Page 74 of The Weight Of It All
Reed looked a little confused, but I smiled. And so, with Reed with me, I drove to the nearest charity shop and took the box of Graham’s belongings out of the boot. Before I put them in the drop-bin, Reed put his hand on my arm. “Are you sure?”
“I am so sure. I should’ve done it the day he left.”
“But you weren’t ready then.”
“No. I wasn’t. But I am now. To be honest, I should’ve done it two or three years ago. I guess it needed to run its course for me to get to this point.” I shrugged and met his gaze. “I’m happy with where I’m headed. And that’s nothing to do with you, Reed. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with where we’re heading too. But I’m happier with who I am and knowing what I want than I have been in years. I want to get fitter and healthier, for me?not for anyone else. I’m not ready to take on the world, but I’m ready to leave this behind.” I held up the box.
Reed rewarded me with one of those eye-crinkling smiles and a soft kiss. “Good for you, Henry.”
And just like that, I put the box of Graham’s things?the things he’d discarded, belongings and memories?into the charity bin, and walked away. I felt lighter, stronger than I ever had.
Reed and I went back to my place, where I made him a late lunch of the beetroot tart, which he devoured, and cooked us a dinner of prawns and linguine. He spent the entire time in the kitchen with me, distracting me with kisses to the back of my neck and breathy sighs in my ear.
And later that night, we played Scrabble, Uno,andTwister.
Thirteen
I walkedinto the office on Monday morning with a coffee for me and one for Melinda. I put it on her desk as I breezed in, and she took one look at me, blinked, and stood up. She grabbed her coffee and ushered me into my office, shutting the door behind us. “Oh my God, Henry. Tell me everything.” Then she paused and seemed to consider something in mid-air. “Okay, noteverything. Spare me the dirty details, but you and Reed. What happened?”
“How do you know something happened?”
She raised one eyebrow at me. “One, you brought me coffee. Two, that ridiculous smile says you got lucky. And three…” She tilted her head. “What are you doing?”
“Trying not to smile.”
“Well, stop it. Details, Henry. I want them. Don’t make me call Anika.”
I laughed and quite possibly did a little dance before taking a self-composing breath. “Yes, Reed and I… cleared the air.”
She squealed and jumped, then had to mop spilled coffee off my desk. “Keep talking.”
So I told her everything, minus the dirty details.
“So, you’re together?”
“Well, yes. I think so.”
“As in boyfriends.”
“I think so?” I really hadn’t askedthatquestion. “He didn’t stay the whole night, because he has really early starts and all his work stuff was at his place, obviously.”
“What do you meanthink so?”
“Well, we didn’t discuss labels. But he is definitely a one-man guy. His ex cheated on him, so he’s very pro exclusive. Oh, Melinda, he’s just the sweetest guy. And he’s gorgeous, and he’s utterly perfect.”
“No one’s perfect,” she stated, clearly trying to rain on my parade. “Tell me one of his flaws.”
“He has none.”
“He has to. Name some.”
I tried really hard to think of something I might consider a flaw… “Well, he starts work really early. He’s a health-freak, but in a good way. He eats alotof food, but it’s like 98 per cent healthy.”
“I don’t think any of that qualifies as a flaw, Henry.”
“He doesn’t own any Bee Gee albums.”
She gasped and put her hand to her heart. “Do you think that’s something you can get past?”
