‘Of course I do! She’s my best friend. She’s…’ I swallow hard. ‘She’s dying. She’s requested thisofme.’
Donna nods. ‘It’s terrible, truly terrible that she’s sounwell.’
‘Dying.’
‘Yes. Of course, Olive. But a true friend wouldn’t ask you to just up and leave your life, to go to America of all places to look for a complete stranger! It’s dangerous there. Guns, mobsters, super-sizedportions.’
Alex nodssagely.
‘Birdieisa true friend,’ I tell them. ‘She wouldn’t ask this of me if it weren’t desperately importanttoher.’
Alex and Donna look at each other. ‘We’re just worried about you is all,’ Alex says. ‘You’re not exactly, you know, worldly. Have you ever left GreaterManchester?’
‘I went toChesteronce!’
‘Chester,’ Donna says. ‘That’s not even an hour awayfromhere.’
‘You like things just so,’ Alex points out. ‘You get grumpy if things are different, if anything changes unexpectedly. You once told the BBC weatherman on the telly to go fuck himself because he’d predicted no rain and it did rain and you didn’t have anumbrella.’
‘I trusted thatweatherman!’
‘You like your routine,’ Donna adds, smiling benevolently. ‘And, Olive, we’re just worried that you’ll get all the way to New York and get yourself into some sort ofpickle.’
‘Apickle?’
Alex shrugs. ‘That you’ll get lost or in trouble orhomesick.’
‘And it will be left for us to fix things when it all goes wrong,’ Donna adds, as if she’s the parent talking to a problem child. ‘I’m not being funny but, we just know you. We know whatyou’relike.’
I don’twantto go. I don’t want to do this. Everything they’re saying about me is completely correct. But still, I feel a flicker of sadness that they think so little of me, assume that I’mincapable.
‘I can get in touch with Birdie, if you don’t want to go,’ Alex says, patting my arm. ‘I mean, it is a bit of an awkward situation. I can tell her that it’s too much to ask of you. That you can’t just take off to New York out of bloody nowhere! You’re not the sort of person who can do that. Andthat’sokay.’
The flicker of sadness turns into a flame of anger at their complete lack of belief in me. I’m allowed to not believe in myself. Donna doesn’t have to either. But Alex? He’s my brother! He shouldtrustme.
LikeBirdiedoes.
Shetrustsme.
She trusts me todothis.
I take a deepbreath.
‘Wait a minute…’ I say as something occurs to me. ‘Are you guys trying to reverse psychology me? Are you trying to piss me off by saying I can’t do something so that I retaliate with impressive courage and Idoit?’
Donna and Alex shake theirheads.
‘No,’ Donna says. ‘We genuinely think this is a terrible idea and that you shouldn’t go and that your friend is desperate, of course, but also a little selfish for asking thisofyou.’
Before I have chance to respond, my phone dings with a text. I open it up. It’s fromBirdie.
Iknowyou’re probably shitting yourself right now. But I just want you to know that I appreciate this so much, Brewster. I upgraded your flight to first class so it’s a little comfier, I know how you hate smallspaces.
Ismile.And in that moment any wobbles I had seem to fade alittle.
‘Is that Birdie?’ Alex asks. ‘Shall I ring her now? Tell her you’restaying.’
I stand up and put my hands on my hips. ‘No. Because I am going. And I will find Chuck Allen. I will do this for my friend because I love her and that’s whatfriendsdo.’
