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‘Were the nightmares that bad?’
He nods. ‘It’s a shite excuse and I can’t tell you how much I wish I could go back and do things differently, but I can’t.’
She reaches out and takes his hand. ‘Are you still getting nightmares?’
‘Sometimes. I don’t want Mum and Dad to know about this, okay?’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I’m saying I don’t want them to know.’
‘Fine. I won’t tell them. Have you been tempted to...’
‘Use again?’ She nods. ‘I don’t want to, but I can’t promise it won’t happen. All I can do is keep up with my appointments and take it day by day. Not a great answer, I know.’
Bria leans against him and strokes his arm. ‘It’s an honest answer. Do you remember anything else from when you were a child?’
‘Nothing definitive.’ He’s disgusted how easily the lie comes to him. ‘It’s just images. Kind of like watching snippets from a badly filmed show with no sound. All I know is that I’m being hurt. To be honest, I’m not sure I want to remember. I’ve been doing okay so far not knowing what the fuck happened.’
‘I know, but maybe you need to—’
‘No, Bria. I don’t. I’ll be grand so please leave it.’
She gives him one of her disapproving looks but doesn’t push him. They’re both too stubborn for their own good. She knows they could easily spend the next hour going over this with neither side backing down.
‘Does Chloe know about all this?’
‘I had to tell her. It wouldn’t have been fair to see her and not be honest with her. She deserved to know what she was getting in to.’
‘You really like her, don’t you?’
‘Probably shouldn’t until I get myself sorted, but yeah. I really do.’
‘So what do you have planned this weekend?’
‘I was going to do some writing, but I don’t have to. You want to do something?’
Bria pushes away from him and looks at him like he’s speaking another language. ‘You’re joking, right?’
‘You could just have said no. If it’s too early to—’ He grunts as she punches him in the shoulder. ‘What the fuck was that for?’
‘Chloe’s birthday is on Sunday.’
Tate stares at his sister as the words take their sweet time to register with him. ‘Her what? This Sunday? As in the Sunday at the end of this week?’
‘Yes, this Sunday. She didn’t tell you?’
‘No, she didn’t. Why didn’t she tell me?’
Bria shrugs. ‘Maybe she thought you had too much on your plate already? Whatever the reason, you know now, so what’s the plan?’
He doesn’t have a plan. Where does he even start sorting out a plan? He’s never done anything like this before. When one of the guys had a birthday, they’d go out and get wasted. Not a good idea or anything Chloe would appreciate.
‘I haven’t got a clue. We’ve only been with each other for a few weeks. What the hell should I do? It’s not a big birthday, is it?’
‘You’re off the hook there. She’s turning thirty-one. Okay, no need to panic. There’s plenty of time. What are you up to today?’
‘Sounds like I need to crack on and get her a birthday present.’
