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“You don’t knohat you’re talking about”

I’ve tried—I have fucking tried

“I hear it’s likely she’ll return to London I could look her up when she gets here You knohen she slips through your fingertips”

I say nothing because I’ve just decided she won’t beback to London, not even if I have to bribe soration departh for Holland, there is no way on God’s green earth Van is

“I can be her shoulder to cry on Did I ever tell you I have a thing for crying girls?”

I press oading of enerate friend My mind takes that inopportune h not when she’s crying How she looks breathless with laughter, her head thrown back, thoroughly immersed in the moment Or perhaps it’s the reminder isn’t so much about how joyful she looks but rather how ither joy was my responsibility That I had made her feel that way

As for her tears, I never want to see her cry because of so I’ve done I never want to look at her face and see tears of recrimination

But that is inevitable if she’s ever to become mine

I find for the first tiive a damn

Because the truth never stays buried forever Like all rotten things, it eventually bloats and co to the surface

HOLLY

“He is such a pussy,” Hugh e of the path

“I a to pretend I didn’t hear that” Mostly because I’ve had enough ofand s like that froonna tell Chrissy I hear she has a special soap for washing potty mouths”

Oh, man, ne

“It’s not fair Archie wasn’t supposed to hit hiht’ve hit him on the butt!”

Well, he didn’t And now Griffin is back at the castle with two ibuprofen and a cold cos, which, if he’s to be believed, should be on his throat because that’s where his testicles are currently lodged What’s more, I almost had to carry hile back to the castle like a packthe basket and the ene

I should probably chastise Hugh for using nuts in that context To heck with it, I choose not to pick this as one of reat oaf back with a tearful Archie tagging along behind us, but then I had to explain the whole thing to Isla, and then go back to the scene of the cri back all this stuff!