Page 29 of Heal You (The Study You #3)

The crown jewel of Firgas—a cascading thirty-metre waterfall—streamed elegantly down the heart of the town, bordered by vibrant tiles.

Each tile represented the crests and emblems of different towns in Gran Canaria, blending history with the beauty of the place in a way Morgan adored.

The waterfall was artificial, yet its delicate trickling sounds made it feel entirely natural.

Then there was that hum of life around them—locals chatting on shaded terraces and the occasional chip of birds—that only added to the charm of Firgas.

“This is…” Jan shook her head in awe as they stopped at the foot of the waterfall.

Morgan understood, though. The air here had always seemed lighter, and the people…

well, they were the reason Morgan came back time and time again.

Red, purple, and yellow blossoms spilled from nearby planters, their colours bursting so vividly that it was hard not to love the place. “Wow.”

“You like it here?” Morgan asked.

“Oh, I love it, Morgan.” Jan sighed as she let go of Morgan’s hand and slowly spun around. She held a palm to her chest, her smile widening with every last detail she took in. “It’s so different to where we’re staying.”

“I know. I come here every year. Just for a few hours to unwind. To sit and think.”

Jan nodded slowly as she turned back to Morgan. “I can understand why. It’s so…pretty.”

Morgan appreciated that Jan could see the beauty of the place, but the truth was, she’d brought Jan here because she knew she would love it equally as much as Morgan.

Jan wasn’t a party island kind of woman.

She wasn’t someone who dragged herself home in the middle of the night, stumbling her way through towns and cities.

No, Jan was elegant and poised. To a point, anyway.

Morgan knew she was fun and great for a laugh, but this was absolutely Jan’s style.

“This isn’t the kind of place I imagined you’d be fond of,” Jan said as she took Morgan’s hand again and angled her head towards an empty table outside a restaurant. “But I’m glad you are. It means you appreciate the nature around us.”

Morgan pulled out a seat for Jan and smiled. “I always appreciate nature and beauty.” She sat facing Jan, settling her hand over Jan’s on top of the table. “This town has a lot of memories for me. I try to stay connected to it whenever I can.”

“Memories?”

Morgan smiled when a waiter came by. They ordered coffees and a seafood platter to share, and then Morgan remembered that Jan was waiting for an answer. “Yes. I used to come here with my parents when I was a child.”

“I see.”

“I don’t have the luxury of doing it with them anymore, so I come here alone. Except for this time when I have you with me.” Morgan dipped her head and smiled. “Which I’m really grateful for, by the way.”

“Thank you for bringing me to a place that’s special to you.”

“I thought about not coming here this time around, but I figured you’d enjoy being here and I wanted you to see another side to the island.

Other places can be kind of intense and packed full of holiday makers who have been drinking since they got out of bed, but here…

” Morgan glanced around and smiled. “Here is where I feel at my most comfortable.”

“Can I ask what happened? Why you don’t have a relationship with your parents anymore?” Jan turned her hand over and stroked the inside of Morgan’s palm, effectively calming her into this conversation. “Please don’t feel as though you have to divulge anything if you’d rather not, though.”

“Just the usual. Found out their daughter was a lesbian, didn’t approve, and turned the rest of the family against me.

” Morgan lifted a shoulder. She’d had this conversation on several occasions now.

It was second nature to feel not very much about it all at this point.

“We only have a small family anyway. I’ve always been the only daughter, grandchild, and niece.

Mum only has one sister, and Dad is estranged from most of his family too, so I don’t know a great deal about his side in terms of relatives. ”

“R-right.”

“I tried to reason with them, but it just became a pointless task in the end. I miss them, of course I do, but I can’t change who I am. I can’t be someone I’m not for the sake of them.”

Jan regarded Morgan with a sympathetic smile. “And I hope you never would.”

“I did try for a period of time. I knew I was gay when I was, like, fourteen. I didn’t come out until just after my nineteenth birthday.

Before that, I wore the dresses Mum wanted to put me in and wore the makeup as I got older, but…

I just didn’t feel like me. I couldn’t deal with who I was trying to turn myself into.

We’d never had the conversation about my sexuality at any point before I came out, but Mum claims she always knew and tried to ‘teach it out of me’.

” Morgan scoffed and shook her head. “I couldn’t live a lie, no matter how much I loved them. ”

“Was there a reason she was so set against it?”

Morgan lifted a shoulder. “She just doesn’t believe in it. That’s what she’s repeatedly told me over the years. I guess I could understand a little better if she had an actual genuine reason for feeling that way, but not believing in it just isn’t good enough for me.”

Jan’s brows rose with surprise. “And that’s it? No contact with you anymore?”

“Yep. I used to send cards on birthdays or at Christmas, and they would be returned to me. Calls are ignored, and messages are never replied to. When I came out, she gave me a week to get my things together and leave. I used to go over there, hoping one day they’d see I was still just me, but they rarely answered the door.

When they did, they told me exactly what they thought of me.

” Morgan relaxed back in her seat and sighed.

“That was a tough period of my life. I had nowhere to go and no money.”

“W-what did you do?”

“Couch surfed with a few friends for a while. Stayed in a couple of hostels when they had a bed available for me. Did a stint under bridges and in doorways around the city for several months.”

Jan cast her gaze on the table as her shoulders slumped. “God, I’m so sorry, Morgan.”

“It is what it is. I came out of it, and now, I’m making a life for myself.”

“How…did you come out of it?” Jan looked back up at Morgan, those blue eyes reminding her that she was safe here.

“My grandfather passed away when I was twenty-six. My parents didn’t know that I still saw him and had a great relationship with him.

I wasn’t going to risk losing him by telling them, either.

He…was my only supporter.” Morgan wished she could have been around more for her grandfather during his final years, but he’d lived in a care home, and she couldn’t exactly move into his room with him to take care of him.

Still, whenever she could, she would drop in and spend hours upon hours talking about the past with him.

“I’ve never seen Mum looking so pale as she was the day I was summoned to the reading of his will. ”

Jan’s eyes brightened. “I have a feeling this story has a happy ending, even though it’s terribly sad at the same time.”

“He left everything he had to me. His care home fees were paid via his two private pensions, so his home was left to me, along with any savings he had.” Morgan smiled, looking back fondly on her relationship with him.

“He also told my parents what he thought of them via a letter he’d written a few months before he died. ”

“He saved you…”

Morgan cleared her throat when the waiter brought their coffees.

“Gracias.” She sweetened hers a little and nodded.

“He did. He had no idea I was moving from place to place almost daily; I didn’t have the heart to put it on him.

I also didn’t have it in me to move my stuff into his place and live there.

I couldn’t pay the electricity bills anyway, even if I’d done that, and again, he didn’t know I was on the bones of my arse.

He would have done anything he could for me, but I didn’t want to put it on him.

He’d already been the most amazing grandfather when I was growing up.

I wanted him to just keep that image in his head and not worry about me. Because he would have.”

“Oh, Morgan.”

Morgan didn’t want to ruin this afternoon. She would give Jan more information when it was appropriate. “Everything worked out in the end. That’s what counts.”

“Would you tell me about the bar and how you acquired it when you’re ready to?”

“Absolutely. Just…not now. I don’t want to waste this moment talking about the past when I could be enjoying the present with you, here like this.” Morgan’s mouth watered when their platter arrived. “And you won’t get a single word out of me once I tuck into this, anyway.”

Jan beamed a smile as she laughed. “That’s fair enough. But…thank you for sharing a part of your past with me.”

“I’m an open book, babe. Nothing is a secret in my life.”

Except you, unfortunately.