Page 79 of The Weight Of It All
I shook my head. “Nope. You know what I feel like?” I didn’t give him time to answer. “Poached fish with lemongrass and ginger.”
“Okay then.”
“Fancy a trip to the supermarket with me?”
He chuckled. “I bring you a rose and you take me to Coles?”
“Romantic, huh?” I grinned at him. I held up the single most perfect rose in the world and inhaled the scent of it. “Let me just put this in some water, and I’ll grab my keys.”
Five minutes later, we walked into the supermarket. Reed grabbed a basket and we headed for the seafood section.Normally I’d go to the fish markets, but this would have to do. I selected the best red snapper fillets they had on offer, then we grabbed some fresh ginger, chilli, and limes.
“Come this way,” Reed said, nodding toward the freezer section.
By his smirk, I knew he was up to no good, and when he stopped at the ice-cream selections, I gawped at him. “Do you know how good I’ve been? I’ve been having my weekly treat on Mondays at work, and yesterday’s morning tea was pure carbs and fat, and delicious by the way, and you want to kill me with ice cream?”
Reed opened the freezer door and picked out a pack of two little individual tubs. “These are gelato, and they’re tiny. It’s like two mouthfuls, and they’ll be perfect after dinner.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t have some weird kink where you get off by feeding fat people, do you?”
Reed burst out laughing. “No! I swear. You don’t have to get them. I just thought it’d be nice to cleanse the palate after ginger and chilli, that’s all.”
I sighed dramatically. “Alright then. If you insist. But if my new size thirty-eight suits don’t fit me in the morning, I’ll blame you.”
He threw the gelatos into the basket. “That’s fine. I’ll just make you do a 5K run on Thursday.”
I pushed his shoulder. “Fuck you.”
He laughed some more when someone behind us spoke.
“Henry?”
I turned around and stopped cold. Graham stood there, looking at me like he couldn’t believe his eyes. “Graham,” I replied, more for Reed’s benefit than his.
Reed edged a little closer to me, which I had to admit, I really fucking liked. I watched as Graham looked up Reed’s chest to his face then jolted his head, like he had to physically make himself look at me. I was only wearing jeans and asweater, but Graham would have undoubtedly recognised the jeans that hadn’t fit me in years. “You look good, Henry.”
“Thanks,” I said, disregarding the compliment because coming from him, I had to wonder about the sincerity. “You look…” exactly the same, except for the excess hair product, and wait, is that hair dye? I cleared my throat. “So do you.” I couldn’t lie for shit, and we both knew it.
Graham looked up at Reed again and gave him a sleazy smile. “The name’s Graham Martin,” he said, holding his hand out.Dear God, was he trying to come onto him? In front of me?
Reed shook Graham’s hand, and I had to wonder what it took for Graham not to flinch with how strong Reed gripped his palm. “Reed Henske,” he said flatly. It was pretty clear Reed didn’t like him. It made me smile.
“So…?” Graham hedged, looking between Reed and me. “You two are…?”
“Boyfriends,” Reed answered. “Well, we’re working on it.”
Well, I guess that took care of the label dilemma I had earlier. I had wondered what to call him or to call whatever our relationship was. Reed just answered that question, leaving no room for doubt. I had to bite the inside of my lip so I didn’t smile too much.Boyfriends. Holy shit.
Graham’s gaze shot to mine. “Right. Well, I guess that’s… Good for you, Henry.”
And it struck me, right in the middle of aisle two of Coles that I didn’t want to be a bitch about this. I’d spent eight years of my life with him, and we were adults. “I should thank you, Graham. I mean, I didn’t realise it at the time, but you leaving was the wake-up call I needed. Neither of us were happy and weren’t for a long time. I can see that now.”
He seemed a little surprised by my honesty, but his eyes softened. “I’m glad it’s working out for you.”
“Are you happy?”
He gave a bit of a nod. “Yeah.” I didn’t know whether to believe him or not, but it was no longer my place to say. “And I’m sorry I never replied to your text.”
“I gave your stuff to charity,” I said. “Anika wanted to set fire to it, but I wouldn’t let her. I was tempted, though.”
