Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
My gut sank as I realised she had no idea Mam had passed away. My hands flexed on the steering wheel as I swallowed down the lump in my throat. It had been ten years since her death, and it stilled pained me to be reminded she was gone.
“Rhys?” Charli asked in concern when she noticed my frown.
I pressed my lips together then said, “She, um—” Hell, why was my throat so scratchy? “She passed away when I was twenty-five.”
I heard her sharp intake of breath, her voice softening. “My goodness, Rhys, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” Her hand briefly touched my arm before she moved it back to her lap.
“She had breast cancer. I’d hoped when she went into remission the first time that would be the end of it, but a couple years later, it came back more aggressive than before.” My words trailed off, and I could feel her eyes on me, empathising. My gaze remained glued to the road in front.
“The first time?” she asked gently.
I hadn’t intended to get into this, but if Charli and I were to spend time together, my reason for cutting off contact with her all those years ago was going to come up sooner or later.
“A few months after I enlisted in France, I got a phone call that she’d been diagnosed. I—” Words failed me for a moment before I continued, “It was the worst period of my life. Mam’s divorce from Dad had just come through. She’d found herself a new place to live and finally had her freedom, then like some sick joke, she finds out she has cancer. It seriously fucked me up. I fell into a deep depression, didn’t tell anyone about Mam’s illness until months later when she went into remission.”
Charli let out a quiet gasp. “That was … was that why—”
“Why I stopped emailing you? Yeah. Not my finest moment, but I was a wreck at the time, angry, felt like raging at the entire world. I made a lot of decisions I wasn’t proud of.”
I glanced at her pointedly, hoping she knew that not keeping in touch with her was one of those decisions. It was the worst of them. Her silence felt heavy like a lot of things were running through her mind. Puzzle pieces fitting together.
A long moment of quiet fell before she said, “I understand.”
For some reason, her stoic acceptance made me even angrier at myself. “I should’ve gotten my fucking act together and told you what was happening instead of going silent on you. I did the same to Derek and the others. Didn’t talk to anyone for months.” I paused, frowned, then cast her an apologetic look. “I have a problem with isolating myself when life gets tough.”
“It’s a coping mechanism, I get it. I did the same for a while when my marriage was in trouble. Tried to hide the problems. If only I’d opened up to my mom, let her help me, then maybe I would’ve ended things with Jesse a lot sooner.”
“Yeah?”
Charli nodded, her expression solemn as she stared out the window. I wanted to ask her more about her marriage, what her husband had really been like. If he was as much of an arsehole as Nuala would have me believe. But we’d just arrived at the tax office, and I had to let Charli out before I went to find a parking spot.
“This is it,” I said, eyeing her closely. She seemed withdrawn, and I wondered if discussing her ex-husband made her that way. “Go on inside and grab a number. I’m going to find somewhere to park, and then I’ll come find you.”
“Okay.” She picked up her bag and climbed out then turned back, her hazel eyes sad. “I’m sorry to hear about your mom, Rhys. And I’m sorry I never got the chance to meet her.”
With that, she left, and I stayed idling at the entrance, feeling like a lead weight had been dropped on my chest. Fuck, those parting words. I wished she could’ve met Mam, too. I bet they would’ve liked each other. It wasn’t until a horn honked behind me that I finally put the car in gear and drove away.
Two days later, Shay knocked on my office door a couple minutes before lunch. We were due to head out and meet his girlfriend, Maggie, for a bite to eat at an Italian café around the corner.
You ready? he signed as he stuck his head in.
“Yeah, just give me two minutes.”
I finished up an email to Danny, one of the security guards working out of the Malahide location. I closed out the window, put my desktop on sleep, then noticed someone had stopped outside my office to talk to Shay. I thought it was probably another member of my security team, but when I emerged, Charli was there, adorably fumbling her way through interpreting ISL. I was still impressed she knew some sign language.