Page 100 of Broken Silence
That sounded reasonable. Mia didn’t have men coming andgoing, so Chris shouldn’t have women. It didn’t surprise me to learn that Chris was a serial dater. Idiot.
“What did he say?”
“He didn’t look that happy when I said no, and we argued a couple of times, but he’s agreed to wait. I really don’t care if he’s happy about it or not, to be honest.”
“You don’t think he would just do it, anyway?”
“No. He wouldn’t do anything that could hurt Leona. We agreed that she wouldn’t meet anyone either of us dated until we’ve been with them for at least six months. Plus, we have an agreement that nothing happens with her unless we both agree. Oh, look, this one is nice.” She pointed to a semi-detached bungalow. It was quaint and pretty with cream-rendered walls and colourful flowers hanging in baskets.
I grabbed her mobile from the counter and handed it to her. “Call the estate agent.”
Both Cole and Mia were ready to move out. I wasn’t sure how Jenna and David would cope when they suddenly had a very quiet house. I bet they would miss Leona like crazy.
Jenna gasped. “You found somewhere?” She rushed over to look at the pictures. “What’s the address. Oh, good. It’s not too far. Closer to me than your house, Cole.”
“Cut the cord, Mother,” he replied, sitting down beside me. His hand reached around my shoulders, and he massaged the back of my neck.
I leant into his touch.
“When do you think Jasper will move out?” Mia asked.
“God, could you imagine him on his own? He’d be a total liability. He actually tried to get a flat last year because he wanted to be in the city, and we live near the beach.”
“I’d love to live near a beach,” Mia said. “How close are you?”
“Ten minutes. I walk it most days. It’s stunning and helped a lot, especially at first. Pete lives just down the road, too.”
“Who’s hungry?” Cole asked, dropping his hand, and getting up.
I winced, exchanging a look with Mia. That was a bit too much Australia talk. Any mention of it was, to be fair.
Neither of us wanted to face what was coming.
Jenna, still by the island, put her hand on his arm.
“He’ll be okay,” Mia whispered.
Would he?
Would I?
“So, Jasper never actually moved to the city?”
“Not when he realised he’d need to get a second job to pay for it.” I leant closer to her. “Mia, Cole’s never asked me anything about Australia.”
Only very briefly the day I got back.
“It’s a… difficult topic. If he ever heard us mention anything to do with your move, he’d leave the room. I’m not telling you this to make you feel bad, but I don’t think he will ever want to discuss those years you were gone.”
I glanced up. Cole and Jenna were talking on the other side of the room, their voices low like Mia’s and mine.
“I wish he would. We had a bit of an argument about me leaving but nothing since. We need to talk about it, right?”
She nods. “I think so, he needs to because he’s kept everything bottled up for so long.”
“But?”
“He was messed up, Oakley. Like, really messed up. He didn’t eat or sleep. Refused to talk about it. After a while, he functioned again but it was like… he was hollow.”
