Page 24

Twenty-Two

It was the strangest feeling, to be relieved and yet still have so much uncertainty swirling inside.

My bare feet rested on the dashboard of Adam’s canary-yellow Ford Fairlane, a car that had been Chris’s before him and was certainly not the most subtle vehicle in Onslow.

I peered up at the great imposing hotel, waiting for Adam to appear with his duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

One of the conditions about him giving me a lift back to the city was that he crashed the night, and head back in the morning.

He seemed happy enough, having arranged a few things before he left.

I didn’t actually expect him to agree, and then it had me wondering if I had put that pile of dirty laundry in the basket before I left, and oh God, had I taken my bra off the bedroom door handle?

I bit my bottom lip, anxious with the exact state I had left my flat during the mad rush to get ready to leave for Onslow.

Another element adding to my unease was this would be the first time Adam was entering my world, a foreign place for both of us.

At least in Onslow everything was familiar, we just existed in it, even on our road trip there was still a huge sense of familiarity between us amongst friends.

I was sure we would fall into that same comfortable rhythm as soon as we got going.

It was just the build-up waiting in between with my crazy thoughts.

I looked out the windscreen, willing him to hurry up.

“Worse than a bloody woman,” I mumbled.

I decided to try and be positive: Adam was taking me home, staying the night.

It would be my chance to make it up to him, cook tea for him, try and delve into what he didn’t want me to know—something deeper than his connection to Megsy.

Had to be. The very thought of her made me even more grateful that at least she would be nowhere in sight and most certainly not in my fucking bed.

Oh crap, it occurred to me that there really wasn’t anywhere for Adam to crash.

My tiny little one-bedroom flat: a couch, sure, but would it be weird for him to sleep on it?

It was one thing to crash in Adam’s childhood bed, a place of familiarity, or sleep in a tent together, but this, this was somehow different.

The back door opening, and Adam chucking in his bag interrupted my thoughts and made me flinch.

I had been so deep in thought I didn’t even see him come out of the hotel.

Adam slid behind the wheel, closing the door and then looking at me expectantly as he took a tape out of his top pocket, holding it up like it was something to behold.

“‘We Built This City’?” I said hopefully.

“No,” Adam said rather adamantly.

I pouted as he started up the car, placing the tape into the player, adjusting the volume, and looking at me expectantly as Tom Petty’s ‘Learning to Fly’ started blaring out of the speakers.

I started laughing, transporting me instantly to the road trip to Point Shank where Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had basically serenaded us most of the way.

It was the one tape that we could actually agree on.

I was suddenly flooded with nostalgia and once again found myself staring at Adam in a new way because I felt like the luckiest girl alive right now.

“Did you say goodbye to Tess? Did you want to swing around to her place before we go?”

I could feel my good mood slip. “Ah, no, that’s okay, they’re probably busy going through all their engagement stuff.”

“Ah, yes, counting all their money, no doubt,” Adam mused.

“Thanks for putting my name on your card, by the way.”

Adam frowned. “How did you—”

“Amy told me,” I said quickly, placing the blame.

Adam laughed, pulling the steering column into gear and flicking his sunnies down over his eyes.

“Now why doesn’t that surprise me?”

I thought having Adam in my world in the city would be no big deal, but with this unknown secret between us, there was underlying tension between us.

I had thought maybe a two-hour car ride might be the perfect opportunity for him to broach the subject again.

His grim exterior from last night worried me, and the fact he seemed to be avoiding the ‘talk’ worried me even more.

Old Ellie would press him for the answer: So what were you going to tell me last night?

But I couldn’t even broach the subject; a greater part of me didn’t want to know.

As we put distance between Onslow and us, Adam seemed to visibly relax.

The more relaxed and cheerful he was the more awkward I became.

We both reached for the volume at the same time, our hands brushing like awkward teenagers on a first date.

I retracted my hand as if I had been electrocuted.

“Sorry.” I blushed, actually turned red over something so ludicrous. Adam thought as much too; just by hearing an apology from me in the first place had him glancing at me in question.

“You all right?”

“Yeah, of course,” I lied.

What could possibly be wrong?