“I don’t want to go back. I want to stay here with you. I want to move into the three-bed terrace near Nan’s that isn’t in Alderley Edge, or the three-bed upstairs, or just rearrange some furniture in here and stay until we have too many kids to cope with them all. I need to look into what staying here permanently looks like. But I just need to know it’s permanent.”
Luke just looked at her. She couldn’t tell if he was about to laugh or cry.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Will . . .” He reached for her hand, just as her phone rang.
“It’s Sasha. I should take it. It’s one in the morning where she is.”
Luke nodded as she answered. “Sasha?”
“Are you sitting down?”
“I am. I’ll just put you on speaker so Luke can hear. Is everything okay?”
“Your friend, Riley, went to the police. Her father went with her. Charges are going to be pressed. Your father’s original lawyers walked yesterday morning. His new lawyers advised him to settle with you. I have the draft agreement. His starting offer is ten million dollars. I know that’s only half of what you asked for, so I wondered what you wanted to do.”
Willow’s heart beat louder than one of Luke’s drums when he was practicing. Ten million.
Riley. “Is she okay?”
“I’m not part of the case, but Riley’s father called me. He apologised and said he didn’t blame you for blocking her, but he wanted you to know they were both willing to do what they needed to so the truth came out.”
It matched the messages and made her rethink the timing of that call to them.
A part of her thought about reaching out to Riley to make sure she was okay, but decided she’d leave Riley alone until she was certain her behaviour and spending had changed.
She looked at Luke. “What do you think we should do?”
“Honestly? We don’t need the money. We never did. And what were you just saying before the call? You’re pregnant and want to enjoy it. If we pursue things with your dad, it will cloud every day of our lives until it’s resolved. We have everything we need right here. I didn’t spend a penny of the money you gave me, either. It’s in a savings account for a rainy day.”
“You didn’t?” She palmed his cheek.
“No. It’s yours. And for Cletus.”
“Zale.”
“Whatever. It’s you, me, and our baby. So, yeah. Massage it. See how far you can push your dad. But settle, flower, so we can get on with the rest of our lives.”
Willow leaned forward and pressed her forehead to Luke’s shoulder, sighing as he wrapped his arm around her. “Luke’s right,” she said, finally. “See how high he’ll go, then settle. The house is worth over twenty million. My guess is his offer of ten is simply based on selling it and splitting the funds. But I know he has a lot of cash and investments. Tell him fifteen and he has a deal.”
“Smart move, Willow. I’ll be in touch when it’s done.”
The phone disconnected.
Luke smiled. “Let’s go through the checklist.”
“Checklist?”
“Humour me. We have a name.”
“We do.”
“We have a country we’re going to live in.”
“We do.” Her grin grew.
“We have a settlement.”
Willow reached out and touched the wooden salad bowl on the counter. “Knock on wood. You might jinx us. But yes, it looks like we do.”
“This. You, me, us. It’s permanent, right? The forever kind of permanent.”
“It is.”
“And you’re coming on tour with me, right?”
“I am.”
“Good, because I miss you when you aren’t there, and I’m a horny fucker.” He opened the top two buttons of her pyjamas.
“I’ve not eaten my oatmeal,” she said, gripping his wrist.
“I’ll make you some more. Stay focused on the list. We need to get you indefinite leave to remain status, right?”
“If that is what it’s called to stay here permanently, then yes.”
“And if marriage increases our chance of making that happen, you’ll marry me, even though I’m still in therapy.”
“It’s because you are in therapy that I’ll marry you.” Willow grinned. “But that didn’t sound like a question.”
“It wasn’t. Because I wasn’t proposing. Not yet. But only because Matt is about to propose to Iz, and I don’t want to steal their thunder.”
“Oh my God. When? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it’s a secret and I’m not meant to tell you. I’m going shopping for her ring with Matt tomorrow.”
“This is the best freaking week.”
Luke resumed opening her pyjamas, and this time, she let him. “Didn’t feel like it at the start of the week, but yeah. It’s turned into something pretty damn amazing. Just like you and me.”
He slipped her pyjama top off her shoulder, laying a trail of kisses from her jaw, down her neck, along her clavicle. “It feels like everything on our to-do list is done, bar one thing.”
“Are you really going to marry me?”
“Yeah. I am, flower. Do you think you might say yes?” He lifted her off the stool clumsily, thanks to her bump, and she laughed as she threw her arms around his neck and clung to him for dear life. “If I survive the next five minutes, then yes, Luke, I will say yes.”
“Good,” he said. “Now, let’s tick that final thing off our list. I feel like having you for breakfast.”
Epilogue: ALEX
Alex King pushed his blond curls back from his face as he watched Zoe Atkins glance at the attractive server. He wasn’t surprised. The server was fucking hot. Italian, by the accent and looks. Dark hair, olive skin. If he’d gotten even the slightest whiff that the guy was anything other than heterosexual, he might have tried to have a little fun with him.
Who was he kidding? He’d already flirted with the guy, just to test the waters, but sadly, there hadn’t been a flicker of interest. And his radar was highly tuned. Years of dancing in between others’ ill-defined definitions of who he was expected to be, what person he was supposed to be sexually attracted to, and those awful years when he’d suppressed his true self had formed a well-developed set of protection skills.
He knew the risks of approaching the wrong person and had the bruises to show for it.
And he knew the risks of falling for the wrong girl—one who wouldn’t understand that while his desires opened up the number of people he could possibly be attracted to, it in no way affected his ability to be faithful.
Hence the reason he was single in a room full of couples.
As amazing as it was that Willow had arranged a surprise party for them all to celebrate their first major album release, he was stuck keeping an eye on his mum while his dad downed whiskey at Willow’s expense.
He looked around the room at his fellow Sad Fridays band mates. Matt Palmer, the band’s songwriter, bass player, and also his cousin, stood with Matt’s girlfriend, Izabel, and her brother, Luke, the band’s drummer. Willow, Luke’s girlfriend, was chatting with Alex’s brother, Ben, and Ben’s best friend, Chaya. Alex scoffed at his own choice of words.