Ask Me to Stay Read Online Free Page B

long drive.
    Yet here he was, the morning after. Had his car broken down? Did someone owe him money?
    What a sight he made, standing there with his lookalike. Sam could remember running around town with him when Ethan was Ro’s age. She could remember doing a lot more with him when he was ten years Ro’s senior, too. She shelved the unwelcome memory and fixed a smile on her face.
    He spotted her and, damn it all, his face lit up. Such genuine enthusiasm to see her made it difficult to harden her heart against him. She pushed her hands into the pockets of her cargo shorts and crossed to him.
    ‘Sammy-doll. How are you?’ He adjusted his knee as Nina’s wriggles intensified.
    ‘Hey, Ethan.’ She dodged the question about herself and asked one of her own. ‘Late lunch?’
    ‘Just coffee. That’s the dream, anyhow.’
    ‘The dream?’
    ‘Service is a little slow.’ He twisted his lips and shrugged, but she saw what lurked in his eyes and it stirred her.
    Turning to the counter, she called to the woman whose back was to them. ‘Sal, one coffee, please.’ Remembering his lactose intolerance, she added, ‘Black. How’s your dad, doing? Any better since last week?’
    Sally was clearly reluctant to turn, but she allowed herself to be drawn into conversation all the same. ‘He’s on a walker now. He likes it well enough. Says the wheelchair makes him feel old.’
    ‘He’s eighty-two.’
    ‘Eight-two years young, apparently.’
    ‘Your old man cracks me up.’
    Sally pushed the ground coffee into the machine, hit a series of buttons and stepped back. Although she looked around the cafe, her eyes never found Ethan’s. Even when she waved to Nina and Rowan. Nina waved and Rowan stared.
    Sam paid and they all left together. Ethan kept a tight grip on his niece’s hand. He tried to pay Sam for the coffee but she shrugged his money away and handed it to him.
    ‘Thanks.’
    ‘Your treat next time.’ She began to ease away, anxious to leave so that she could breathe again.
    He arched a brow and his lips curved. ‘You’re confident you’ll see me again, then?’
    She palmed her dusty shorts and pulled her cap free from her pocket. She tugged it over her eyes, angled her chin. ‘You always come back when it matters.’ She turned to leave.
    He called her back. ‘I’m heading over to the yard.’
    ‘He’s got a list!’ Nina said helpfully. She swung Ethan’s arm back and forth, making a game of her restraint.
    ‘I’ve just gone on break. Dad’ll give you a hand. Maybe you’ll be there when I get back.’
    He smiled faintly. ‘With any luck. See you round, Sammy-doll.’
    Her heart kicked. There were so many bittersweet memories associated with that nickname. Memories she’d been trying to bury since she’d been seventeen, left behind without answers, without closure; and every time she thought she’d gotten a handle on how she felt about it all, Ethan only had to turn up for a day to turn everything on its head.
    Ethan nudged Rowan and the boy nodded to indicate he was ready to leave. The kid looked tired, but also unusually dishevelled. His hair was greasy, his neck dirty. Sam frowned, and wondered if Dean needed more help with the kids than he was letting on. ‘See you,’ she said to Ethan, then to Nina and Rowan, ‘Bye, kids.’
    Nina blew Sam a noisy kiss, checked her brother, then blew another on his behalf.
    Sam made a show of catching them.
    A dozen metres along the footpath Sam turned. They made a pretty picture, walking together down the main street of town. Neenz clung to Ethan, fiercely possessive of a man she had realised belonged to her in some way. Ro walked alongside, perpetually shy yet keeping close all the same. It would have been easy for them to adopt their father’s hostility towards their uncle, but somehow the bitterness hadn’t touched them. Perhaps they didn’t have the capacity to carry anything like that in their tiny bodies. Grief was heavy enough.
    Sam watched as