“We’re doing well here. On my father’s farm, out in the countryside. We’re happy in this house, even if it’s not mine. We’re happy together, with everything that we have here.”
“I don’t believe this.”
“You can start to believe it as you’re going home. You should’ve called first – it would’ve saved you the journey.” I head towards the front door and open it.
“This is your last call, Niall. There won’t be any other chances. If you say no now…”
“Safe journey, Phil.”
He shakes his head and leaves my parents’ house, jumping into his car. Someone opens the automatic gates to let him out; I turn to find my parents standing behind me, their expressions unreadable.
“Is it true?” my father asks.
“What?”
“What you said, about you being happy here.”
I smile at him.
“Does that mean you’ll stay?” my mother adds.
“That’s what it looks like – even though I have no idea what I’ll do once this tournament is over. I have no idea how I’ll even manage to pay for my daughter’s school uniform.”
“Where has all your money gone, Niall?” my father asks.
“I spent it.”
“How?”
I take a deep breath, and decide to tell them the truth.
“She didn’t have any.”
“Who?”
“She couldn’t pay for her treatment – at least, not for the medicines that were helping her get better, or helping her deal with the pain, so that she could spend a few more hours with Skylar. Then there was the day nurse, the night nurse…” My throat starts to close over. I feel like I’m suffocating. “She had some debt, too: a car that she was paying off, two credit cards. She used them to pay for Skylar’s expenses.”
“Honey…”
“After she’d been ill for six months, she lost her job. And I… I wanted to help out. I couldn’t be near her – I couldn’t see her like that. She was so beautiful. She looked just like Skylar.”
My mother’s eyes fill with tears.
“I didn’t want my last memories of her to be in a bed. I was so stupid, so selfish.”
“No, darling.”
“I did the only thing I could do: I helped her out financially. I paid her bills, settled her debts, and…”
“And the rest?” my father asks. “You can’t have spent everything on her.”
I shake my head. “The rest is in an account for Skylar, which she can access when she’s eighteen. Or earlier, if I die.”
“You really thought of everything.”
“No, Mum. I didn’t. I didn’t think about how much that girl needed me in her life. I didn’t think about how much I’d regret missing her grow up. I didn’t think about how much I hurt them both.”
“Is that all true?” Skylar’s voice suddenly floats into the room from behind my parents. They step aside, letting her past. “Everything you said…?”
