Chapter 30
Sloane
Two weeks without having Eden close to me is paramount to torture.
I know we had two years apart, but I was in a very different headspace then, and I didn’t think we’d ever have the opportunity to live out our happily ever after.
This time is different because I guess, to some extent, we’re living our HEA right now.
The only problem is that we’re living it in different countries and time zones.
Temporarily. I repeat that word endlessly when I’m struggling with the distance.
Maybe at some point in our lives we’ll figure out how to have a relationship in the same space.
Eden chuckles whenever I say that to her, because it will happen.
I just like to pout about the fact it isn’t happening right now.
Dropping Eden off at the airport was an experience I never want to recreate.
I was seconds away from shouting “fuck it” and buying my own ticket.
We shared several hot kisses before a woman waiting in line behind us had to clear her throat.
She grinned at us like she knew exactly how it felt to separate from the person you love and get all dramatic about it.
Since Eden has been away I’ve worked my ass off for a couple of reasons.
First, I’ve taken on three more private physical therapy clients.
I’ve had to arrange my time carefully as Holcroft is now in session and I work there at least four days a week.
Second, because I plan to fly over to the UK in a couple of days and needed to curry some favor with Mr. Porter.
He’s a great coach, and I owe him for setting me up with this job, but my heart is telling me I need to get to Eden sooner rather than later.
Her Gran is scheduled for her double mastectomy. Far later than first thought, but that’s the NHS for you, according to Eden and her parents.
I’ve got all the paperwork completed and uploaded for the students I’ve treated.
My private clients are aware I’ll be out of the country for a couple of weeks and have been super sweet about it.
My parents have come around to the fact I’m no longer living close by and are starting to act like I’m a functioning adult again, which is great.
Mom still stops by the apartment every few days to drop off food.
Bella thinks it’s fantastic. Becca too, considering she’s being supplied with Doritos.
It’s my mom’s way of coping, and that’s cool.
Todd helped me move all my boxes in the day after Eden flew out.
It was a good excuse to see how he was coping, because the tension between him and Pia was at an all-time high.
He didn’t divulge anything, and I didn’t want to poke too much.
I’m going to talk to Eden and see if she’ll have a heart-to-heart with Pia.
It’s horrible watching two of our closest friends struggle.
With my last day of work done I can concentrate on packing. Unlike my girlfriend, I’m very organized and have my suitcase ready to go in under an hour. My passport is in my bag, along with the taxi transfer confirmation for when I land. I’m ready to go. Just two more days.
“Sloane!” Bella bellows from her room.
It’s amazing how quickly I’ve gotten used to living with her.
I step out into the hallway, almost colliding with Bella, who is marching towards me in fluorescent pink cycling shorts and a t-shirt that reads: I’M POISONOUS. She has a cereal bowl in one hand and a fistful of panties in the other.
“I have no idea what to take with me!” she declares.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I reply.
“Oh shit, I didn’t tell you. I’m coming to England with you.”
My shock is replaced with a wide grin. “Oh my god, that’s awesome.”
She snorts. “Of course it is.”
“Eden’s going to be blown away.”
“She needs her people. I should have gone with her in the first place. Out of all of us, I’m the one who can work from wherever.”
Shaking my head, I lead Bella back to her room, which is as close to a punk dungeon as it can be. There are piles of clothes everywhere, similar to when Eden tried to pack. It’s no wonder they get along so well.
“Eden needed to do this on her own for a little while, but I agree. She needs her people now. Have you booked a flight?”
“Yup, and guess who we’re sitting next to?”
“We?”
“Yeah, obviously Bec’s coming too. Pia really wanted to as well, but you know, she has a newborn demon to handle, so…”
Bec’s voice floats down the hallway. “We got aisle or window?”
Bella shouts back, “Both. I was on it, babe!” and throws her arms to the ceiling in a pose somewhere between victory and supplication. The milk from her cereal sloshes over her hand, and she licks it off without missing a beat.
I perch on the edge of her unmade bed, moving a pair of leather pants with a fork still stuck in a belt loop—not even going to ask—and try to picture all three of us crammed into the same economy row, hurtling over the Atlantic. It’s honestly the best image my brain has conjured in days.
“So what are you packing?” I ask, but Bella’s already whirling around her closet, pulling out articles of clothing and tossing them into a heap the size of a small child.
“I’ve got exactly three goals,” Bella says, counting off on pink-manicured fingers. “One, don’t look like a basic American. Two, bring Eden a treat she can’t get in England. Three, keep you from dying of lesbian longing in the next seventy-two hours.”
“I think you’re probably overestimating my current risk of death.”
“You literally spent last night staring at a painting Eden made and sniffling into a Lean Cuisine, so…”
Bec pokes her head in the door, hair up in a bun, holding a Target bag. “Sloane, is it true? Did you actually eat the turkey and cranberry dinner?”
“We don’t talk about the frozen dinner incident,” I grumble.
Bec hands Bella a giant bag of sour gummy worms. “This is for Eden. Or, you know, if we get stuck on the tarmac and cannibalism looks likely.”
It’s been years since the three of us went anywhere together outside of Colorado. Suddenly I’m a lot less anxious about getting on a plane.
“Is there room for a carry-on full of American candy?” I ask.
“There is always room for American candy,” Bec says sagely, which makes Bella grin.
I help Bella fold her more questionable wardrobe selections. We meet in the kitchen and order Thai, huddling over steaming containers of curry, discussing the likelihood of rain the entire time we’re in the UK.
Later, after Becca and Bella have retreated to their room, I flop onto my bed with my phone, thumb hovering over Eden’s name. She’s been distant lately, and I assume that means she’s been painting her feelings, so I don’t want to interrupt. A text message seems a better choice.
You
I can’t wait to see you.
Seconds pass. Then…
Eden
Jesus Christ babe, do you know what time it is?? I love you. Call me before you go to sleep.
I smile into the darkness. Just two more days.
Eden
I’ve chewed my nails until they’re raw and painful, but I can’t exactly set up an easel in the middle of a hospital waiting room. Grandad is sitting with the newspaper calmly reading the sports section, which is driving me a little crackers, to be honest. How the bloody fucking hell is he so calm?
How both of them been so calm since I arrived is the real question.
When I rocked up to their house after a million years of flying, Gran opened the door, not looking in the least bit surprised to see me.
She cocked her head, gestured for me to come in, then told me my old bedroom was made up and she was making crumpets.
Suffering from jetlag, I didn’t utter a word, just dumped my bags in my room and joined my grandparents at the kitchen table, where my grandad silently slid a plate of marmite-covered crumpets my way. Gran placed a cup of tea in front of me, sat down and carried on reading her horoscopes.
When my brain finally caught up with itself, I asked why they weren’t surprised to see me and all I got back was a wry chuckle from my gran, who said, and I quote: “You’re my carbon copy, Eden, in every way, so of course I expected you to turn up, you daft sod. Thank you, love. I appreciate it.”
And that was that.
Gran’s operation got delayed because the NHS is broken, but she didn’t seem to mind.
In fact, she thought it was great because it meant she could drag me on a London-bound train and take me to meet Smythe, the dude who owns the gallery I would be showcased in.
It took everything in my body not to make a sarcastic comment about his name being Smythe.
Like, that’s his first name. I mean come on, right?
Anyway, the trip was pretty cool, and I definitely felt more relaxed about the whole thing after meeting him and a couple of the other artists he was planning to house.
When we got back from London, life kind of went on as normal. I text and video chatted with Sloane as much as humanly possible, but the closer the operation date got, the more I needed to withdraw to my art. Without Sloane here by my side, painting was my emotional support girlfriend.
Gran was wheeled away half an hour ago. The surgeon said she should be in recovery in around three hours’ time.
I’m just about to start nibbling on my thumbnail when a commotion in the corridor pulls my attention.
“I told you it was this way,” a very familiar voice says.
“Bella, you’ve gotten us lost three times. Why the hell would we trust your sudden knowledge about the hospital’s layout?”
That’s Sloane’s voice!
I’m out of my seat like a rocket. There she is, in all her tired beauty, dragging along my two best friends, getting attention from patients and nurses alike.
“Sloane?” I whisper out, but it’s loud enough for her to whip her eyes to mine. If this was a cheesy movie, we’d do that running into each other’s arms thing, but it’s not a movie and our reunion includes Bella, who is running towards me shrieking like a deranged banshee.
“Eden!”
I catch her and hug her back with just as much enthusiasm.
Becca eventually rescues me by pulling her lunatic girlfriend off me.
She gives me a peck on the cheek and a wink before removing herself and Bella to the waiting room, where Grandad has finally put his paper down.
I watch them make a fuss of him and it squeezes my heart.
Like an industrial magnet, my head turns to Sloane, who is standing frozen a few feet away. She’s taking me in. It’s been two measly weeks, but my fucking soul feels like I’ve been without her forever.
“Babe,” I croak.
Sloane reaches me in a millisecond, wrapping her arms around me. I breathe her in and feel like I can cope for the first time since getting here.
I don’t even know how long we stand like that, squeezing the distance out of our bones, but it’s long enough that a nurse passes by, grinning in an “aw, sweeties” kind of way.
Eventually, Sloane eases her arms so she can get a proper look at me. Her thumbs frame either side of my face, gently, and she searches my eyes like she’s checking for physical damage.
“You look like shit, baby,” she whispers, and then immediately looks like she wants to apologise.
I let out a small laugh. “Excellent to see you too, you absolute smoke show.”
She smiles, but it only lasts a second. “How are you holding up?”
I want to say “better, now.” Instead of that, I just sag against her. We’re close to the doors that say “NO ENTRY” because I want to be close to where Gran is.
“I’m fine. Actually, I’m not. But it’s better now that you’re here.”
We settle into the hard plastic chairs next to Becca and Bella.
Grandad has somehow scored a bag of Maltesers from the vending machine and is now passing them out like it’s communion bread.
Bella crunches five at a time and talks with her mouth full.
Becca is playing some phone game but keeps glancing up at the clock, the corridor, and me, like she’s trying to will the universe forward.
Sloane leans in. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Like forty minutes. Kept dreaming she’d already died and was haunting the house. She’s a sarcastic ghost, in case you were wondering.”
Sloane huffs a soft laugh. “You’re running on fumes.”
She isn’t wrong.
What feels like an age later, the surgeon calls our names. He tells us everything went perfectly, and Gran is already awake. He cracks a joke about her language coming out of anaesthesia. I can well imagine how rude she’s being.
I send a message to Mum letting her know everything went well, and I get instant replies from Mum, Dad, and Jenna. I’d bet my vinyl collection they’ll end up catching a flight this evening.
We’re allowed to see her briefly, but she’s so sleepy we decide to let her rest and call it a day. We’ll be back in a few hours, but right now, I think everyone needs some sleep.
Bella and Becca crash in the spare room the second we get back to the house.
Grandad mutters something about lamb chops and disappears into the kitchen.
I take Sloane by the hand and lead her to my bedroom, where we lay on our sides looking at each other.
Silently, she shuffles closer and draws me into her arms.
This summer has tested me in ways I didn’t think possible.
My relatively boring world has been turned upside down and I’ve never felt more out of control, but I can’t say I’m upset about it.
Sure, Gran getting cancer sucks, but at least they found it in time and she’s going to make a full recovery. I have to be grateful for that.
As for me and Sloane…well, that’s been the best part.
We’ve already been through so much shit that I know we can survive anything.
I trust Sloane to rely on me when things get tough, as she trusts me to open up to her and let her take up the mantle of a supportive girlfriend from time to time.
We’ve done a lot of growing up since high school.
No doubt we’ll need to do some more in the long term.
Then again, I don’t want to become too adult-y.
We’ve got far too much life ahead of us to be that serious!
The concluding part is out August 2026