomach. “Well, thank you for coming last night,” she adds. “I really appreciate it.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” I tell her. “I wanted to come, I want to spend time with you and your family.”
She mutters something now that I don’t catch.
“What did you say?”
“I said,” she exhales, pushing herself closer, face nuzzling my neck again. “I’d like to meet your family some day.”
I let out a long slow breath. “You will,” I whisper, even though I have no idea how or when that meeting will take place. Right now my mum and dad are in Europe, travelling indefinitely. I’ve got no siblings back in Australia, only cousins and aunts and uncles that are spread all over the place.
“Maybe one day I’ll take you back to Oz with me,” I eventually say, lips against her forehead. “Show you where I grew up.”
“I’d like that,” she murmurs.
We lie in silence, neither of us saying anymore. A peaceful calmness fills the room and once again I find myself thinking about how easy this all is, how much like home this place already feels.
Despite Lu’s reservations and my promises, we’ve still come no closer to finding a way to make this thing between us work when the time ultimately comes for me to head back to Australia.
I know I still have a month or so before the last of the parts turn up, but after that, I’ve got no idea. And even though I’d left a job to come here, it doesn’t mean I don’t have one to go home to.
Word travels fast in the Aussie wine world and as soon as it had got out that I’d finished up at my last place, the emails had come hard and fast. Job offers that no sane person could turn down, incentives that were off the charts.
I knew I’d be an idiot to not at the very least consider them, even if right now, it felt like here atSomerville’swas the only place I wanted to be.
But I have no idea how that could work, what that could even look like. Because while I don’t mind helping Lu out with random jobs now, that’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
At the same time though, the idea of leaving Lu, of walking away, even temporarily, makes my chest ache. It’s taken fourteen long years to finally find my way back to her and right now, I don’t ever want to give that up.
Which makes me wonder about this Nate guy Ellen mentioned last night, the one who disappeared on her. Whoever he is, it’s clear Lu didn’t want to talk about it. But he must be somebody, if he provokes that sort of reaction and a part of me can’t help but wonder about what sort of relationship he and Lu had…and who’d made the decision to end it.
“Lu,” I eventually say, curiosity getting the better of me. “Who’s this Nate guy Ellen mentioned last night?”
She doesn’t answer though and when I look down at her, she’s lying with her eyes closed, her lips slightly parted and her whole body relaxed against mine. Holding my breath, I hear the slow, steading breathing that tells me she’s asleep again.
I must fall back to sleep too because when I next open my eyes, it’s nearly noon, the room filled with sunshine from the half open blinds. Lu’s still asleep beside me, but my now rumbling stomach forces me up and out of bed.
I pull on some sweats I’ve left at her place before walking out to the kitchen. Putting some coffee on to brew, I search her fridge for something that can take the edge off the last of our hangovers. Smiling, I pull bacon; eggs, tomatoes, and mushrooms out and start to get a late breakfast together.
“God something smells good.”
I turn and see a still half-asleep Lu walk into the kitchen. She’s wearing a t-shirt of mine, the hem stopping just below her arse. Grinning, I reach for her, pull her into my arms and press a kiss to her lips.
“Think you can stomach some food?” I ask, sliding a hand under the t-shirt and over her warm skin.
“Hmmm,” she says, wrinkling her nose a little. “I think so,” she adds. “I think I need to, anyway.”
