My cheeks flushed at having been caught, and I jerked around to face my boss. ‘Just checking building stability. It’s all good.’
Angus raised an eyebrow at me. ‘How about your mental stability?’
‘That’s definitely next on the agenda.’
3
Every week my dad, Jo, Cam, Cole, and I tried to meet up for a dinner together, and that night we were at my favorite Italian restaurant, D’Alessandro’s, on India Street, right around the corner from my flat. Cam and Dad often fought over the bill, but Dad had height and age over Cam, so he usually won.
I loved these dinners. Not just because I loved the food at D’Alessandro’s, but because Jo, Cam, and Cole had really become family for me and Dad, and us for them. Especially Cole. From everything I’d learned about his life before Cam, Cole really had only Jo. Now he had this makeshift family. A family he deserved. Jo had said Cole’s instant camaraderie with me was a rare thing indeed, a camaraderie we all knew had turned into a bit of a crush. Cole was too cool to ever make the crush awkward, and I always pretended to be completely unaware of it. To the outside observer Cole could have passed for eighteen. He’d grown another few inches these past nine months, taking him to six feet at fifteen years old. His broad shoulders had filled out from training with Cam and Nate at judo, and his upbringing had given him this air of maturity that most kids his age didn’t have. However, to me, and I knew to Jo, because we’d talked about it, he was just this little kid we adored. That could drive him crazy sometimes, since most people treated him like the young adult he appeared to be.
‘Have you read any new books I might like?’ the object of my musings asked as I took a sip of wine.
‘Yes, I have actually. Angus recommended this sci-fi novel about this dystopian underground society. You’ll love it.’
‘Cool. Can I get it in e-book?’
‘Yup. I’ll send you the link.’
‘Okay, cheers. By the way I finished War of the Worlds.’
I raised an eyebrow. ‘Elaborate? What did you think?’
He shrugged. ‘I thought it was quite realistic for what it was and when it was written. It was pretty bleak. I liked it.’
Catching my eye across the table, Cam smiled at Cole’s review. ‘Keep coming with the bleak.’
I put two fingers to my forehead and saluted him. ‘Gotcha.’
Cole rolled his eyes at us. ‘It’s not an emo thing or anything. Books with unhappy or grim endings just … make you … I don’t know. Feel more, or something …’
He seemed embarrassed to have admitted that he had feelings (the horror!), and I felt the need to reassure him. ‘I understand. Unhappy and bittersweet endings have a tendency to stay with you, affect you long after you’ve finished the story.’
‘Ellie might argue with you on that,’ Jo murmured, exchanging a cheeky grin with Dad.
‘No might about it,’ I cracked. ‘Still, I’d have to stand my ground on it. Although I love a good romance with a happy ending, I have to admit that unhappy endings have more of an impact on me.’
I felt my dad’s stare and turned to find him frowning at me.
‘Put that away.’ I scowled, gesturing to the furrow between his brows. ‘I am perfectly okay.’
‘You prefer unhappy endings to happy endings,’ he argued.
‘In literature. Not life. Lit-er-a-ture.’
Dad leaned across the table to me. ‘You’d tell me if there was something the matter.’
‘Oh, my God.’ I shot a pleading look Jo’s way.
‘Of course she’s okay,’ Jo said, rescuing me. ‘She’s successful, she’s gorgeous, she has her own flat, lots of friends, and an overbearing dad who loves her. Now leave her alone.’
Dad was glowering as Jo teased him. After a few seconds he appeared to process her words and his shoulders relaxed. He turned to me. ‘I worry about you in that flat all by yourself, that’s all.’
‘I’m rarely in it alone. Nate relocated his office there.’
For some reason this made my dad scowl. That was immediately followed by Jo choking on laughter. I turned a swift glare on her and she choked harder.