Chapter 64

“Couldn’t forget,” he said.

They broke out of the fields into the southern edge of Wheatley and worked their way around the terraced lanes and single-track roads to the close. It still felt strange, to walk here with Luke’s hand firmly in his, but Shane was starting to get used to it, and the way his stomach didn’t clench anymore. The way he wasn’t afraid anymore.

Dad’s car was rumbling on the drive, and he was packing the last of the boxes into the boot. Shane neatly circumvented him, and Chloe in the hall, and towed Luke upstairs to his stripped-out room, the last box sitting on the floor that he’d told Chloe to leave for him to collect.

“Here,” he said, opening the top and unfolding it.

“Your jacket?”

“Yeah. Keep it for me.”