“And I’m coming to Australia with you.”
I shook my head. “You have work, and it’s only three days.”
“We’ll argue about that later.” He lowered us down on the futon. “I fucking love you,” he whispered and kissed me senseless.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Oakley
I got into the car and closed my eyes. Finally, it was done. No more revisiting the past, outside of therapy anyway. I wanted to be finished with therapy already, but I had learned not to give myself a timeframe. I would go until I felt I didn’t need to any more, and I just wasn’t there yet.
“How’d it go?” Cole asked, squeezing the top of my leg.
“Good.” I had just finished the last interview I agreed to do, and it was such a relief. Selling my story had been the last thing I wanted to do, until I realised the money would fund a sport and hobby centre at the gym.
After speaking to countless therapists and other people that had been in my situation, I discovered that a lot of children that were abused were able to use hobbies as an escape. Through therapy, so far, I’d met people that painted, sang, played music, danced, and cycled. For me, it had been gymnastics.
When Marcus told me how bad the gym was doing and that the owners were cutting their losses and turning it into a fitness gym with a swimming pool, I knew I had to do something.
The thought of someone going through a similar thing to what I did without having access to that tiny bit of normality was painful. So I sold my story to a major magazine, had one interview with a national newspaper, and a women’s weekly, and did three TV appearances.
Dredging everything back up was hard, but I knew that it would be worth it in the end. The centre would help so many people, and I was going to donate a cut of the yearly profit to a charity that helps victims of child abuse.
My last interview with a magazine marked the end of the fundraising and meant I could afford the finishing touches for the centre. I’d officially named it ‘La Fuga’, which was Italian for ‘The Escape’, but we mostly just called it the centre.
“I’m proud of you. You’ve done all this by yourself.”
I shook my head. “Not by myself. Marcus has been with me every step of the way. So have you, and both of our families!”
“Alright, well it was all your idea.”
“That one I’ll take credit for.”
Cole chuckled and took the exit that would take us home. “So, tomorrow’s going to be ridiculously busy, huh?”
I nodded. “Yeah, we’ve got so much to do. The electricians are coming at one. The mirrors are being installed in the ballet room at two-thirty. There’s a huge delivery of football and rugby balls coming sometime in the morning, and I have to call some companies about vending machines and a cleaning service. Oh, and we really need to get those liability insurance forms signed.”
“You have a list, right?”
“I have about a thousand lists.”
“Right, well don’t stress over it, we’ll get it all done. Jasper and Abby are picking up the art easels and stools next week, and apparently the company agreed to throw in a bunch of paintbrushes too.”
“Yeah? That’s great! How is the shack looking?”
When word got out about what we were doing, the whole community got involved. An online sport shop donated football goalposts. An art and craft company donated the easels, stools, and now brushes.
I’d had a load of gymnastics equipment donated to the centre, which would replace a lot of the used stuff from the old gym. Tables and chairs for the cafeteria were donated from a manufacturing company, and I’d already had a stack of job applications back. It was a little overwhelming, but I had a lot of support.
Cole laughed. “It’ll look great when it’s done. Have faith!” We had a huge old summer house at the back of the surrounding gardens. It was right out of the way and overlooked the little stream that ran from one end to the other. Eventually, it would be for people who want to explore their artistic side. I thought they would probably want peace and quiet to draw and paint.
At the minute though, it looked like a rundown old shed. It needed new glass in the doors and windows. Repair work to the roof and side. A new floor and clad walls inside. It was Cole, David, Miles and Jasper’s project. They promised me it would look brand new when they’d finished.
“I have faith. I know it’ll look amazing.” It better do anyway. I’d put everything into this and wanted it to work and change people’s lives so badly. If I hadn’t had gymnastics I honestly didn’t know what I would have been like.
“It will. Your mum’s there now, feeding the decorators in the ballet room.” Until we’d got the call that the mirrors were coming tomorrow we’d been decorating ourselves, but there was no way we’d get that gigantic room done in time.