Spiralling Skywards: Falling (Contradictions #1) by Lesley Jones Page B

undoubtedly inherited from my mother would be revealed.
    We loaded up our plates and carried them to the sofa. Liam filled me in on his day as we sat in opposite corners so that we could eat comfortably and still look at each other.
    “You not hungry? I got the right thing, didn’t I?” he asked me as I set my half eaten plateful of food down onto the coffee table.
    “Yeah, it was lovely, thank you. I’m just full.”
    “You sure?” He didn’t look all that convinced.
    I was as nervous as fuck, but I wasn’t gonna let him know that so I gave him my best smile. “I’m positive, my belly just does strange things when I’m around you and food—anything really, is hard to eat or concentrate on—” I was rambling. Talking nonsense.
    Yeah, great job of not telling him I was nervous. I picked up my glass and gulped down my wine, sat back, and watched him eat.
    “ Walk The Line ’s on pay per view, you wanna watch it?” I’d felt like a pervy stalker sitting in silence and watching him eat, so I mentioned the film instead.
    “That’s the country singer bloke, right?” He set his plate down on the coffee table as he asked.
    “Johnny Cash, yeah. He’s my grandad’s favourite. I grew up listening to his music.”
    “I’d like to meet him one day.”
    “Johnny Cash? You can’t, he died a few years ago.”
    He shook his head and smiled. “Your grandad. I’d like to meet your grandad and your nan.”
    Why did him admitting that he wanted to meet my grandparents suddenly make it hard to breathe?
    I opened and closed my mouth a few times, before saying, “They’d like that.”
    “Why you all the way over there?”
    I looked down at the space between us.
    “C’mere.” He held open his arms and gestured with his head for me to come to him.
    I crawled along the sofa and onto his lap. He adjusted us both until he was sitting with his back wedged into the corner of the sofa and I was sitting betting his stretched out legs, my back against his front.
    He wrapped his arms around my middle and said into my ear, “I can hear your brain ticking from here. Stop overthinking everything, put on the film, and drink your wine.”
    For a little while, I relaxed back against him and did exactly that, but by the time I was on my third glass, my mind was nothing but constant whirl of self-doubt and loathing.
    “Sarah?” I jumped and almost spilt my wine when Liam said my name.
    “Where’d you go, pretty girl? You doing okay?”
    I swallowed back tears at the concern in his voice. My period was due next week and I wasn’t sure if it was that, the effects of the artificial hormones from the pill coursing through my system, or all the sneaking around behind my brother’s back that had turned me into an emotional mess these past few days, but either way, I felt overly emotional, and it was messing with my head.
    “Just been a long week, all this deceit is wearing me out. Luke’s always been there for me, lying to him is hard.”
    Once again the communication between my brain and mouth was sadly lacking, and I jumped up and started clearing our plates to hide my embarrassment. I didn’t want him to feel pressured into telling my brother about us. I wanted him to do it when and if he wanted to. After all, he had a whole lot more to lose than I did. I’d just have a pissed off Luke to deal with, whereas Liam could possibly lose part of his livelihood and the new business venture he just moved to the other side of the world to help set up and establish.
    Liam followed me to the kitchen, and after I rinsed the plates and cutlery, I handed them to him to stack in the dishwasher. I hadn’t asked him to. He’d just opened the door and waited for me to pass him the plates. It was a simple domestic scene re-enacted between millions of couples around the world every day, but it was a first for us, and the hope and yearning for more simple scenes of domesticity between us in the future caused an ache in my chest.
    Liam’s arms