Page 75 of Payback
Her eyes widen and she forces out a laugh. “Well, you’d be right then because you’d look at me differently if you met my crazy family, and I quite like the way you’ve been looking at me lately.” She tries to joke it off, but I can tell she’s not amused.
“Mooi,” I state firmly and gently grasp her chin, locking my serious eyes on hers. “I’d never look at you differently. Can’t you see I’m fucking mad about you?”
Her eyes instantly soften with surprise. “I’m pretty mad about you, too.” Her gaze moves back and forth from my eyes to my lips as she wars with something deep inside of her heart that makes mine hurt. She pulls away from my embrace and murmurs, “But this is my family mess, and it’s important for me to clean it up myself.”
I nod my head at her determination and remind myself that it was one of the first things I liked about her. “All right then. I’m here whenever you need me.”
She licks her lips and smiles. “I know. You’re kind of a good human like that.”
We arrive at Heathrow a few minutes later, and I manage to get her all the way through the airport without her seeing where we’re going. However, the size of the jet is a dead giveaway that we’re going far.
“Real or fake? We’re going somewhere warm,” she says, pulling back her noise-cancelling headphones to hear my answer.
“Fake. It’s not too warm, but it’s not too cold.”
She nods, obviously confused by my response. “Real or fake? We’re going somewhere that has water.”
“Real.”
Her brows knit together as she considers some options in her head. “Real or fake? We’re going to have lots of sex when we get there.”
I hesitate with my answer, and her face falls before I reply, “Probably real.”
This seems to confuse her. She sits back, adjusting her seatbelt and quietly contemplating my answer as we take off for a trip that could essentially make or break us.
Our plane doesn’t land for hours. Hours and hours. I lost track of time, but I’m pretty sure we flew as far as I did from Chicago to London. When we finally land, I look out the window with wide eyes.
“Where are we?” I ask and several passengers turn to look at me curiously because I forgot I’m still wearing Roan’s headphones.
Roan laughs and pulls them off of my ears. “Welcome to Cape Town, Lis.”
My jaw drops. The next thing I know, we’re de-boarding the plane and wheeling our small carry-ons through Cape Town International Airport. We’re in Roan’s hometown? In South Africa? Holy shit!
When we step outside into the cool air, Roan begins waving at a tall, thin woman with fair skin and short blonde hair. She looks old enough to be his mother.
“Mom!” he shouts to get the woman’s attention, and I think I die a thousand deaths.
The woman’s eyes find us in the crowd, and she looks like she could explode from happiness. She grabs two teenage-looking girls beside her and they all race toward us.
I remain frozen in place as the three of them embrace Roan like they haven’t seen him in years. Come to think of it, I do remember Roan saying he hasn’t been home since his transfer to Bethnal Green. Now I’m here to witness their reunion.
My mouth turns to cotton and my palms begin to sweat as I realise that I’m meeting my boyfriend’s mother…and I had no idea. I anxiously finger-comb my hair because I’ve been on a plane for hours and I probably look like I just rolled out of bed.
Roan turns his attention to me. “Allie, I’d like you to meet my mother, Diana, and my two sisters, Mia and Ava.”
“Um, it’s really good…I wish I’d…Lovely to…” I’m stammering like an idiot and Diana laughs knowingly.
She wraps her elegantly long fingers around my hands and says in a posh British accent, “You had no idea you were meeting me today, did you?”
“Of course I knew!” I giggle unconvincingly and then get a horribly guilty look on my face. “No, sorry. I don’t know why I’m lying. I’m just in shock, I guess.”
Diana shakes her head, rolling her clear blue eyes up toward the clear blue sky. “This is so typical of my son. He doesn’t do anything small.” She wraps her arms around my shoulders and pulls me in for a hug. “It’s nice to meet you, Allie. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“You have?” I ask.
She laughs like she thinks I’m joking and turns to walk with me under her arm. “Come along, you guys. I only have you for two days, so we’re going to make the most of it.”
I look over my shoulder at Roan, who looks so pleased with himself that I kind of want to punch him.
