Down London Road

in the mood for answers.
    ‘Are you going to tell me why you keep hovering over your adult daughter like she might disappear or shatter into a million pieces at any second?’
    Mick heaved a sigh, rolling his head to the side to look at me. His golden eyes were soft with affection for me, but I could still see that glimmer of sadness at the back of them.
    ‘I’m a father. I worry, baby girl.’
    ‘Is it because she’s carrying all this guilt about Yvonne?’
    ‘She told you that?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘My girl is tough, just like you, and she’s going to be okay. I know that. But I’m her dad and she’s moved to a new country, left all her friends behind, and is starting over. I want to make sure she’s okay, and I’ll worry if Ican’t be near her. So what if I have to put up with bad paintwork in order to do that?’ He gestured to the main wall, where the paint had dried in uneven brushstrokes. ‘Something happens, she needs me, she calls me, and I’m literally seconds away.’
    ‘So you’re taking this place, then?’
    ‘Aye.’ He sat up, pulling me with him. ‘Fancy a trip to Ikea?’
    I grinned. ‘Lucky for me today was payday.’ Mick looked confused. ‘I can go a little accessory mad when I shop at Ikea.’
    ‘Ah.’ He chuckled and helped me to my feet.
    As I dusted off my bum, I became aware of the heat of Mick’s sudden and intense scrutiny.
    I looked up and raised an eyebrow at his grave expression. ‘What?’
    ‘I’m worried about you, too.’ He brushed my hair off my face, stroking my cheek with his callused thumb. ‘You look tired.’
    Shaking my head, I gave Mick a glum smile. ‘I had a fight with Cam.’
    He frowned. ‘About what?’
    And so I laid it out for him, telling him about Blair and my insecurity over their friendship and my worry that Cameron would never really respect me the way he would respect someone like Blair.
    ‘All that’s going on in your head?’ Mick asked in disbelief.
    Confused, I nodded slowly.
    ‘Jesus Christ, woman. I doubt very much Cam was thinking any of the shit you threw at him last night. Itprobably felt like it came out of nowhere. You know, men don’t think like women.’
    ‘Well …’ I pulled a face. ‘That’s because you have the emotional capacity of a shot cup.’
    Mick huffed in amusement as we met Ryan outside. ‘I’ll take it, son.’ He nodded at him.
    ‘Great.’ Ryan beamed. ‘Let’s get you back to the office so we can sign all the forms.’
    We followed Ryan down the street as he talked at someone on his phone. Everything about him was so polished, so rehearsed. I actually couldn’t believe that only four months ago I would have been attracted to the douche bag.
    Douche bag?
    Oh, Christ, I was spending too much time with Cole these days.
    ‘Back to my earlier point,’ Uncle Mick suddenly said, drawing my gaze away from Ryan’s well-tailored jacket. ‘I think you’re overthinking the whole thing. I think you’ll find that boy cares a great deal about you and would be willing to compromise. And I can tell you for a fact he didn’t mean what he said last night. You know we all say shit we don’t mean when we’re angry.’
    ‘You think he cares a great deal about me?’
    Rolling his eyes (someone else was spending too much time with Cole, too), Mick sighed. ‘Of course he does. Jesus Christ, girl. Get your head out of your arse.’
    I’d been planning on popping down to Cam’s before my shift at the bar that night, but when I tried his door there was no answer. Since he hadn’t texted me or called me,I thought perhaps it was a good thing anyway. Maybe he needed time away from me to cool down.
    I received a text from Joss before heading to work, explaining she wouldn’t be in tonight because she’d caught a bug that Declan had picked up at school and couldn’t keep anything down.
    Lovely.
    She said Sadie was covering for her.
    Brian greeted me cheerily at the door to the bar and introduced me to our new doorman, Vic. He was this huge, hulking Polish guy I wouldn’t want to mess with. I smiled hello at Vic and got a stoic nod back. I raised an eyebrow at Brian. ‘What happened to Phil?’ Not that I would miss him.
    ‘Left us for greener pastures,’ Brian replied with a shrug.
    Mimicking his shrug, I went inside to find Sadie and Alistair working behind the bar. Su still hadn’t found a replacement for Cam, so Alistair was back to covering the shifts that he could. Sadie was a twenty-one-year-old