Page 34 of One Day and Forever
Val stood up. ‘Actually, you don’t need to answer that question, because it looks like we’re about to find out.’
17
ZAC
For a couple of moments, Zac wondered if his mum’s old friend had escaped the awkward moment at the funeral by giving him the wrong address. Or maybe she was in there, behind the couch, pretending no one was home. No, he discounted that one. Alice hadn’t seemed like the kind of woman who wouldn’t keep her word.
His head was still reeling from everything that had happened today. After the funeral, he’d nipped back to Aunt Audrey’s house and… he caught himself. It wasn’t Aunt Audrey’s house any more. That was going to take a bit of getting used to. Anyway, he’d gone back there so that he could say goodbye to his cousins and their kids, before they hit the road for Center Parcs. Right up until the last minute, Jill had been wavering about going, too upset after saying goodbye to her mum this morning.
‘You know she’d be furious if we wasted her money,’ Hamish had pointed out correctly. Aunt Audrey was unfailingly generous, but also notoriously careful with her cash. ‘We’d get nothing back and she’d hate that,’ he’d added, a variation of the argument he’d used every time Jill had wavered over the last few days. In the end, the enthusiasm of the kids and herwish to cheer them up after losing their gran had won her over once again and when Zac had said goodbye to them, they were changing out of their funeral clothes and getting ready to go.
Zac had had a quick change too. He’d ditched the suit and pulled on his black jeans and a dark grey jumper, then added the padded jacket that he’d brought with him because it was always bloody freezing in Glasgow at this time of year. Everything else, he’d packed into his case and then it left at the door.
Last job was to find his dad. Cillian was in the back garden, sitting on the stone bench, with the gazebo above it protecting him from the snow that was coming down thick now. For a second, Zac had thought he was sleeping because his head was back, as if he was staring at the sky, but his eyes were closed.
‘Dad?’
There was a pause, and his heart had skipped a beat, before his father had brought his head forward and opened his eyes. His dad was only fifty-six years old, and he was a handsome guy, who kept himself in great shape, but right then he looked as old and as weary as Zac had ever seen him. ‘Sorry, son. Just having a chat with your mum in my head there. Helps sometimes.’
‘I do the same thing.’ It was true. Sometimes he’d catch himself telling her something in his mind, and it would make him smile because he knew that she hated to miss a thing.
‘Listen, I just need to pop out for a while – I said I’d nip over and see one of Mum’s friends that I met at the funeral.’
Had it been his imagination or had his dad turned even paler?
‘Oh. Right. Which friend was that now?’ There had been an unusual edginess to his dad’s voice.
‘Alice. She seemed really nice. I’m hoping maybe she can tell me a bit more about Mum when she was younger.’
‘I don’t think we’ve got time, son. We need to get to the airport.’
His dad had said that with such conviction, Zac had frowned, confused. ‘But our flight is at nine o’clock. We don’t need to be there until seven.’
‘I know, but with this weather…’ His dad’s words had tailed off, as he obviously gave up on that argument.
Zac had immediately realised what the issue was. His dad didn’t want him to speak to Alice. And it wasn’t a huge leap to think that must be because she might tell him something that his dad didn’t want him to hear.
Zac hadn’t even begun to process how he would deal with this situation, if, as he now suspected, Cillian Conlon didn’t share his DNA. The biggest part of him was praying that this was all a mistake, even though the tiny voice in his brain was telling him it wasn’t. Either way, he wanted to tell his dad that nothing would change, that it was only biology, that Cillian would always be his father. But that didn’t negate his need to find out for sure and put all these questions and fears to rest.
‘Aye, well, I don’t want to be sitting in an empty house, surrounded by Audrey’s memories, so I’d like to get off to the airport early. We’re as well there, where we can get dinner and a pint.’
‘Okay, but I tell you what then – why don’t you go on whenever you’re ready and I’ll meet you there, just in case I get held up. Text me and let me know when you’re leaving. I’ve left my suitcase at the door?—’
‘I’ll take that with me,’ his dad had offered. ‘May as well get it all checked in and then we’re sorted.’
More and more lately, as the months went by without Mum, it had felt like his dad appreciated being needed or doing things that were helpful. He’d show up at Zac’s flat to fill the fridge with beer. Or he’d buy tickets for a football game that he knew Zac would want to go to. Zac appreciated it all and he’d started doing the same. Including Dad in his plans for the weekend.Suggesting things they could do together. Dropping by on the way home from work. He could see Dad missed Mum’s company and her sense of purpose too. She always had a plan and a list of things to do and places to go. When they got back to Dublin, maybe he’d suggest a holiday, just the two of them. His dad loved to ski, so maybe a week in the Alps over Easter.
He’d bent down and given his old man a hug. ‘It’ll be okay, Dad.’ Neither of them had chosen to clarify what he was referring to. ‘Love ya.’
‘Love ya too, son.’
A car horn had blasted from out in the street, interrupting the moment. ‘That’s my taxi. I’ll see you later, either here or at the airport.’ For all he knew, he’d be back there within half an hour, if the conversation with Alice was a non-starter.
Now, standing outside her door, he’d begun to think that would be the case, when he heard the sound of a lock being opened and suddenly Val was in the doorway.
‘Come on in, you’ll catch your death of cold out there,’ she chirped, then froze. ‘Sorry. Not the day for comments about death. I’m always putting my foot in it.’
Zac laughed. ‘That’s okay. I’m pretty good at that myself.’
