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I opened the door, helping Nee out.
“Pete, hold on.”
I turned to her, wrapping her hands in mine. “You want Pete to take you home?”
“No. Of course I don’t. Let’s go inside.” She tugged me so I followed, waiting until I unlocked the front door, turning off the house alarm.
Once the door was closed and locked, she grabbed my face in her hands, pulling my lips to hers, kissing me until I lost my breath. “Arch, I like like you too. This is so much more than messing around for me. I was so worried about telling you how I felt, but I feel so much. Honestly, I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
I let out a breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding. Grabbing her, I lifted her, wrapping her around me and I carried her to bed to show her just how much I liked her.
I woke in the dead of night, my heart hammering in my chest, feeling sick. I’d not drunk that much. It couldn’t have been what I’d eaten because Nee and I shared dinner and she was fine, but something was wrong.
Glancing at my phone, there were no missed calls, no reason to panic. I relaxed, closing my eyes, enjoying the feeling of Ionee’s naked body wrapped around me; her arm over my chest and her leg entwined with mine.
Pushing her hair back from her face, I stared at her, wondering if I should wake her for a rerun of earlier when we fucked so hard we’d passed out with me still buried inside her. Just as I was about to kiss her, my phone rang.
Laura
“Laur?”
“It’s Mum. You need to get here, Arch. Now.”
“What’s happened?”
“The home called. She’s lucid. I didn’t believe them, so I got a cab here to see for myself. Arch, she’s so lucid you’d think she’d not had dementia for twelve years. She’s apparently been like this for hours. Something's wrong. I can feel it. Sophia’s on her way. Get in the car and get here.”
A cry spilled from my lips, making Ionee’s eyes fly open.”
“Arch?”
“Mum…”
She nodded, jumping out of bed, pulling on some clothes. “Archer, hang up and call someone to drive us.”
“Laura, we’re coming,” I managed to croak out.
Half an hour later, I was running into Mum’s room, but she was asleep, Sophia sitting next to her bed sobbing silently while Laura paced.
“Girls, you want to go find some coffee?” Ionee asked, giving my sisters a moment to breathe. They both nodded, moving to follow her. Before they left, Nee pressed a kiss to my cheek.
“Talk to her. Don’t be afraid to speak your truth, Arch. Don’t let anything go unsaid.”
“I can’t lose her.”
She ran her fingers through my hair. “We don’t have any choice about that, but you do have a choice about what you say to her.”
And with that, Nee and my sisters left the room, and I took the seat next to Mum’s bed.
I sat for a while, watching her chest rise and fall, remembering my childhood. She was a great mum, but life got in the way and she struggled to cope—my dad, her diagnosis—it broke her, but I was there to pick up the pieces. I used to think I had nothing to complain about. I mean, I had a mum until I was fourteen, but really, now I thought about it, I’d lost both my parents when my dad left. I became an adult when I was seven. I knew she didn’t mean it, but she’d always expected me to take care of them all and I spent a lot of time wondering if I’d done enough. Now, with the state of her dementia, I’d never know.
I closed my eyes, rubbing my fingers across my forehead, wondering how different my life would be if I’d had a normal childhood. I wouldn’t have met Fox and Charlie, wouldn’t have learned the piano or the guitar, probably would never have realized I could sing or ended up in a successful band that got to travel the world. But deep down, I knew I’d give it all up for a childhood like everyone else got to have; for a mum who remembered who I was, for sisters who had parents to take care of them, and not a boy who had no idea what he was doing.
“Archer, honey. Is that you?”
My eyes popped open, my brain assuming I was dreaming.
“Mum?”
