‘We’ll make him very welcome,’ she assures me in her clipped manner. ‘So, our field trips are usually half a day. Nothing too strenuous because none of us are getting any younger.’ A small chuckle. It’s the first time I’ve heard Thelma Campbell laugh.
‘So it’s a fossil-hunting trip?’ I say.
‘That’s the idea. It involves alittlebit of clambering over rough ground—’
‘Really?’ I ask, alarmed.
‘But don’t worry about that,’ she adds, and I can tell she’s smiling. ‘There’s a very nice tearoom nearby. Tell your dad the minibus will pick him up on Tuesday morning at ten.’
We finish the call and I catch up with Prish and Jamie, who have strolled on ahead. ‘All sorted?’ Prish grins.
‘I think so, yes.’
‘Maybe this’ll encourage him to be more independent again,’ Jamie offers. ‘Going on this trip, I mean—’
‘He’s actually talking about moving back home,’ I cut in.
My friends stop and look at me. ‘But he seemed to be loving it at your place,’ Prish says in surprise. ‘What’s brought this on?’
I smile, and glance down at Grace. ‘There’s been a few things. His routine, for one. It’s all gone to pot …’
‘Well, that’s to be expected,’ she says with a wry smile.
‘And he says he can never get into the bathroom, and when he finally does, he looks at the pot of toothbrushes and there’s about eighty-five of them and he can’t figure out which one’s his.’
Jamie laughs. ‘How many people are you actually living with, Carly?’
‘Just four,’ I reply. ‘Well, five of us of course,’ I add quickly. ‘But Grace doesn’t have a toothbrush yet.’ I touch the blonde hair on her head, soft as my mother’s powder puff. ‘But this one takes up quite a lot of space, and Dad says the house is feeling a bit overcrowded for him now.’
Chapter Forty-seven
Eddie
Eddie knows it’s not unusual for parents to split up. Calum’s mum and dad are divorced and Raj’s parents went through a rough patch. His own parents have too. Years ago, he’d hear them arguing in the kitchen late at night – about money usually. His dad doing something stupid like taking out a massive loan to buy a food truck or whatever.
However, no matter how bad things were, he always knew they loved each other. And that everything would be okay.
And now, he’s not so sure because everything has changed. He knows his dad was upset about the whole baby thing. That was understandable. And maybe it wasn’t easy for him either, when Eddie’s granddad moved in. But then everything escalated and, next thing Eddie knew, his dad had moved out! Like, left his mum, who he’s always been devoted to. Even with the baby here – and of course she’s his main focus – Eddie is still reeling with theshock of it all. And thereallycrazy thing is, his dad isn’t staying with a friend, like Dev or any of his other mates who he goes to football with occasionally. No, he’s living in the truck.
One cool, autumnal Sunday morning Eddie tells Lyla and his mum that he’s going out for a walk. His mum looks surprised because normally, Eddie doesn’t walk anywhere just for the sake of it. But he slips out before she can fire any questions at him.
He strides along the seafront, past the abandoned birthday cake roundabout and the overgrown crazy golf course, wishing Calum and Raj were still here. They’ve been over to visit, and to meet Lyla and Grace, which went fine – although they did seem pretty terrified of the baby. (‘Want to hold her?’ Eddie asked. ‘No thanks!’ they chimed.) But now they’re in Edinburgh, leading their whizzy and wholesome lives with their vitamins and massive water bottles. The few friends he has left in Sandybanks, Eddie doesn’t really want to see. Because they’ll be getting stoned and playing video games and eating takeaways. And Eddie’s worried that, if he sees them, he’ll see his old self reflected back. That’s all teenage stuff, and he’s not a teenager anymore. He is nearly twenty-three and a father now.
He marches onwards, passing dog walkers and old couples and parents with buggies, hoping he won’t be spotted by anyone he knows. That’s the thing about small-town life, Eddie reflects. Everything you do gets commented on. He’s been grateful to settle into Kilmory Cottage for this first little while, as he and Lyla have grown used to the way things are now. It’s been brilliant,too, having his mum there to help. She doesn’t annoy him like she used to. She’s different, he thinks. Or maybe it’s him? But tomorrow Suki is coming over to collect him and Lyla and Grace, and they’ll drive over to Edinburgh to start their new lives in Lyla’s flat.
Eddie will have to find a job pronto. He’s prepared to do anything, to show Lyla that he isn’t some idiot who can’t stick at anything. But right now, the prospect of job hunting has been shunted to the furthest corner of Eddie’s mind, as now he has arrived at Dev’s garage.
Of course he’s been in touch with his dad, and he visited Lyla and Grace in hospital. Perhaps naively, Eddie had thought that as soon as they were home, then his dad would knock this crazy truck thing on the head and come home too. But he hasn’t. And with everything that’s happened, Eddie hasn’t been able to face him here. Too depressing and difficult, he’d decided. He’s tried to focus on Grace and push away images of his dad’s terrible living conditions to the back of his mind.
It was a conversation with Bella that prompted him to finally come here to see him. She called the other night, out of the blue. They rarely speak on the phone. ‘Eddie, I feel terrible that I’ve not been up to see Grace yet,’ she said.
‘That’s all right.’ He genuinely hasn’t minded. He isn’t wired that way, to crave attention and fuss.
‘It’s just, I’ve had loads of work to do for a job interview,’ she added, ‘and I haven’t been able to take time off. I’m sorry. I’ll be up as soon as I can …’
‘Don’t worry about it. Honestly. So, what’s the job?’
‘Um, just another marketing role.’ She sounded surprised by his interest. ‘Different company. They’re smaller but the job’s a lot more varied and I’ll have loads more responsibility when I start—’
