Page 82 of Lilly
“Do you want a drink or anything before heading back?” I ask, because I’m aware of how many hours he’s going to be drivingtoday.
“I’m good. Could do with a leak,though.”
“First door on the right as you go in,” Lucas instructs and we watch as Dec walksoff.
“He doesn’t like me,” Lucas whispers when Dec is out ofearshot.
“Are you surprised, Luc? You left me without so much as a warning. He was the one to pick up thepieces.”
I look up at Lucas as he swallows and thinks about what I’ve just said. “Lilly,I’m—”
“It’s okay. We’re moving on,” I say, interrupting anotherapology.
He nods before lowering his lips tomine.
“Break it up, kids,” Dec shouts over when he reappears. He goes about putting my mountain of stuff into the back of the van while he mutters about the fact I’m only staying a few days, not a month, while Lucas and I saygoodbye.
It’s stupid, I know, but as Dec pulls out of Lucas’ driveway, I burst intotears.
“Shit, Lills. What’swrong?”
“N…nothing,” I stutter out between sobs. “Just pregnancystuff.”
“Hmmm, maybe I should have thought twice about inviting a hormonal pregnant woman to stay for theweekend.”
“Shut up. I’ll be fine. Have you warned theothers?”
“Of course. They said they’d keep themselves scarce for theweekend.”
Dec lives in a huge house he bought a few months ago. It was a bargain, and also a complete dump. He allows his mates to stay rent-free as long as they help out with the renovation. It’s worked pretty well for him, because the photos he’s sent me of the place lookstunning.
* * *
“Lilly, we’re here.”My eyes pop open and it takes a couple of seconds to realise who the house belongs to that I’m staring at, and that it’s Dec shaking meawake.
“How long have I beenasleep?”
“You lasted about twentyminutes.”
“Whoops.Sorry.”
“S’alright.”
“I’m starving,” I admit. Dec better get used to hearing that, because I seem to say it every few hours thesedays.
“We’ll order something. Let’s get yousettled.”
Dec helps me from the van and grabs my stuff before leading the way. I get a whistle stop tour of the ground floor on the way up to the sparebedroom.
“This place is amazing.” The last time I was here, Dec was still living in a student flat and this place wasn’t much more than a pile ofbricks.
“It’s not bad for a few novices, is it?” Dec asks, referring to himself, Liam and Ben—or BJ, as they call him—who’ve done almost all the work. I’m yet to use Ben’s nickname. I really hope they call him it because of his initials, but I’m not convinced and I’m too scared toask.
“Can I have the WiFi password please?” I ask Dec when I reappear after a long shower. God knows how my numb arse and stiff back didn’t wake me on the journey but the power shower in the guest bathroom helped easeit.
“Sure,” he says, walking over to the router and handing me a piece of plastic with the password on. I punch it in before opening FacebookMessenger.
I’m waiting for a message, although I’m scared it may never come. When Lucas left for work on Monday I started searching for his brother. He’d been much more open about talking about his past since his initial confession on Friday, so when I asked for his old surname he offered it upimmediately.
