Page 35 of The Plan

“No you don’t. We can make it work.”

“I have nothing, Blake. I can’t make anything work with nothing.”

“You don’t have nothing. You have us,” he says, gesturing to our smiling two person audience.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Anything else is meaningless, as long as you have people who love you. You can earn money, you can buy new things. You can’t replace people—trust me, I know. And you can’t get time back, not matter how hard you wish for it.”

I break my eyes from his pleading ones and look up to the ceiling, trying to process my thoughts. “I thought you’d left,” I whisper.

“What?”

“This morning, you’d just gone. I thought—”

“What? NO! I wanted to be home before Sinead woke up so she wouldn’t question me not being there, and then she had a gymnastics competition all day and I’ve had no signal. I only got Addy’s messages an hour ago and we rushed straight here. I left a note, didn’t you see it?”

I didn’t realise I was holding on to my breath until it all comes out of me in a rush and I start laughing at how ridiculous all of this is.

“What’s so funny?”

“This. All of this.” I gesture to the movie scene we’re currently acting out.

Blake doesn’t seem to share my amusement. Instead, he continues to stare into my eyes, his face serious. “So what do you say?”

I look at him for a long time before looking over his shoulder at Aunt Addy and Sinead. Then it hits me.

Everything Blake just said is right.

This is my home, they’re my family, and time is precious.

I think it’s time to make a new plan.