She’d heard about last night already. Or maybe she hadn’t, and this was because I’d pulled Susan out of the harbour. But there was no mistaking this milk for what it really was—acceptance. Grudging as hell, but acceptance all the same.
“I...” I was almost too afraid to take the bottle, but I reached out and took it because I didn’t want her to snatch it back. “Thank you.”
“Wait!” Eddie exclaimed. “Why does Dominic get milk?”
“Room opened up on the waiting list.” Mavis raised her eyebrows like she was daring him to disagree.
He dared. “But I was on the waiting list before him!”
“That’s not how the waiting list works,” she said.
“Oh, my god!”
“Stop cluttering up the place,” she said, sliding my change over to me. “This is a?—”
“A shop, not a discotheque,” I finished for her. “Have a great day, Mavis.”
I dragged Eddie back out into the street before he got us both banned from the shop for life.
Then, laughing, I headed for home.
The scent of bacon frying brought Natty down the stairs—very slowly. He limped into the kitchen, looking adorably sleep-mussed, and I pulled out a chair for him at the little table.
“Are you making breakfast?” he asked, and immediately followed up with, “Is it toasted sandwiches?”
“Yes, and no, in that order.”
His sweet smile dimmed. “I’m sorry about last night.”
I took the frypan off the burner and set it aside before closing the space between us and squatting down so that I could look up at him. “No more of that, okay? It was an accident. You don’t need to keep saying you’re sorry. It wasn’t the night I was planning either, but the important thing is you’re safe.”
He bit his lip and nodded.
“Also, Nipper Will didn’t murder me, so he’s like my bro now. We’re super close.”
He laughed softly. “Is that right?”
“We are bros for life, Natty, for life.” I squeezed his knee. “How’s your ankle?”
“It’s not too bad.” He wrinkled his nose. “I mean, I still have my foot, so...”
“Mmm.” My stomach twisted at the memory.
He let out a slow breath. “You were really going to cut it off, weren’t you?”
I shuddered. “God. Is it gross to say that I hope so? I mean I hope I wouldn’t have chickened out at the last minute when the alternative was... well, you know what the alternative was.”
He leaned down so that his forehead touched mine. “Yeah.”
As much as I wanted to stay like this forever, my thighs were starting to ache, and I didn’t want the bacon to go cold. So I tilted my head and kissed him quickly, then rose with a groan that wouldn’t have sounded out of place coming from one of the residents of the old people’s home back in Sydney. “Breakfast?”
He smiled. “Okay.”
We had toast and scrambled eggs and bacon, and it wasn’t half bad, and a coffee for me and a tea for Natty. Frank turned up for bacon, and everything was comfortably domestic. After breakfast I did the dishes, insisting Natty stay off his ankle, and then helped him up the stairs so he could shower.
“Do you want me to grab some clothes from your place, or do you want to wear some more of mine?”
“Yours are good,” he said from behind the closed bathroom door.
