Page 82 of Only Ever You

Faye nodded. And all of a sudden, all of the emotion within her rose again to the surface.

Soon.She had less than a few weeks left before she was uprooted and gone. God, she’d wasted so much time in not telling him.

Bash’s brow lined itself with concern. His hand raised towards her cheek and Faye waited for his gentle touch, tilting towards his palm.

“Sébastien,ton père m’a dit qu?—?*”

They sprang away from one another as the door opened.

What was it with people and not knocking today?

“What is … going on in here?” Michèle took one step inside, her eyes gleaming with intrigue until she realised they hadn’t been standing so close for the reason she might hope. “Faye? Are you alright?” She charged forwards like a worried mother. “Oh, you have been crying!”

“Aïe!?*” Bash’s shoulders bunched from the swat of his mother’s hand.

“Qu’est-ce que tu as fait??*”

A chuckle slipped from Faye at the steady fierceness in Michèle’s eyes. Her salt and pepper hair was beautifully barrel curled, and the wrap dress she’d chosen for the party was holly-leaf green.

“It wasn’t him,” she said before Michèle went full mama bear on her behalf. “These … these are just overwhelmed tears.”

“Overwhelmed?Ma chérie?*, what’s wrong?”

Faye hoped Bash’s temperament had been inherited from his father as she said, “I just told Bash I’ll be leaving London for a while. A year. I was scared to tell him, but he’s been so supportive, so” –she wafted her hand in the direction of her face– “overwhelmed tears.”

“Oh,ma chérie.” Michèle offered out her arms and Faye let herself be wrapped up. “This is good news though, no?”

“Good news, yes.” A thumb that wasn’t hers wiped across Faye’s cheek. This close, she was wrapped in a soft oriental scent of Michèle’s perfume.

“Sebby,” Michèle said, “you can go back downstairs. I will help Faye tidy herself up.”

It was a kind offer – she was sure to be all puffy and red eyed by now. Her mascara had definitely smudged beneath her eyes like she was three sheets to the wind. She wasn’t prepared for the inquisition that’d occur whilst Michèle helped her to fix herself back up again, but she couldn’t exactly refuse.

Bash’s eyes, full of regret like the reason for her tears was him, moved to her. His lips parted like he wanted to say something, but he never did. Faye gave a gentle nod, and he left without fuss.

* Sébastien, your father told me that?—

* Ouch!

* What have you done?

* My dear

25

FAYE

As the party wound down,Faye slipped away to swap her heels for fluffy socks and returned to help clean up the kitchen. With seven pairs of hands – yes, even Uncle Mortimer pulled a tiny fraction of his weight – the array of dishes were all in the sink and dishwasher, the leftover foods were stashed in foil containers within the fridge, and the house lingered with the mixed scents of thirty different perfumes and colognes all before eleven p.m.

She left Bash talking with Matt in the living room and said goodnight to everyone else before turning herself in. It’d been an arduous day and her feet moaned at her with each step she took past the bed to the bathroom. She didn’t want to shower again, and even though she didn’t have thespoonsfor it, her skin would hate her in the morning if she didn’t remove her make-up.

Faye peeled herself out of the dress she’d never expected would gather so many memories tonight and switched into something more comfortable before sending out a text.

Faye

I told Bash the news.

Sienna

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