Page 61 of Wish You Once More
“To Dad,” I echoed. The liquor burned a path down my throat, the warmth painful and pleasant at the same time.
Jonny stared at the liquid in his glass, swirling it around. “Melinda and me registered the death this morning. They said the funeral could be next week, maybe Friday.”
“Right.” I was hopeless, helpless even. I had no clue what to do or what needed to happen next. I’d never had to deal with anything like this before.Dad always took care of the difficult things.
Now it was just Jonny and me.
“How long are you here for?”
I shrugged. I hadn’t even told Scott. Every sensible thought went out of my head the moment Bree turned up on my doorstep. All my actions were reactions. I hadn’t made any plans, hadn’t thought any further than the next day, if that.
“Be good if you can stay around between now and then.”
“Yeah, course.”
Melinda came into the living room and settled down next to Jonny, stealing his glass and taking a swig. “I’m so glad Bree managed to get hold of you. We were frantic when we couldn’t get in contact.”
“What do you mean?” The furrow in my brow deepened.
“I bumped into her the other day and asked her to get in touch because we hadn’t been able to.”
My mind went into overdrive. Bree had only come to Manchester because Melinda and Jonny asked her to?
She didn’t come because of me, because of us.
I threw down the last of the whisky without taking a breath. “I need to go. I’ll come over in the morning and we can start planning the funeral.”
Unable to say anything else, I jumped up and stalked out of their house.
30
Bree
The sound of someone hammering on our front door made Callie and me jump. We rarely had unannounced visitors. Then I remembered I hadn’t given Mat a key.
“I’ll go.” I leaped up from the sofa and went to the door.
When I opened it, Mat didn’t say a word and barged past me, going straight to my bedroom.
“I guess I don’t need to ask how things went with Jonny,” I called after him, before closing the door. I went back into the living room and sat back down, my gaze half on the television and half on my phone.
Callie glanced over at me. “Is he okay?”
“Given the way he burst in and stormed off, I’m saying no.” I barely looked up.
“Don’t you think you ought to go and check on him?” Callie paused the home improvement programme we had on, right at the critical moment where they were going to say whether they were going to stay in the house or sell it.
I chewed the inside of my cheek, knowing I should. But something felt off, the way he walked right past me without saying anything for a start.
“Maybe he and Jonny didn’t manage to make up?”
That had to be it. I hadn’t had the chance to speak to Melinda since we’d got back to Darthampton, so I didn’t have any inside information.
“Go and talk to him, Bree. You didn’t trek all the way to Manchester for nothing.”
I hated it when Callie was right.
Outside the bedroom door I pressed my ear to the wood, listening for any sound, only to hear nothing.
