Cole’s face fell, but he soon turned it around and smirked.
“No one to remove the spiders? You’d have so many glasses dotted around the house with spiders trapped inside ’em,” he teased. “Does Jasper catch them for you?”
Frowning, I shook my head. “No. Jasper throws them at me, and the spiders in Australia are bigger than cats.” Well perhaps not quite, but they were a lot bigger than the spiders in England that’s for sure.
“You wanna come with me next week?” Cole asked, changing the subject before he started laughing. “I could use another opinion. Apparently I’m too negative when house hunting.”
“Yeah? I’d love to,” I replied. I knew it wasn’t a date or anything, but I was still excited to spend more time with him.
“Good. Then if it falls down I can blame you.”
We stayed in the diner long after we’d finished eating and drinking. I managed to drag everything out for as long as I could, just wanting a little bit more time with him. Eventually though, there was nothing more I could do and Cole paid the bill. Nothing had changed; he never let me pay for anything.
His arm brushed against mine as we walked to his car. My breath caught in my throat. This was so nice, so normal for us. I didn’t want the talk to come, even though I knew it had to. I was enjoying things being as if I had never left.
Cole opened the car door for me, and I suddenly realised how close he was. Our faces were inches apart. My breath caught in my throat as he stared into my eyes. Was he going to kiss me? I couldn’t breathe properly. He still had the same effect on me.
His eyes flickered to my lips, and my heart soared. Everything else disappeared, and all I could see was his beautiful face. Was this a good idea, though? We’d only just managed to get back to being ‘friends’, and I really didn’t want to mess that up. I hated that he was angry with me. Kissing would only make things worse and make leaving again a million times harder on us both.
“Thanks,” I whispered, very reluctantly taking a step back. That seemed to snap him out of it, and he smiled, nodding for me to get in the car. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. That wasn’t easy to do. I wanted to be with him again so much.
Cole got in the car and started the engine.
“Err, Leona said you have to come back and play with her,” he said, scratching the back of his neck nervously. “I can get you out of it if you want. I mean you-”
I shook my head a little too enthusiastically. “No. I’d love to spend time with her.” And you.
“Yeah. Okay, good.”
“You’re close?”
“Really close. Mia couldn’t afford to move out, so she stayed home with Leona. Kids are loud, and I barely got any sleep when she was really little, but I wouldn’t change it.”
“How is Chris with her?”
Cole made a distasteful face. He still wasn’t a Chris fan, then.
“He’s a good dad, I’ll give him that. Would still love to punch him in the face though.” I laughed. “At least Mia realised what an arsehole he is.”
As soon as we walked through the door, Leona ran at me. She looked just like Mia as a child. Thankfully, there wasn’t Chris in her at all. She was beautiful. “Oaley,” she chirped, mispronouncing my name. Her tiny little arms shot out for me to pick her up.
Balancing Leona on my hip, I followed Cole into the kitchen. He made a comment about how Leona would normally have gone to him first and that I was her new best friend. I couldn’t help smile a little at that; it meant a lot to me that Leona liked me. I missed so much of her little life and had a lot to make up for, and not just with her.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Jenna gushed, giving me an awkward hug around Leona. “Come and sit. I’ll make you a hot chocolate.” She smiled wide, showing her straight white teeth.
“Can I have some too?” Leona asked.
Jenna leant over and stroked her cheek. “You can have whatever you want.” Leona was so sweet and so innocent. It broke my heart that one day she would watch the news or overhear adults talking and understand that the world wasn’t some happy, perfect place.
I sat at the table between Cole and Leona. It was so cute watching them interact. Leona looked up at Cole as if he was her hero. He would be a great dad one day.
“Why are marshmallows squishy?” she asked Cole.
“Because they’re made from clouds,” he replied. She gasped and looked into her marshmallow topped hot chocolate with amazement.
“Clouds?” I asked.
He shrugged and mouth, “I have no idea how they’re made.”
I loved being at Cole’s house, always had. Going back to Ali’s wasn’t what I wanted but I knew I couldn’t stay here. “I should probably go now.”
Cole stood up. “I’ll take you.”
In the car, I sank back in my seat and looked over at him driving again. “You really didn’t have to drive me back, you know. It’s not far to walk.”