Page 102 of One More Day
‘Thank you,’ she whispers again. ‘I’m so glad I got to say thank you.’
My face crumples as she shuffles away, leaving me standing in the rain under the heavy December sky. I watch her as she makes her way around to Michael’s favourite viewpoint, a little bench that looks out onto the vast mouth of Lough Swilly, where she sits in the rain beneath her umbrella.
I sob the whole way back to the car park, but it’s a different type of release after meeting Evelyn. All I can see now is Michael’s smiling face, the joy he held when we were together, the fun we had and the love we shared.
Evelyn is right. Why would I stop loving like that? I never, ever want to stop. I can show Michael just how special the love we had was by sharing it in every way that I can.
George bounces around madly when he sees me approach the car. I throw my soaking wet coat in the boot, give my dog a fur-filled snuggle, and then I drive back to Seaview as fast as the winding roads will allow me to.
But when I get to the cottage, it is empty and locked up.
Charlie has already gone.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Charlie
My playlist is blaring through the speakers in the car, my phone is on silent, and the roads are as quiet as I hoped they would be on my way back to Belfast. I need distraction, so I’m focused on the road ahead and the surprise I’m about to deliver tomorrow morning.
Helena isn’t expecting me.
I called her supervisor, Mary, in the assisted accommodation block to say I was on my way home, and she secretly packed Helena’s bag for tomorrow while she was helping in the kitchen for lunch.
‘I didn’t want to tell you, Charlie, but she’s the only one here for Christmas Day,’ Mary said when I called. My heart dropped to the floor when I heard it. ‘Dermot’s nephew is coming for him first thing in the morning and Frances is just away, so it would have been just me and Helena here. She’ll be ecstatic when she sees you tomorrow. She’s talked about you nonstop since you left.’
Again, I’m assured that everything in life happens for a reason. Had Rose not fled from the cottage this morning, mysister would have spent Christmas with only her supervisor for company, and that would have never left my head for months and maybe years to come.
Even Clodagh’s decision to take Rebecca away to Tenerife might turn out to be a positive thing in the long term. The experience of learning a new culture and language, perhaps? The character-building challenges of settling into a new country? A life in the sun that Ireland doesn’t usually have to offer? I realise I’m being uber positive, but I don’t want to go in any direction of darkness today.
Rose has made her decision. I am hurting to the core, but I need to keep going if only for my sister.
I also need to do some food shopping as soon as I hit the city. I’ll get a small turkey fillet, some seasonal veg and some potatoes. I’ll pick up a ready-made dessert. I’ll be lucky if I can find any crackers on Christmas Eve, but Mary said she would try and seek some out as she knows as well as I do how much Helena loves all the trimmings on Christmas Day.
‘We’re on our way home after all,’ I say to Max, who seems a lot more excited than I am to be on the road again. ‘But we’ll make the most of it, won’t we? We’ll have lots of delicious food. We’ll have a few beers. We’ll do our best to make sure it’s a good one, just the three of us. Me, you and Helena.’
I battle to keep positive and control my thoughts on every mile of the road I travel, but I only have to blink to see her face again. I don’t want to think about Rose and the Christmas Day we could have had together. Most of all, I don’t want to imagine the pain she must be feeling right now as she faces Christmas alone, which I know is not what she truly wanted.A pang grips my heart when I think of what she must be going through, and I ache to see her again.
I remember all the effort she made to make our stay special.
Her decorations still light up the mantelpiece at Seaview Cottage. The pine cones are still bringing the rooms to life with their seasonal scents. The candles still fill the hallway with cinnamon, vanilla and spice. And the forest-green wreath still lights up the cottage door.
Even Marion had to swallow her pride and admire the decorations when she called over to collect the keys and let me check out early. She and Rusty have made a pact to be kinder to one another over Christmas. They’ve been married twenty-five years, she said, and that was worth a little more respect and effort than either of them have been showing lately.
‘I’d like to tell Rose I’m sorry for how I treated her,’ Marion told me as I packed up the car, her chin jutted out just before we said goodbye. ‘Maybe I’ll pluck up the courage to give her dad a call and we’ll try and fix those burned bridges once and for all. Life’s too short to hold a grudge, especially when it comes to family.’
‘I’m very, very happy to hear you say that, Marion,’ I told her. ‘You’ve a good heart. It would be a pity to hold a grudge over something as beautiful as Seaview Cottage.’
‘You meanGranny Molly’sCottage,’ she corrected me. ‘I think it’s time I gave this place back its proper name and allowed the people who should be here to enjoy it as much as we do.’
‘I think you’re absolutely right, Marion. Good for you, and good for Rusty. I have a feeling you’re both going to be just fine.’
‘Ah, we’re two of a kind,’ Marion told me. ‘Two stubborn mules who don’t know how good we have it behind all our huffing and puffing.’
‘I’m delighted to hear that,’ I told her with sincerity, before I bade her farewell.
As I drive now, I can still hear Rose’s laughter as she slipped and slid that night in the forest. I can still feel her body so close to mine. I can smell her hair. I can hear her voice. I miss her so much it hurts, yet I’m thankful I got to know her at all, even if it was for a short, sweet blink of an eye. We shared more intimacy in those nine days together than I could ever have hoped for, and for that I’m so grateful.
I hope one day, when she is ready, that I’ll see her again.
