Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
He makes it sound so easy. “At the beginning was it easier? You were young when you met. There must have been less pressure.”
“I don’t remember it being like that. Even at university I remember having to sit down with our diaries and create blocks of time to spend together. Of course it got worse once we were on the wards.”
“So you knew from the beginning that you wanted to be with Mum forever.”
He glances at me and I can tell he’s wondering why I’m asking.
“I knew I’d never do better than her. She was smarter than me. Quicker. And…sociable. People liked her. I’ve always been a grumpy so-and-so, but with her…I was less gruff. She made me better.”
“I’m not sure I would have finished the book without Ellie,” I blurt. It’s never occurred to me before now, but I think being with her in Scotland—it made me see what a life as a writer could be like. And I liked it. I like my life with her in it.
“She seems like a good girl,” he says. “Woman,” he corrects himself, and I can’t help but love him for it.
“She dumped me.”
“Oh,” he says. “What did you do?”
“She’s going to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in January. I have to be in London because I’m still working Monday to Wednesday. Then I’ve got the book stuff on top of that.”
“Nothing there seems unsurmountable. I presume you’re going to be giving up medicine entirely at some point.”
“My agent wants me to stay working at the moment. Says my publisher will want the credibility of me as a doctor to market the book. This is my debut novel. I want it to be successful, and if staying working as a doctor for a little longer is what it will take, so be it.”
“Sounds like the sensible plan. And you’ve always been the most sensible of my sons.”
I groan. If being sensible means losing Ellie, I’m not sure sensible is the best option. “Ellie doesn’t want to do long distance,” I tell him. I never talk to my parents about my relationships. Not that there’s been much to talk about recently. But I can’t not talk about Ellie. She’s all I think about. I can’t force her to have a relationship with me, but I want to show her how possible it is. I’m hoping our trip to try and find a flat for her at the end of the week will help her see how the distance isn’t so much.
“Hmmm,” Dad says as I open the door to Pret. He strides inside and we scan the open fridges, deciding what to eat for lunch. “She’s got to want it, too,” he says out of nowhere.
Of course he’s right. But I’m sure her ending things wasn’t about us and all about the way her relationship ended with her ex.
“She’s frightened of getting hurt. She’s been burned by the long-distance thing before.”
He takes the egg sandwich I’m holding and heads to the counter. I trail after him like a kid, having his sandwich paid for by his dad.
“I can pay, Dad,” I say, reaching for both sandwiches, but he slaps my hand away and hands them to the guy behind the till, who has an Italian flag on his name badge but no actual name.
Dad pays and we find a seat by the window.
“There must have been a time with Mum that you thought, she’s special, she’s the one I want to make the effort with.” Ellie’s right—we’re only a few weeks into our relationship—but nothing about it makes me want to give it up. All I want to do is be with her.
He opens up his sandwich. “There wasn’t a buzzer that went off and that’s how I knew she was the one I wanted to marry. There was just never a time when I didn’t want to make the effort with her.”
That’s how it’s been with Ellie. Not in the beginning—not before Scotland. When she was sitting outside my door at Wimpole Street, I thought she was attractive, but since Rum, I’ve craved her presence in my life. “And you knew it was a two-way thing? With Mum?”
“I don’t remember us having a conversation. But she made the effort to see me as much as I did with her.”
“And when did you realize you wanted to marry her?”
He lifts his gaze to meet mine. “You’re going to marry Ellie?” He fixes me with a stare.
“I haven’t really thought about it. I’m not saying I’m not going to marry her. Would that be so bad?”
He shakes his head and puts down his sandwich. “Your bloody mother. She’s always bloody right about these bloody things.”
“Mum thinks I’m going to marry Ellie.”
He shrugs. “Yep. And I told her you hadn’t known each other long enough.”
“I haven’t planned a proposal or anything. Yet.” We’ve not been together that long, but how long is long enough? “But I’m not ruling it out either.” Ellie is the first woman in a long time…maybe ever, that I want to find time with, that I resent being away from, that I look forward to seeing at each and every opportunity. But we’ve only been together just over a month. “How long did it take for you to know you wanted to marry Mum?”