Page 55 of One Day and Forever
He answered the phone with a breezy, ‘Hey, how’s things?’
The reply was a choking sob. ‘Son, it’s your mum. She took a turn during the night and she’s in hospital. I don’t know how to tell you this…’
‘Don’t say it, Dad. What hospital?’
‘Glasgow Central. But I needed to tell you because there might not be enough time for you to get back here.’
Zac swallowed, trying to force his vocal cords to work. ‘Dad, I missed my flight.’ There was no need to explain the details. ‘I’m at a hotel at Glasgow airport. I’ll be there soon. Please, please tell her I’m coming.’
Half an hour later, he was at his mum’s bedside. She was slipping in and out of consciousness, and he felt immediately it was close to the end, but he got to say everything he wanted to tell her. At one point she squeezed his hand and whispered his name, and that’s when he knew with every beat of his heart and hers, that she’d heard it all. Shortly afterwards, she slipped into a coma, and three days later she passed away.
For the rest of his life, he’d be grateful to Kara McIntyre for giving him that time and that last conversation with his mum.
And he knew that he’d never again walk through an airport without checking the crowds to see if she was there.
8 P.M. – 10 P.M.
28
KARA
Kara was squirming under the glare of the interrogation light. Or it might just have been some fancy ceiling fixture in the posh airport lounge.
‘So that’s it? That’s the whole story. Over and done. And that’s the only time you met?’Ollie had asked her. Or was it Drea? She was too busy panicking inside to take in the details.
‘Yeah,’ she’d insisted. ‘Definitely.’
‘Really?’ he’d asked.
‘Absolutely…’ she’d nodded.
But she’d never lied to him in her life, and she couldn’t do it now. She cracked like an old windscreen in a car crusher.
‘Okay, that was a lie. I met him one more time, but it wasn’t planned, I swear. I bumped into him again here at the airport last year. On the same date as we’d met before. The second of January. I was on my way back from spending New Year in Croatia with you and he was going home to Dublin.’
Kara watched as Drea’s chin dropped and now her sister was staring at her as if she didn’t recognise her at all. Which was probably true. Kara was the least likely out of the three of them to ever do something illicit or scandalous.
‘And that was what? Just an accident?’ Ollie asked.
‘Yes,’ Kara blurted, before backing down again. ‘Well, a happy accident. That was maybe a little hopeful. Since that first meeting, I’ve found a reason to fly in and out of the airport on the second of January a couple of times. On the years that I wasn’t travelling, I’d make an excuse to Josh that I had to pop into work and instead, I’d come here for a coffee, hoping I’d bump into him, just to see how he was doing. Last year was the first time it actually worked and our paths crossed again.’
She could feel her toes curling inside her boots. This was so embarrassing. She hated being on the spot and she hated being the focus of attention. Right now, she was both, and the two people she loved more than anyone else on earth were clearly finding this all to be shocking.
Ollie reached for his beer. ‘You know there’s a thing called social media now, right? You can track down just about anyone. Maybe even drop them a text to see how they are. It would have saved you a fortune on flights.’
If they were still fifteen, Kara would have punched him on the arm for his sarcasm and for the amused grin on his face that showed he was making fun of her.
‘I was aware of that little development, yes. But that would have felt… disloyal. Like cheating on Josh. Whereas, if we just happened to bump into each other…’ She let them fill in the blanks, before going on, ‘Look, I didn’t say it was the most logical plan in the world, but in my head it made sense.’
‘And so, last year, you just had a nice chat and then went your separate ways again?’ That was from Drea, who was clearly in need of fortification for this confessional and had just signalled the swirly finger thing to the waitress.
‘No, he missed his flight again, maybe a little deliberately, so we booked a room at the hotel across the road again andspent the night fully clothed, watching TV and snacking from the minibar – exactly the same as the first time.’
She didn’t want to add that it was, and would always be, one of her favourite memories.
‘I’m still struggling to understand why you didn’t tell us. Or why you didn’t call things off with Josh and see if there really was something between you and… What was his name?’ Ollie never did have a great memory for names.
‘Zac,’ Kara said, already preparing her justifications and hearing how lame they sounded in her head. ‘And I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d both have the faces that you’ve got on right now. I know it sounds crazy…’
