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“I have a place you can go.”
“What? No. I can’t leave Edinburgh now, not when I’m so close to finishing my degree.”
“I have a house in Edinburgh. You can have it.”
“Don’t be crazy.”
“Listen. I bought the house for my cousin who’s a fresher here, but she’s decided to live on campus for this year at least. Which means I have a big empty house, that’s been paid for, just sitting there collecting dust. It’s too late in the semester to rent it out, so you’d be doing me a favour by moving in.”
“I don’t know Reb, it’s a bit much isn’t it…?”
“Shut up, Raven, take the fucking house.”
“Bad word!” Phoenix cries from the sofa. Obviously we weren’t being as quiet as I thought.
“Hey, Phoenix,” Rebel calls. My eyes go wide with fear and I frantically shake my head at him not to say anything. Which he ignores of course. “Would you like to live somewhere with a garden?”
“Yeah!” she cries.
“And would you like to have a nice big bedroom for all your toys?”
“A pink one?” She asks hopefully. Oh dear god, there’s no getting out of this now. Rebel has manoeuvred me right where he wants me.
“You can decorate it any way you like, rugrat,” he tells her. She leaps off the sofa - thankfully her mug was empty - and races over to us, cheering.
“Mommy, can we? Please please please?”
“Yes, baby,” I say, because really, what else can I do at this point? I send a look at Rebel, intending to chew him out, but when I see how genuinely happy he is, I just mouth “thank you”, instead. He gives me his trademark shit-eating grin and I kick him under the table.
“Ow, fuck!”
“Bad word!” I laugh as Phoenix races away once again to get her swear jar. “Mommy? When can we move? Can I go pack now?” she calls from her room.
“Soon, baby,” I tell her. “We have to sort some things first.”
“It’s ready when you are. Clearly you don’t have to give notice here. And aside from the table, which you can bring with you, it’s fully furnished so you don’t need a removal van or anything. The guys and I could move you in this weekend, we’ll even take you shopping for bits to decorate it however you want.”
“No, Reb, that’s too much. We’ll stay there for now while I search for something more suitable.”
“You’ll stay in my house for as long as you bloody need to.”
“Well, until your cousin needs it.”
“I’ll buy her another house.”
“Don’t be absurd. I finish my degree soon, I might not even stay in Edinburgh after that.”
“Don’t you get it? Wherever you go, I’m going to follow you. And I’ll buy you a goddamn house, and groceries, and anything else you need, every single time. I will look after you.”
His words cause tears to pick at my eyes and I give a soft sniff. “Okay, we’ll take the stupid frat house.”
He laughs, “Yeah, a frat house…sure thing.”
“What? Reb, where is this house?”
“It’s in town…” he evades.
“Where in town?”
