Never Too Late (On A Night Like This Book 5) by Sean Kennedy

Author:Sean Kennedy [Kennedy, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Seven

His presence calmed me. We didn’t say much on the drive to his house, and I hadn’t realised how much I was dreading returning home until it came into view and my stomach lurched. It’s your house, I reminded myself. Don’t forget that.

Ray had been in my house for all of ten minutes, if that, and I wasn’t going to let him have the power to turn me against it.

“It’s nice that you still live here,” Lee said as we walked up the drive.

“Yep, I’m a creature of habit.”

“I always loved this house. I could have just turned up here, anytime, and here you would have been.” His tone was one of wonder, as if he was glimpsing a fork in the road that he could have taken but had ignored.

All I had to do was think of the better times we’d had to imagine how good a future together could be. He’d always said we were just fun, but if that was all we were why would he have surprised me on my birthday with a honey cake he’d bought from a specific store in Subiaco, because I’d once said I loved it? Why would he help me patch a leak in my roof and then paint the wall that had been water damaged? Why would he leave Christmas presents hidden around my house with clues on where to find them?

“Yeah, but I might not have let you through the door,” I reminded him.

“I guess I wouldn’t have been able to take that for granted.” He sounded sad about it.

I tried to maintain a light tone. “No, I think you pretty much could have taken it for granted that I wouldn’t let you in.”

Lee gave a small smile, and I opened the front door, let him through, and made damn sure that the door was locked and secured behind us. I had a paranoid vision of Ray sitting outside in his car, watching Lee enter my house. Maybe I should never have watched as much Law and Order and Crime Investigation Australia in my more carefree assault-free past.

“You didn’t have to come in,” I said. “But the chivalry is nice.”

“I won’t go until I’ve checked in every corner and under every bed and table.” He grimaced. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound flippant.”

“You don’t.” I liked that he was trying to be light-hearted. If we continued looking at each other like victims, we would never get over this.

I entered the kitchen to stick on the kettle, and I flashbacked to earlier that morning when I had last filled it for somebody else’s beverage. I poured the water out—it seemed strangely contaminated now—and filled it fresh from the tap.

When I turned around, Lee was staring at the fridge, his arms folded.

“I’m sorry he did that,” he said.

I shrugged. “It wasn’t you.”

“I still feel responsible.”

“Then I’m just as responsible for the bruise on your cheek.”

“Touché.”

“Coffee or tea?” I asked, wanting to get off the subject.

“Do you have anything decaffeinated? I really don’t want anything that could inhibit sleep tonight.

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