The Love of My Afterlife(81)

“Oh, he’s well into you,” I say.

“You think so?”

“It’s obvious.” We look over to where Aled is showing Mr. Yoon and Mrs. Ernestine a glass case filled with wind instruments. Cooper approaches them with a bottle of champagne, a bunch of flutes, and a huge smile.

“He is so hot,” Frida breathes, her eyes flashing.

“He really is,” I say, eyeing Cooper as he pops the cork on the bottle of fizz.

“Ooh, English sandwiches!” Frida cries, scurrying off towards the buffet table. “I hope there will be eggy mayonnaise.”

I wave at Leanne and Jan, who appear to have brought three other unknowns with them. I’m about to go and introduce them all to Mr. Yoon, when Cooper’s mum, Amy, approaches me. She hands me a glass of champagne.

“Thought you’d like this.”

“You thought right,” I say, taking a sip and enjoying the feel of the bubbles on my tongue. “Thank you. It’s getting busy. I hope Aled doesn’t mind.”

“Which one is Aled?” Amy asks.

“Purple waistcoat, looks like a snooker player slash science teacher.”

“He looks very happy to me.”

She’s right. Frida has joined him, and his face has gone red with delight. Behind him I see Cooper opening up his giant rucksack and pulling out a set of small Bluetooth speakers. He fiddles with his phone, and within a few seconds, the sounds of Charlie Parker’s saxophone blares out. I laugh. Cooper looks around the room until his eyes meet mine, and he gives his mum and me an over-the-top thumbs-up.

“He really loves Charlie Parker,” I snort. “Look at his dumb face!”

“I do love that smile.”

I laugh as I remember how his mum demanded that he smile for her at the family games night. How different his smile is now, reaching his eyes and igniting them.

“It’s a great smile,” I say quietly.

“I’ve never seen him in love before,” Amy says casually, putting a hand on my arm. “It’s fascinating. Like he is lit up from the inside.”

I blink. Cooper’s in love? Hold up. She means…?

“Oh…Cooper and I…It’s totally casual.” I remember the deal I made with him to pretend to be dating, and quickly correct myself. “I mean we’re dating, definitely. But it’s, you know, casual.”

Because it is. Cooper and I are definitely lusty for each other, there’s no denying. And the past couple of days have been an incredible distraction from the overwhelm of what is actually happening—what is actually about to happen. But love? I snort. “Not love.” I chuckle at the prospect.

Amy’s kind eyes meet mine. “You might want to tell him that.”

I shake my head. “But…”

“I know my boy,” she says. “He’s not smiled like that in a long time. Since we lost Em, I didn’t think we’d ever get him back—the bright, easy, comfortable man we all knew and loved. And then you. It’s like magic. Look at him. He’s fallen. All the way. Don’t tell him I told you,” she adds, her tone softening. “He’d be very cross with me, I imagine.”

I follow her gaze. Cooper struts over to us, hamming up playing the air saxophone as he does so. He grins at me, eyes full of warmth, before leaning in and pressing his lips softly against my cheek, his bottom lip catching the edge of my earlobe. My arms goose pimple in reaction. I catch his eye. Is what Amy said true? Does Cooper love me? And if he does, what’s going to happen when I’m gone? Will this destroy him all over again? When I thought that sleeping with Cooper was just a little fun, it didn’t seem so bad that I wouldn’t be around. Why would he care? Especially when he has a line of other much more impressive women literally waiting outside his door. But if there are real feelings…love feelings…

My phone blasts out loudly with “Jump Around,” to which Cooper’s mum says, “Ooh, I do like that song!”

It’s a Merritt message! Fuck. Do I have to go to Evermore right now? Have we been found out by Eric or one of the Higher-Ups? My heart starts to race. I press my empty champagne glass into Cooper’s hands and dart out of the room towards the toilet. I push open the door and check there’s no-one in either of the two cubicles. Sitting myself down on a toilet lid, I open the text.


Great news! Eric was not suspicious of anything at all. He was hanging around because—get this—he fancies the fuck out of me. He’s into me bad. Should have known, but I’ve been so distracted with YOU that my usually perfect romantic intuition is wonky.



And then another…


Jonah is still out there, you know.



I blink at the message as I realise I haven’t thought of Jonah in almost two days.


Whether you want him or not, surely it’s worth one last push before you just…give up? Kissing Jonah will save your life. It seems to me that you’re having too much fun to just leave it all behind…Come on, Delphie. Isn’t this all worth fighting for?


xoxo



The message disappears and I exhale, trying to slow down the furious pounding of my heart.

I open the cubicle door and walk over to the big mirror on the wall. My cheeks are red and my eyes are wide with terror.