‘Whose car is that?’
‘Jack’s.’ Cammy hesitated. ‘Is that going to be a problem?’
In her panic-stricken state, she started to ponder the question and then immediately came to a profound conclusion. Fuck it. Right now, she cared way too much about making it to the hospital to worry about how she got there.
‘Nope, no problem. Thank you so much,’ she said, as the two of them started running, Caro with a slight limp, across the road.
This was insane. Nuts. She’d come down here to find her sister and less than twenty four hours later that sister’s jilted boyfriend was driving her home in her father’s car.
As she jumped into the passenger seat, she sent a silent wish out into the messed up universe.Hang on, Mum, please… just hang on until I get there.
30
Cammy
Ten-forty. It had taken less than ten minutes for them to get out of the city centre and on to the motorway. Cammy mapped the journey out in his head. Stirling. Perth. Dundee. Aberdeen. If they were lucky and didn’t hit any hold-ups, they should make it in a little over three hours.
Lucky.
Again, not an adjective that applied to him or the lady sitting next to him right now. The only consolation was that it seemed pathetic to mope about Lila when this woman, Caro, was dealing with so much more, and doing it with dignity and amazing strength.
His phone buzzed, but he ignored it.
‘I hope you don’t mind, but I just need to make a quick call,’ she said, her voice tight, panicked, as she plugged her phone into the iPhone charging cradle on the dashboard. ‘Sorry, battery is almost dead,’ she explained as she dialled, putting the phone on speaker because the cable was too short for it to reach her ear.
Cammy heard a male voice answer before the first ring was even out. ‘WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?’ he said, making Cammy flinch. Jesus, he sounded wound up and decidedly unhappy.
However, his reaction didn’t seem to faze Caro, who spoke quickly and calmly. ‘Todd, forget all that. The hospital called. Mum isn’t great and they want me to come in.’
‘Oh, God. Right. I’ll come get you, it’ll be quicker than waiting for the first train. I’ll leave right now.’
‘No, it’s okay. I’m already on the way home.’
‘How?’
‘Lila’s… er…’ She glanced at Cammy and he sussed immediately that she didn’t know how to refer to him.
‘Ex,’ he said, filling in the blank.
‘Lila’sexis giving me a lift. In my dad’s car.’
‘Holy shit, how much did I miss?’ the guy gasped, then immediately caught himself. ‘Sorry! None of that matters a toss. Oh honey, I’m so sorry.’
‘Me too,’ she replied and Cammy heard the words catch on her grief as she said them. Her boyfriend (or was it husband?) sounded like he really cared, so at least she had someone at the other end to support her. He’d have done the same for Lila. It was both strange and sad that he was already thinking of her in the past tense.
His phone buzzed again. It went unanswered.
‘I’ll go straight there now and be with her. How long do you think you’ll be?’
Caro looked at her watch. ‘About three hours. But Todd, call me if… you know.’
‘I will, m’darling. I love you.’
‘Thanks, Todd. I love you too.’
She disconnected her phone and put her head back against the headrest, eyes squeezed shut as if she was trying really hard not to cry. After a moment or two, she opened them, more composed now.
Cammy felt such a rush of sympathy, it took him by surprise. Taking on other people’s problems and woes wasn’t his thing. Until now. Perhaps it was a diversion from his own debacle. Maybe it was just an instinctive human reaction. Ormaybe it was just the fact that he was in awe that she was dealing with all this on her own, yet she was still holding it together. Whatever the reason, he felt an urge in his gut to help.
