Page 114 of Reckless Hearts

“My whole life, I’ve never felt like I was the son my dad wanted,” Seb says. “So, I gave up trying. I never tried to meet him halfway, you know? Never tried to find any point of commonality between us.”

“Seb…” I say.

“What if he doesn’t recover? What if I never get the chance to make things right?”

His words are like a knife through me.

My chest constricts, and I can’t breathe.

Because I know only too well how some wounds never fully heal, how regret can haunt you for a lifetime.

I don’t want that for Seb. I will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening to him.

“You can’t think like that,” I manage to say. “There’s no point in torturing yourself with worst-case scenarios.”

Seb lets out a shaky breath. “Thank you for being here.”

“Always.”

The word falls automatically from my mouth, but I instantly know it for the lie it is. Because it’s impossible to promise someone always.

Especially someone like me.

That thought is what has me pulling away from Seb.

“I better get these coffees to your mum and Saskia,” I say.

“This sucks,” he says, wiping a hand across his face.

“It really does,” I agree. “We need to tell Saskia about us.”

“We can’t do that to her now,” he says.

“I know.”

I lean in to kiss him, finding his soft lips with my own. The kiss is different from the usual ones we share. This is tear-stained and sweet.

I press my forehead to his for a second before I retreat, scooping down to pick up the tray of coffees.

“You go first,” he says. “I’ll follow in a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

I make my way back to the room, my mind racing. The coffees are now lukewarm, a dead giveaway of how long I’ve been gone. I rehearse excuses in my head—I got lost, I had to take a call, I ran into a fan.

But when I arrive back in the room, the question of where I’ve been is the last thing on Saskia’s and her mother’s minds. Because Alistair has demonstrated improved cardiac function on his latest ECG. His heartbeat is stronger and his blood work shows decreasing levels of cardiac enzymes, indicating less stress on his heart.

When Seb slips into the room two minutes later and hears the news, his whole body sags with relief.

As the initial wave of relief subsides, I become aware of a lingering awkwardness between Saskia and Seb. They’re avoiding each other’s gazes, and there’s a tension between them that wasn’t there earlier.

“I’m sorry,” Saskia finally says to Seb. “I didn’t mean what I said.”

“It’s all right,” Seb replies.

My gaze flicks between them. What the hell happened? What did Saskia say to him?

If she said something to upset Seb, I’m not sure I’ll be able to restrain myself.