‘Don’t you meanweare going to the hospital? Because I’m taking a guess you’re not going for a tetanus shot.’
‘No,’ he said, nodding.
‘Then I’m coming with you.’ She moved in the bed, shifting onto her knees so she was facing him.
‘You don’t have to do that. I said I was going to take the test and I am.’
Hayley laughed then. ‘You think the only reason I want to come is to make sure you go through with it?’ She thumped his arm with her knuckles. ‘I want to support you. I want to find out. I want to be there when you get the results.’
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘That’s kind of the reason I wanted to go alone.’
‘Well, that makes no sense unless you’re going to run for the hills and say we’re over.’ She frowned at him. ‘Is that what you were going to do?’
He shook his head. ‘No, of course not.’
‘Then I’m coming with you.’ She slipped out of bed, grabbed Oliver’s Knicks T-shirt and pulled it over her head. ‘What time is the appointment?’
‘Eleven-thirty.’
‘Good. I’ll grab Angel, I’ll meet with your mum and I’ll meet you at the hospital.’ She padded towards the kitchen on bare feet. ‘Same hospital where you were mean and cruel and I swore I was never going to forgive you?’
‘Yeah, St Patrick’s. What are you doing?’ he called, watching her.
She turned back to face him. ‘Making sure we’re both hydrated. Do you have any bacon?’
He smiled, pulling the duvet up around him. Just what had he done to deserve this woman?
Dean Walker’s Apartment, Downtown Manhattan
‘Is that eggs I can smell? Because I haven’t had eggs this morning and—’ Hayley burst through into the kitchen but stopped talkingat the sight of Michel by the hob, Angel at his side. ‘Oh, hello. Where’s Dean?’
‘Hi, Mum. We’re making eggy bread.’
Michel turned to face her. ‘He had to go to work early.’
‘Oh, well he didn’t ring me.’
‘He said he did call but you didn’t answer. Angel, you hold this very carefully; it is very hot,’ Michel instructed, passing the fish slice to her.
Hayley delved into her rucksack for her iPhone. There were five missed calls. She checked the side. It was switched to silent.
‘So, Dean called you?’ Hayley asked.
Michel shook his head. ‘I came here to speak to you. I wanted to take Angel to another gallery. Dean said you were not here, he needed to go for work, I offered to come to be with Angel until you got here.’
Hayley let out a sigh and put her bag down on the breakfast bar. She needed to stop being so suspicious of everyone’s motives with Angel. Michel was her father and for the past few days, he had been a walking, talking vision of what a good dad should be. He hadn’t pushed or raised expectations or made any promises he hadn’t kept. It was going well. He was a good man doing his very best with this new situation and perhaps she ought to give him more credit for that.
‘Everything is OK?’ Michel asked, coming over to her.
‘Yes… sorry.’ She swallowed. ‘It’s just all this is very new and very different and so much is going on at the moment.’
‘I understand. I feel the same way.’
‘The edges are going brown,’ Angel called.
‘That is OK,’ Michel said. ‘Just move the bread gently with the spatula.’
‘I hope there’s enough for me,’ Hayley called. ‘But I’ll have to eat it on the run.’
