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“I’d be delighted to.”
Reeva shifted uncomfortably. He was meant to say there wouldn’t be a next guy. “Right. So, we were in the middle of—”
“You grilling me about my past?”
“Yousharingyour past with me. We got up to your ex-wife introducing you to your next girlfriends.”
“Ah yes. Well, after her I dated a few people but nobody special. Until—” Reeva smiled, waiting for the inevitable. “The person I met just before you.”
The smile fell off Reeva’s face. “Oh?”
“She’s probably the most serious relationship I’ve had since my ex-wife. And we were only together for a few years off and on.”
“When... did it end?”
There was a long pause. “Uh, I guess around the time I met you. But it was long overdue. It was all pretty unstable because she’s a singer, so her life is quite hectic. And there wasn’t any overlap, so please don’t worry about that.”
“Right,” said Reeva, very much worrying about that. “So, when you saynooverlap...?”
“Well, just the normal. A couple of dates maybe. But I ended it with her the second I started to have feelings for you.”
Okay. That was fine. Normal. She would have done the same. “Right. Good to know.” Reeva bit her bottom lip. She still had so many more questions she wanted to ask: Who was this singer? Was she famous? Had they worked together? Why hadn’t it been stable? Why did it end? Did he love her? Did they speak? Did he still have feelings for her? But she wasn’t sure how to bring it all up. Especially as Nick already thought she was grilling him. “Um, is there anything else I should know?”
“Just that I think you’re great and I’m very glad to be with you.”
Reeva smiled and felt her anxiety settle. Everything wasfine—it was just her insecurities going crazy again. Nick liked her and she liked him too. “Okay. Me too. Very much so.”
“Good. Well, I’d better let you sleep. It’s getting late. Good luck tomorrow, darling, and you know where I am if you need me.”
“Thanks, Nick.” Reeva yawned. “Speak soon.”
“Sweet dreams, Reevs.”
CHAPTER 10
Day 6
Reeva pulled hernieces close to her and inhaled their smell. Strawberry shampoo, laundry detergent, and the indescribable scent of their soft, breathing bodies.
“Get off me,” cried Amisha as Alisha shrugged off her aunt, reaching for the next Lego piece.
“Sorry, I just really love you both,” said Reeva, squeezing them tight. “And I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Amisha raised an eyebrow at her aunt in an uncanny impression of her mum and turned back to the Lego. They were slowly—very, very slowly—building theMillennium Falconfrom Star Wars. Reeva was meant to be helping them, but she was mainly just beaming at their small sticky hands and kissing their soft heads. She knew she was being weird, but she’d had another sleepless night with the same nightmare. Only this time she’d remembered something else. Her nightmares didn’t just feature Fluffy Panda, they also featured the twins. And all of them—the catandthe girls—had been screaming in pain.
Reeva had already FaceTimed Fluffy Panda (via an annoyedLakshmi) and had been reassured by the sight of her soft belly rising and falling as she slept. Now she was creeping out her nieces by doing the same to them, but she didn’t care; she was just grateful they were okay.
She left them sitting in silent concentration with their Lego and padded out to the bathroom with her ruler in hand. She knew that the stress of her dreams probably meant the patch was still growing, and as much as she wanted to avoid reality, she knew she couldn’t. It looked worse in the harsh glare of the fluorescent LEDs, and she braced herself for the result. Eight point five centimeters.
There was a knock at the door. Reeva quickly rearranged her hair to hide the patch as the door slowly opened to reveal Alisha. She was sucking her thumb. “Auntie Weeva?”
“Yes, darling? How’s the Lego?”
“Mummy says you have to come downstairs to pull your weight.”
Reeva was taken aback. “Right. Okay. To the point. Sure, I’ll come down right now. Thank you.”
“She did say other things, but then she told me not to tell you those ones.”
