“Why not?”
“Granny will be so happy.”
I can’t tell him how happy I am right now, because he might take it the wrong way. As if there was even a right way by this point.
“I only have a few days left of the semester, but then I should be completely free. So… If there’s anything else… Use me however you like.”
I swallow and force myself to smile.
“I have the restaurant, which is always open – except at Christmas, obviously. Everything in town closes, so we do the same for three whole days. But if you need anything, a date to an event… I can try to get the night off.”
Sean smiles. “I’ll bear that in mind.”
“Good.”
“Good,” he responds.
“Good,” I say again.
“Good!” Mila and Jake cry out in unison from the living room.
Me and Sean laugh like two fools – because that’s exactly what we are – before heading back over to join the others, with so many new emotions to get used to, and new lies that neither of us intends to believe.
29Sean
Eric comes over to us as soon as we step into his restaurant. “You’re here,” he says, nervously.
“We are. Although I have no idea why…” I look around. “I don’t understand why you asked us to come.”
Eric looks at Mila. “You have an interview.”
“What? How…? When…?”
“Right now. The floor manager is waiting for you in the office.”
“But I can’t! I’m not ready, and I don’t even have my CV with me…”
“Don’t worry,” Eric says, wrapping his arm around Mila’s shoulders. “I’ve told him we’re basically family.”
“But we’re not really.”
“He doesn’t need to know that.”
Mila glances at me. I don’t know what to say, other than attempting to convince her to try.
“I don’t want to embarrass you,” she tells Eric.
“Why would you?”
Mila looks at him, and Eric smiles.
“You’ll be perfect, I know it.”
“I’m scared,” she says to me now.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” I reassure her.
“It’s not that… It’s just that… I don’t want to disappoint you again.”
