4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
17
Caro
Buying time to pluck up the courage to go in, Caro stopped to look in the window of the menswear shop. It took a moment to realise that the wavy-haired reflection in the window was her. She never wore her hair like this but maybe she would in the future. The thought came back into her mind that she had come down here looking for answers and all she was going to go home with was a new appreciation for the occasional beauty treatment and a shaggy hairstyle.
Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. New starts.
She reached for her phone to call the hospital, then stopped. Todd was taking care of that today. He had it. A pang of longing took her by surprise. She wanted her mum to be here with her right now. She wanted to wander around the city, arm in arm, strolling through Christmas markets and sampling mulled wine and hot pies from the stalls she’d seen in George Square when she arrived. She wanted to be planning their dinner on Christmas Day, a feast like the old days, with Auntie Pearl, Uncle Bob, Todd and the more recent addition of the lovely Jared.
And Mum. She just wanted to be with her mum.
In reality, she would be – even if it was just lying on her bed in the hospital, listening to her breathe.
For the gazillionth time that day she wondered what she was doing here.
Really, what the hell was going on? This wasn’t her. She didn’t do this kind of stuff. She was a teacher, a responsible adult. Her only defence was that everything that had happened in the last few months – hell, the last couple of years – had brought her to this point. Yep, that’s what her lawyer, paid for by Todd’s Crowdfunding, would tell the jury when she was arrested for stalking. She’d lose her job, of course. And then she’d be skint and have to resort to selling her story toTake A Break. It was a dark future that was ahead of her if she didn’t cut out this nonsense and go home.
It would have been so much easier just to send Lila a message on Facebook, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. If it was a mistake, she didn’t want to give some poor girl the shock of her life. If it was true, she didn’t want to alert her dad to the fact that she’d discovered his second family, and have her half-sister find out that way. Basically, messaging on Facebook was a lose–lose situation for Lila and Caro couldn’t do that to someone she didn’t know, no matter how happy and carefree she seemed.
So she should go home. And she would.
But first…
Okay, you can do this, Caro. Get it together. You’ve got this.
She pushed open the door, immediately coming into the eyeline of a hipster, bearded guy behind the counter to her right, chatting to a young woman whose back was to her. Caro just about fainted before she realised that it couldn’t be Lila. This girl had brown hair, swept up in a messy bun on the top of her head. The guy wasn’t Lila’s boyfriend either. Thanks to Lila’s Facebook, Caro knew he was clean-shaven, tanned, insanely good-looking, usually topless (with finely carved six-pack on show) or fully dressed in incredibly stylish clothes, while presenting her with gifts and calling her ‘babe’.
Honestly, Lila’s life was like a reality show, one in which everyone adored her and showered her with love, affection and jewellery.
‘Hi, can I help you?’ It came from the hipster dude.
‘No thanks, I’m just… looking,’ she answered, immediately making a show of browsing through the nearest rail, although why she would be wanting a three-pack of men’s Calvin Klein boxer shorts she wasn’t entirely sure.
Hipster dude carried on talking to the woman, a friendly conversation, so probably not a customer then. Okay, two choices. Ask for Lila, or leave. Actually there was a preferable third, but she knew that taking up residence here and hoping for a cloak of invisibility to keep her presence secret probably wasn’t the most feasible option.
She picked a packet of boxer shorts off the rail and carried them to the till area. That was Todd’s Christmas present sorted.
The guy behind the counter took them with a smile, while the girl asked, ‘Is there anything else you’d like? Actually, I’m not sure why I said that – I work next door, not here. Force of habit.’
Hipster dude feigned exasperation. ‘She tries to steal our customers all the time. Tempts them in with the smell of coconut suntan lotion.’
‘Ah, the holiday shop,’ Caro said, going for pleasant and jocular. ‘I noticed that. If I’m ever looking for coconut suntan lotion I now know where to find it.’
‘Excellent. My work here is done then,’ the interloper declared. ‘Right, Digby, I’m going to shoot off now. If you get a rush just shout and I’ll storm in to the rescue.’
‘No worries, Jen – thanks for the help today.’
‘Pleasure,’ she replied, then turned to Caro. ‘Coconut. We never run out.’
‘Good to know,’ Caro said, laughing now.
The doorbell pinged as she pulled it open and left.
‘Actually, while I’m here… The girl who owns the salon next door…’
‘Suze?’ he said.
