Page 83 of Away With You
I smile sadly. “It’s okay. It helps to explain some things, I guess.” Taking in a deep breath, I continue. “My mum was a casual drinker. A wine at dinner, a pint at the pub. That sort of thing. Nothing too extreme. She was fit. She exercised every day—got in her daily ten thousand steps rain or shine—she ate well and generally looked after herself. So, when she got this diagnosis, it floored her. It floored both of us. We didn’t see it coming. At first, we were in denial. She didn’t have any of the risk factors. She didn’t smoke, she barely drank, and there was no family history. And yet, there it was. There it was, and it took her life.”
Nathan wipes the tears from my face with gentle fingers, pressing soft kisses on my cheeks, my eyelids, my lips like he’s trying to soothe the pain.
“So that’s why you don’t drink? You’re worried you’re going to get it, too?”
I shrug, feeling restless. “That’s not it, really. I know the biology of it. That I’m at risk because I have the family history. And I know the occasional alcoholic drink won’t lead me down that path. But in my mind, why take that chance? I want to keep my liver as healthy as possible, and alcohol damages it. I guess it’s all twisted in my mind, and it’s one thing I can control. Like wearing sunscreen and doing monthly breast checks. Everything helps.”
His face softens as he stares at me. “That makes perfect sense.”
“It does?”
He winces a little. “I’m sorry for coming in so drunk the other night. If I’d have known it was painful for you…”
I shake my head, an adamant ‘no.’ “Nuh uh. That’s not how this works. I don’t want to drink, but that’s my decision. If you want to have a beer with dinner,”—I point to his empty bottle with a smile—“or a few too many tequilas to deal with your awful older brother, then that’s what you should do. I don’t want you changing any of that for me.”
His throat moves in a deep swallow. “Are you sure, Kitty Kat? Because I’d give it up for you.”
My stomach does that swooping, falling thing it does whenever this man says stuff like this. “You don’t have to change one single thing for me, Nathan Jackson.”
His answering kiss is sweet and perfect. Like a full-stop on my declaration.
“Just know that I would.”
I raise a brow.
“I’d change for you, Katherine Winslow. If you asked me to. Because you’re worth it.”
My heart thumps at his words. I don’t want this man to change for me, but it’s a heady realisation knowing he would do. If I asked. Because he thinks I’m worth it.
“Nathan,” I whisper into his ear. “I think it’s time to go back.”
His eyes gleam with anticipation and so much promise. He takes my hand in his and leads me back to the waiting golf buggy. I follow along beside him, knowing this is where I want—need—to be.
Next to him.
For always.
CHAPTER 22
KATIE
“Wake up, you two! You’ve been in hiding long enough!”
Rosie’s screeching voice and thumping fists are not exactly the way I’d have wanted to be woken up this morning. But here we are.
“Freaking, Rosie,” Nathan groans from his spot, cuddling me. “We need to speak to her about boundaries.”
Smiling, I pull out of his arms, giggling as he holds me tighter, refusing to let me go.
“She’s not going to give up,” I tell him over the racket his sister is making at our door. “If we don’t let her in, she’ll just keep knocking.”
His lips brush my temple, and I give in, sinking into him, as reluctant to leave his arms as he is to let me go.
“Bugger off, Rosie!” he bellows.
She huffs. “No can do. Let me in!”
“Come on,” I whisper as I sit up, pushing my tangled hair over my shoulder. “We better let her in.”
