Ali frowned. “She wasn’t over the moon, but I think we can safely say neither of us is very good at following through, seeing as I just had sex with her again in her parents’ lounge.”
Tobias spluttered. “What the fuck? Who the hell are you?”
“I have no idea.” That was the truth. “It’s like she brings out this side to me, this animalistic, primal side that I didn’t even know I had.”
“I’m not sure what to say to that.” He was enjoying this, wasn’t he? “And do you like it?”
Ali ran her fingertips over the toy trumpet. Did she? “I think I do.”
“I definitely do,” he replied. “But telling her it’s over and then having sex with her is mixed messages, don’t you agree?”
Ali smiled. “I’m aware it could be conceived as such. What do I do now?”
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t fucking know! That’s why I’m calling you.”
“Tell me one thing—why does you going to New York mean nothing can happen? There’s a lot of technology that can help with that. You can have video sex to your heart’s content.”
Ali grinned. An image of a naked Morgan lying underneath her earlier flashed into her mind.
Not helpful.
“But it won’t be the same. I don’t want to put pressure on myself when I’m leaving. Plus, I promised my dad I’d give this my all. How can I do that with a new girlfriend to worry about?”
Tobias was silent on the other end for a few seconds. “But what about if, having met Morgan, she’s it? What if you end up in New York and all you can think of is her, but she doesn’t want to know because you wouldn’t consider it in the first place? You’ve held a torch for this woman for the last 20 years.”
“Longer.”
“My point exactly! She’s shaken you up. What I’m saying is, think long and hard about this decision before you shut it down completely.”
CHAPTER29
“Shit the bed, you look ready to drop!” Morgan hugged Annabel after she waddled through the door. She took her coat and hung it on one of the hallway hooks.
“Thanks. I haven’t heard that about ten times a day from every person I’ve met over the past week.”
Morgan winced. “Sorry.” She greeted Josh as he walked in behind Annabel. He was so tall, he always ducked under normal-sized doorways. He bought his jeans at a special shop that catered for people with legs the length of the M1. “How’s my favourite brother-in-law?”
“Looking forward to having dinner with someone other than your grumpy sister.” He leaned down and kissed Annabel on the cheek. “She agrees, don’t you?”
“Fuck, yes. Pregnancy and me are not friends. The sooner this is out of my body, the better.”
Morgan put her arm around her. “Come into the kitchen and have a mince pie. That’ll cheer you up.”
They followed Morgan into the kitchen, where her mum was already busy making dinner. The turkey was in the oven, the spuds were prepped, as was all the veg. Now it was a case of military precision and timing, of which her mum was a master. Morgan had spent many Christmases watching and learning, but she was still impressed every year.
“What the hell happened to the gingerbread roof?” Annabel stood over it, a grin on her face. “If this is a ploy to get me laughing, you succeeded. This is brilliantly bad.”
Morgan ground her teeth together. She’d forgotten about that. It didn’t look like her work. It looked like she’d been ambushed.
Annabel looked from her parents to Morgan. “Were you drunk? That’s the only way I can explain it.”
She shook her head. “It was a joint effort. Me and Ali Bradford.”
Her sister frowned. “Ali Bradford, as in little Ali?”
“She’s not so little anymore.”
