Chapters (56)
He spooned me tightly and breathed into my ear, which I normally loved. I loved that he was as close to me as a person could be and it still wasn’t enough for him. He was asleep within minutes, but I still lay there turning over the thought. Alexander was kind of right to be upset, I supposed, but he didn’t know the details as far as I knew – that I hadn’t planned it, and hadn’t meant to fall for somebody else. I wondered if Fernanda had told him I’d taken somebody else away with me. She still sounded pretty mad at him in her texts. She could love him and still hate the choice he’d made. I knew she was embarrassed, too. That was a strange thought – that his own mother’s anger could be outlasting my own.
I hadn’t meant to jump from one relationship to another. It had just happened.
But then, maybe that wasn’t such a good thing.
In the harsh reality of home, I couldn’t help but ask myself: I was supposed to be actively choosing how my life would look from here on, wasn’t I? Not just letting life happen to me. Holidays could happen to a person. What happened on holiday could simply unfold. But now, back in real life, I had to be smart. Patrick mumbled in his sleep and rolled over to the other side of the bed. Had I chosen this? Or hadn’t I changed at all? Was I still just going with the flow when what I needed to do was question everything and be deliberate about my choices?
I remembered what Mum had asked.
Do you really want to leap out of one relationship and into another?
Shit, I thought, as Patrick started to snore. Shit, shit, shit.
36
The next morning, on my way to see Jo, Alexander sent a text.
I’m selling the house. You’ve got a month to leave or buy me out before I get lawyers involved.
I’d barely slept, exactly like after it all happened and I’d had insomnia. Patrick had asked if everything was okay before he’d left for the day, and I’d lied and told him it was. I’d never lied to him before. Not since we’d been properly together. I don’t know why I did that.
Fine by me, I texted Alexander back.