Page 119 of How To Not Need You

His eyebrows lift in disbelief.

“I'm shit,” I correct. “But I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Go home. Sleep.”

He nods, accepting that. At the door, he shoves his feet back into his boots and straightens. “For what it’s worth, mate, I think she’ll come back.”

I lean against the wall. “Based on?”

“The fact that I’ve watched you two together.”

Not exactly the scientific evidence I was hoping for. Ben opens the door.

“And because she voluntarily attends meetings run by Luca. Clearly the woman has an unusually high tolerance for difficult men.”

A laugh gets out before I can stop it.

Ben grins. “That’s more like it.”

“Fuck off.”

“Get some sleep.”

“You too.”

He steps onto the verandah, then turns back. “Call me if you need me.”

“I won't.”

“I know. Call anyway.” Then he leaves.

I stand in the doorway and watch him cross to his car. I’ve known Ben long enough to understand exactly what tonight cost him.

The man loves me. He just usually prefers to do it after eight uninterrupted hours of sleep.

I wave him off and move back into the silent house. Wishing I could do more than wait for the love of my life to talk to me.

Waiting has never been my strong suit. I’m a man who reaches for solutions. Who believes, fundamentally, that most things can be fixed if you’re willing to put your hands on them and try.

But some things can’t be fixed. Some things can only be endured. Sat with. Given the time they need to find their own answers.

So I sit. In the quiet kitchen. With the phone face-down on the table. And I wait.

Chapter

Twenty

Tilly

Dad is being weird. He’s been weird since yesterday, but today he’s even weirder. He opens the fridge, looks at it for a bit, then closes it. Then opens it again.

I don’t understand what he is doing, does he want to eat something?

“What are you doing?”

Dad looks over the fridge door at me. “Making breakfast.”