I fidget and feel him pull back slightly. “Why don’t you have a girlfriend or wife?”
“I’m waiting for the right one.”
“How will you know when you meet the right one?”
“Get some sleep.”
“Why do you keep coming back?” I ask.
“Because you need me.”
Dad wakes me the next morning. I sit up, looking around for any sign of Nyx, but he’s gone. “There’s a parcel just arrived for you,” he says in a gruff voice. “Why aren’t you at work?”
“Long story,” I mumble, climbing out of bed and following him downstairs.
I open the parcel and gasp. There’s a modern sewing machine with all the accessories. “And this,” says Dad, pushing another parcel across the table. I open it and inside there’s materials perfect for the dress Rebecca chose. I smile to myself. Nyx must have done all of this for me.
“What’s going on?” asks Dad.
“It’s my new job, Dad,” I explain, shaking out the material and feeling the fabric between my fingers. “I’m gonna make things good for us.”
“I slipped up last night,” he mutters.
I smile, taking his hands in mine. “Let’s both start our new beginning today,” I say. “I’m gonna start by cleaning this place up, and you’re gonna find the nearest meeting.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Iclean the house within an inch of its life and feel better for it. Next, I move onto clearing and decluttering. Dad returns from his first meeting, and he already looks brighter. I cook us a roast dinner and we eat together at the table, something we haven’t done since Mum was around.
It’s early evening by the time I sit down and begin marking out the material. It feels good to be doing a dress I want to make rather than spending my days watching brides pay for overpriced crap. I have a great feeling about this dress.
The days blend together. I sit at the sewing machine, working magic from sunrise until sunset, and only when Nyx knocks on the kitchen window do I put down the tools and head to bed.
“I was thinking,” he mumbles into my hair. “We should go out for dinner one evening.”
I smile. “Like a date?”
“Like dinner because you hardly eat.”
“I think it’s a date,” I tease.
He laughs. “Whatever.”
“I’m going to see Nate tomorrow,” I say, and I feel Nyx tense. “I want to apologise to him.”
“Why do you owe him an apology?”
“Because I could have messed up his chance with Rebecca. We were friends before anything else, so I owe him an apology. And I miss them, all of them. Beth hasn’t contacted me. Sue hasn’t dragged me around for dinner. I know they’re mad with me, and I hate it.”
“But look at what you’ve done since they stepped away,” he mutters, tugging me closer to him and wrapping a leg over me. “You sat and had dinner with your dad every night. You’ve begun making your dream dresses. You’ve cleaned the house properly for the first time since Beck died. You’re getting your shit together, Andi, and you’ve not had to lean on them.”
I think over his words. He’s right. I’ve been so much more productive lately. Not having them has made me step up. “You’ve helped with that,” I whisper, placing my hand over his. “Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to make the dress.”
“It’s just the beginning. You’re going places.”
“Tell me what you do for a living,” I say. I’ve asked him every night since he sent the sewing machine. It wasn’t cheap. “Please.” He stays silent, and I sigh heavily. “I just want to know more about you, Nyx. Is that so wrong? I share my bed with you every night, and we just lay here, with you asking me questions until we fall asleep. Isn’t it weird?”
“Weird? Why?”