Page 69 of Just Do It
‘I do still wish you’d told me about Alice though.’
‘I don’t.’
I shifted up to look at him, even though the darkness prevented me from doing so, the movement was almost automatic.
‘Why not?’
‘Because she met the real you.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘A couple of previous times, I’d told girlfriends the situation beforehand and it freaked one out, I’ve no idea why, so clearly that relationship wasn’t destined for the long term and another one just bellowed at Alice.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah. So weird. Alice wasn’t fazed obviously, but from the way we all jumped she got the idea what was happening. As you’ve already discovered, she’s got a great sense of humour. Afterwards, she said seeing us all flinching with the noise, she was quite glad she couldn’t hear her.’
‘Oh dear.’
‘It was mortifying.’
‘But not your fault, Finn.’
‘No, I know but still.’
‘You felt responsible.’
‘I guess so, yes.’
‘You didn’t need to, and Alice obviously knew that. People react in the way they’re going to react. We have no control of how others behave. It’s not your fault if they don’t act the way you’d hoped.’
‘But you did. You were just perfect, even though I dropped you in at the deep end.’
‘Thanks. Good to know you weren’t curling up in a corner from mortification.’
‘Far from it. The fact that you and Alice hit it off so well just goes to show that you’re as great as I thought you were from the very first moment I met you.’
‘You’re very romantic when you’re tipsy.’
‘I’m very romantic when I’m not tipsy.’
A few minutes later, my brain clearly unwilling to go to sleep despite the insistence of my body which was entirely knackered, I piped up again.
‘How long did it take you to learn sign?’
‘God, woman, why aren’t you asleep yet? You drank enough wine between you to sink a battleship.’
‘We did not and alcohol is a stimulant. So that’s probably part of the reason. Also, don’t be rude. You don’t normally complain when I’m awake.’ I teased.
A low, throaty laugh wrapped itself around me in the darkness. ‘True, but that’s because I’ve generally got more energy than I have right now.’
I prodded him in a stomach that was annoyingly firmer than my own. ‘So? How long?’
‘A while, but we learnt as a family. No one wanted Alice to feel left out and obviously we wanted to hold conversations in the easiest way possible for her. It was natural that we’d all begin learning as soon as she did. Greg’s known her since she was a kid so he was up for it too.’
‘I suppose that made it easier to practise? Any language gets rusty when you’re not using it.’
‘Exactly. We made a point of getting together every single day if possible to work on it. It wasn’t always easy, especially when I was away on a job but then we did it on video.’
