Page 128 of Broken Silence
“Love you, too,” he said, and I hung up.
All right. It was time to tell my mum that I wasn’t going back to Australia with her, and it could go either way.
If it wasn’t for Miles, I thought she’d be happy. I knew how much she missed it here. Miles left two days ago, needing to get back to work. We were supposed to leave soon, too. Our stay had already been extended.
Now I was extending mine forever.
“Mum,” I called, letting myself in.
“Hi, honey. Marcus okay?”
I smiled when I saw her. She looked happy. “He’s great. I need to talk to you.”
Her smile faded. “All right.”
“It’s not bad. Well, depends on how you look at it.”
“Oakley…”
“Let’s sit.”
She followed me to the sofa and wrung her hands together as she sat down beside me.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath, and her eyes widened. “You’re panicking so I’m just going to come out and say it, Mum. I’m not going back to Australia.”
“Oh…”
She let my words hang in the air for a long time, and I waited, wanting to let her figure out how she felt about it.
“I see. I can’t say that I’m too surprised.”
“A lot has changed since we left. I’m not scared anymore. I don’t constantly think about… things while I’m here. Not like I did before.”
“And Cole.”
“Only Cole. I wouldn’t consider staying if it wasn’t for him. I just can’t leave him again. I need him. Please tell me you understand that.”
“I do. Of course, I do.” She took a shaky breath. “He wanted to move out there.”
“Yeah, but his friends, family, job, and now his house are here. He has more to give up than the last time I told him not to follow me.”
She nodded, already knowing all of that but needing to hear it anyway.
“Mum, I’m not asking you and Jasper to stay. I would never do that. You and Miles have only just—”
“You come first.”
“I’m twenty now, Mum. I’m not a child. You deserve to be happy… with Miles.”
“I can’t be thousands of miles away from you.”
“Please base your decision off what you want.”
“This is what I want. You’re my daughter, and I want to be where you are.”
“Jasper might want to go back.”
“I think that’s unlikely now. He’s been spending a lot of time with Abby. You both have a very good reason to stay.”
