Page 216 of The Girlfriend Clause
Outside, the street was loud with traffic and voices. I walked until the café was out of sight.
How had he become like this?It wasn’t possible he’d been this way since he was a boy. Nobody was born without a heart.
What was his father like, my grandfather—the man who’d taught him which parts of himself tohate?
Wilhelm had put up walls so high they’d stopped being something that served him. They’d just become who he was, to the core.
I could see the resemblance between us now.
And I didn’t know if it was too late.
Chapter 47
Andrea
“You’re goingwhere?”
“India,” Eliza said. “It’s where biryanis are from. Does that help?”
My sister sat on my sofa, her hair in a topknot. She was eating a Cadbury Creme Egg, the foil peeled down around the edges.
Liam’s calls were becoming less frequent, but the pain in my chest still hadn’t gone. Thank God I had my sister around. I’d leaned on her so much since the breakup. Usually, she drove me crazy, but right now, she was the only reason I was still even vaguely sane.
“Why are you eating that?” I asked. “It’s not Easter.”
“Heaven forbid we eat out-of-season chocolate.” She smiled and handed me an egg. “Want one?”
Next to her, Mr. Darcy was drooling onto the cushions.
“Yes, thanks… but… when are you going?” It was nearly the end of September, and she was due back at uni next week.
“I’m not going, Andy.” She licked the white and yellowfondant from inside the egg and then nibbled off a piece of chocolate.
“But you just said—”
She rolled her eyes. “Back to uni.”
“What?”
“I’m not going back. I’m done.”
She stopped licking the egg.
“Did you seriously just tell me you’re quitting law?”
“I did, and I am.” She stuffed the last of the egg into her mouth and looked down at her phone, her finger poised to scroll.
“Don’t talk rubbish.”
“Excuse me?” She put the phone down and looked up, still chewing.
“You can’t, Eliza. People would kill to get in to law.”
“Well,people”—she popped it into air quotes—“can have it.”
I looked at the wine bottle on the coffee table. “Are you drunk?”
“No, I am not. That’s from the weekend. Remember?”
