The Complete #LoveLondon Collection. Nikki Moore

course not.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘I’m not ready.’ She pointed to the patch again. ‘Look at me.’

      His eyes ran over her face as if he didn’t see anything of concern. ‘So, what do you do?’

      ‘Nothing, at the moment.’ She hugged her arms across her body.

      ‘You know, Georgiana, if the kids I teach can have meaningful lives, then so can you. We don’t think about their disabilities as limitations, we think of them as challenges and opportunities. We don’t look at what they can’t achieve. We consider everything they can achieve. You’re no different.’

      Her mouth dropped open. ‘I have to go,’ she said abruptly, feeling reprimanded. Tears were scorching the back of her eyes. ‘Bye.’ Tugging on Buttons’ lead she walked briskly towards home, not giving Leo a chance to respond.

      When George saw Leo ducking into the local corner shop a few days later, she didn’t mean to stop. She definitely didn’t mean to linger until he came out, but somehow her feet wouldn’t move.

      It was getting on for dinner time, and she’d just taken Buttons for a stroll on Primrose Hill. There’d not been a single trace of disappointment that Leo wasn’t there. None at all. Why would she want to see him when she’d made such an idiot of herself, running off like that, just because he’d called her on something? She’d been cross with him for the rest of the night and some of the next morning, but once she’d cooled down, she could see he had a point. She was as physically recovered as she was ever going to be. So, what was she going to do now?

      It was something she’d mused over as she strolled through the park, the lamps along the paths doing a good job of lighting the way. The fresh air had felt cleansing, healthy. She’d puffed her way up and down the hill but wasn’t as tired as previous times. Her mum had been right; this was good for her. After an initial curious glance at her eye-patch and scar, most people looked away. They didn’t gawp or stare. She was feeling better getting out of the house regularly. As a teenager she’d never been the type to loll around in her room reading books or watching TV. Instead she’d been with her friends in town or at the beach or watching scary films in a large gang around someone’s house, sharing bottles of lemonade and tubes of Pringles. Her stomach growled at the thought and she wondered what Leo was buying. Just as she peered into the shop window, Buttons sniffing the door frame, he appeared, holding a blue carrier bag filled with a carton of milk and various bits she couldn’t make out.