“Things were okay between you then?”
I nodded, checking my phone again. There was nothing apart from messages from a couple of friends, asking when we were going out.
Texting Wren again probably wasn’t a good move; she was independent, just like she’d always been. If she hadn’t responded, she either hadn’t checked her phone or didn’t want to. If she’d walked away from me at the airport and abandoned anything she may have felt in left luggage I wasn’t sure what I’d do next. Manwhore my way round London again? It was a possibility; that’s what I’d done last time.
Wasn’t sure I could take solace in it again.
Me:Are you missing Africa as much as I am?
This time the dots appeared,blinking at me. I watched intent on the screen, waiting for her words, nervous that they’d be ones I didn’t want to read.
Wren:You wouldn’t believe how much.
Me:Trust me, I would. Was everything okay when you got home?
Wren:Long story. I’ll tell you when I see you next. How’s your mum?
Me:Good. Better than I thought she’d be. She’s got everyone here so she’s pretty happy.
Wren:That’s really nice. What are you up to then? I’m in bed already.
I stood up,making my way out of the room towards the bedroom that was officially mine. It was a big house; it had to be given how many of us there were. When Marie had the twins, there had been an annex build to give us a bedroom each and a couple of guest rooms as well. A couple of years ago, it had been refurbished, but Mum had a room designed for each of us, needing to encourage us all back as much as she could.
“Where are you going?” Claire, my pregnant elder sister, blocked my way.
“I need to make a call.”
I waited for the sarcastic comment, but none came. Pregnancy must be mellowing her, or at least making her too tired to continue her evillish ways.
“Everything okay?”
I nodded.
“Everyone’s glad you’re back. Dad wanted to speak to you.”
“What about? We’ve talked a lot more than normal while Mum’s been ill. Maybe that’s how we should’ve tried to communicate before.” I grinned.
She didn’t grin back.
“Mum being ill has really thrown him. I think it brought everything back from when our mum died.”
No one could hear her. The room was still filled with talk, banter, babies laughing.
“I never knew how he was when our mum died.” Overdosed. She overdosed. Took too many pills before she went to sleep and never woke up.
“He buried his head in the sand of work and tried not to deal with it. I think this has made him deal with it. He’s also started exercising without Marie nagging him and he actually cooked three healthy meals this week.” She rubbed the small bump that was now showing.
“So why does he want to talk to me?”
“Because I think he’s realised that life is short and he wants a relationship with you. He’s proud of what you do.”
We both looked over towards him where he now had Eliza on his knee. He was smiling and bouncing her around. I didn’t remember him being like that with even Ava, but I hadn’t been interested in Ava when she was a baby, only when she was old enough to be amusing and didn’t smell of shit.
“I need to make this call.” I tapped my phone. There was another message, hopefully from Wren, but I wanted to speak to her or even video call her.
Claire nodded, looking at me as if she had suddenly realised something. “Don’t forget to come back to us.”
“I never do.”
