Page 105 of Exchange of Heart

‘Oh, come on. You saw this coming, didn’t you?’

My face froze like a manic statue – lifted eyebrows, eyeballs dry from lack of blinks, upturned lips of confusion.

‘Nora?’ Corey waved his hand in front of my face.

My expression shifted to puppy eyes and pouting lips. ‘No, I didn’t. How did I not see this coming? I feel terrible. In fact, why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Are you kidding me?’ he bellowed. ‘Nora, you’ve been ignoring my calls!’

‘What about your brothers? You said you didn’t want them to have to take your place. And Ben! I can’t believe Ben and Izzy!’ My voice was out of control as every thought barrelled from my mind.

‘I know. I couldn’t believe I’d been working with my future sister-in-law the past couple of weeks. I was so angry I’d messed things up with you I almost blurted her name out before he introduced her the other day.’

‘Are you still worried they’ll have to work for your father now?’

Corey shook his head. ‘It turns out you’re right. A little bit of communication goes a long way. I told them everything, so now it’s up to them to make their own choices.’

‘I’m proud of you,’ I whispered.

Corey’s pupils dilated at my words.

‘I’ve got a confession, actually. I stole the box of drawings your mum dropped to you.’

Corey’s smile was heartbreakingly perfect. ‘I know.’

‘You know?’

‘Well, it wasn’t in my apartment after you left. It’s not hard to put the pieces together. So, did you look through the box?’

‘The umbrella.’ I couldn’t pull the sentence together any more than that. I’d found a drawing in the box that was identical to the pictures on his umbrella.

‘It was Mum’s way of making sure I didn’t lose my way like my father. She found the umbrella in the basement and gave it to me when she saw the light leave my eyes after my first day of work. A reminder not to forget the person he used to be… the person we still hope he’ll return to.’

‘Those green circles, I thought they were aliens or something, but they’re a drawing of you and your father holding hands, aren’t they? I recognised the scar he has on his forearm… which is a very close detail for a nine-year-old to add, by the way.’

‘Ten,’ he laughed. ‘My father loved the drawing so much he had it printed on an umbrella for me. It was only a few weeks later he fell so deep into the workload he lost all sense of time… including family time.’

My heart clenched. No wonder he’d been so defensive of that umbrella.

‘The thing is, even though she always believed in me, it wasn’t until you came along that I realised I had the strength to make the choices that define who I am. You truly believed in me, and that’s more than I can say about a lot of people.’ He reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook.

He held it towards me, refusing to meet my eyes.

‘You want me to look at it?’ I asked.

He gave one sharp nod and moved it closer. I opened to the first page, then flicked through until I reached the middle and had to close it.

‘You drew all of these?’ I asked.

Again, his head bobbed with one quick nod. I opened to a random page and continued to stare at the sketch of my eyes staring back at me.

‘You’ve been sketching me this entire time? This one’s dated earlier this year.’

‘I’ve always pushed you in class, because you’ve always had such an annoyingly feisty spirit, and I like that about you. You challenge everyone, especially me, and it’s made me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt before. Pushed me to prove myself. A change from my boring job, the boring girls who only ever saw me as an endless bank account. You were always special, Nora. I just didn’t realise at the beginning how special you’d become to me.’

God. I loved Corey Flemmington’s soul.

His face lowered closer, and I went into cardiac arrest. Or maybe horny overdrive; same thing.