BooksBarbecue
Back Afterlove Save as PDF
Chapters (86)
  1. Title Page
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Love
  4. Before
  5. One
  6. ONE
  7. Two
  8. TWO
  9. Three
  10. THREE
  11. Four
  12. FOUR
  13. Five
  14. FIVE
  15. Six
  16. SIX
  17. Seven
  18. SEVEN
  19. Eight
  20. EIGHT
  21. Nine
  22. NINE
  23. Ten
  24. TEN
  25. Eleven
  26. ELEVEN
  27. After
  28. One
  29. ONE
  30. Two
  31. TWO
  32. Three
  33. THREE
  34. Four
  35. FOUR
  36. Five
  37. FIVE
  38. Six
  39. SIX
  40. Seven
  41. SEVEN
  42. Eight
  43. EIGHT
  44. Nine
  45. NINE
  46. Ten
  47. TEN
  48. Eleven
  49. ELEVEN
  50. Twelve
  51. TWELVE
  52. Thirteen
  53. THIRTEEN
  54. Fourteen
  55. FOURTEEN
  56. Fifteen
  57. FIFTEEN
  58. Sixteen
  59. SIXTEEN
  60. Seventeen
  61. SEVENTEEN
  62. Eighteen
  63. EIGHTEEN
  64. Nineteen
  65. NINETEEN
  66. Twenty
  67. TWENTY
  68. Twenty-One
  69. TWENTY-ONE
  70. Twenty-Two
  71. TWENTY-TWO
  72. Twenty-Three
  73. TWENTY-THREE
  74. Twenty-Four
  75. TWENTY-FOUR
  76. Twenty-Five
  77. TWENTY-FIVE
  78. Twenty-Six
  79. TWENTY-SIX
  80. Twenty-Seven
  81. TWENTY-SEVEN
  82. Twenty-Eight
  83. TWENTY-EIGHT
  84. Eleven Months Later
  85. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  86. Copyright

As if on cue, Poppy sees me by the doorway, talking to Esen, and bounds towards us, bobble hat bobbing.

‘What’s that?’ I ask, nodding at the paper cup in her hand.

‘Banana-bread chai tea!’ She grins, holding it out to me.

‘First of all,’ I tell her sternly, taking the cup from her, ‘chai means tea so you just said tea tea.’ She sticks her tongue out as I remove the lid and grimace at the contents before handing it back. ‘That’s not chai.’

She just shrugs, putting the lid back on and taking a sip as we head out into the street. ‘Well, I like it.’

‘Listen.’ Esen stops, nodding towards North Street. ‘I’m going to help set up for Dev’s party tonight.’

Poppy’s eyes light up. ‘Dev’s party?’

‘You can’t come,’ Esen tells her, making no attempt to be diplomatic about it. ‘It’s reapers only.’

Poppy pouts. ‘But I’m reaper adjacent.’

‘Not the same.’

‘Hey!’ She points the cup of tea tea at her. ‘I helped earlier. Alfie Fuller would have run off if I wasn’t there.’

‘That’s true,’ I tell Esen, nodding slowly.

‘Besides,’ Poppy adds, ‘how will anyone know I’m not a reaper? You can’t all know each other.’

‘We don’t,’ Esen concedes, slipping her hands into the pockets of her coat. ‘I’m not taking the risk, though.’

‘If anyone asks, I can say that I’m from Hastings or something,’ Poppy insists.

‘And if they’re from Hastings? Do you know how much shit we’ll be in?’

Of course she doesn’t.

‘What?’ Poppy asks when she catches me mouthing Shut up at Esen.

‘Nothing.’ I smile sweetly. ‘It’s fine.’

‘It’s not fine,’ Esen spits, her voice noticeably louder. So loud that the shock of it makes Poppy and me jump.

When I turn to look at her, she’s suddenly furious, her whole face hardening as she glares at us.

‘How is any of this fine, Ash? The pair of you are deluded.’ Esen takes her hand out of the pocket of her coat to jab her temple with her finger. ‘You’re running around playing mini golf and drinking tea like it’s nothing.’

I’m so stunned, I don’t know what to say and just stare at her. I had no idea she was so stressed out about this. She didn’t seem bothered an hour ago when she was telling me that I couldn’t leave Poppy on her own while we went to reap Alfie Fuller in case she choked on her toast.