‘Is that what you want? For us to be over?’

‘Of course not. But I don’t see any alternative. Saxon and Payton have to be my priority.’

‘And I wouldn’t expect otherwise but that doesn’t mean I want to give up on us.’ A slow smile formed on his face. ‘Just because you have to be in Perth for now, doesn’t mean we have to be over. I thought after Tessa that I was done with relationships. I didn’t think I’d ever feel the same away about anyone ever again. And the thing is, I don’t. What you and I have feels so much bigger than what I had in my marriage and I don’t want to throw that away. Plenty of people have long-distance relationships. That’s if you can even call a mere two-hundred kilometres a long distance. We can make it work.’

And there was that four-letter word—the one I didn’t think belonged in a relationship.

Could I be wrong? Maybe I felt that way about a relationship with Adrian because deep down I knew my marriage had long passed its use-by date.

‘While I’d love to believe that,’ I said, ‘I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to come visit. Even on the weekends Adrian has the kids, Payton has her soccer games and I have to support—’

Dan pressed his finger to my lips. ‘It’s okay—I like driving, I’ll come to you as often as I can, but we can worry about the logistics later. Right now, all I need to know is that you want this. That you want me.’

‘I do.’ My chest ached with how much I wanted him. Even if I thought Dan deserved a woman who could give her everything to him, I couldn’t give him up. I couldn’t give up on us.

‘Thank fuck,’ he said again, his relief clear in his grin. ‘But right now, you should probably be getting back to Payton and trying to get some rest.’

Holding my hand, Dan walked me back to the room, then kissed me long and hard. The kind of kiss that didn’t only curl my toes and warm my heart, but also held a promise of much more to come.

‘I love you, Ashling,’ he said.

‘I love you too,’ I whispered, suddenly knowing it to be true.

Chapter 58

58

The following day, the hospital discharged Payton and Adrian drove us home. I can’t deny things were tense between us, but although we hadn’t discussed the change in custody arrangements yet and it was technically still his week with the kids, he was quite happy to leave me to take care of Payton. He asked if there was anything we needed, then promised to stop by tomorrow before going to stay with Brad.