Page 7 of A Long Way Back
His mother gave him a disapproving look, and tapped in the number. “I’ve put it underHelper.Call them. Arrange for someone to come and see you. Promise me.”
“I promise.” He’d let someone come, he’d even choose ahelper, then sack them once this pair were on the ship. Nothing they could do then.
“If we feel the need to fly back, we will,” said his mind-reader mother. “And that is both a threat and a promise.”
Shit.
She stared at him. “Maybe I’ll call them.”
“Won’t Dad wipe your backside anymore?”
That got him a snort of laughter from his father and a quick smile from his mother.
“Have you done your exercises today?” she asked.
“I changed the channel three times on the TV. Twice more than yesterday.”
“Tay!”
“Yes, I’ve done sit ups and stuff.”Don’t ask me for details.
She made Tay a cheese sandwich before they left for their hotel, and he took a bite, just to prove he was eating. But when he heard the door of his flat close, he pushed the plate aside. It wasn’t food he needed; it was something to get rid of the pain in his head. He shouldn’t have let his supplies fall so low, but knowing his parents were calling in on their way to Southampton, he didn’t want his mother discovering what he didn’t want her to find. He’d also cut down on the number of tablets he’d been taking, so he didn’t appear spaced out. But he was paying the price and so had the biscuits.
He picked up his phone and scrolled to the number he’d stored underpharmacy.
“Yo, my man,” Lennie said. “What can I do for you, Tay Boy?”
Bloody twat.“The usual. Delivered.”
“A hundred in cash. Plus twenty for delivery.”
Shit.Bit late to remember that since he’d insisted on paying his mother for the cleaning supplies and food, he wouldn’t have enough cash. “When?”
“Two hours.”
“Okay.”
Lennie rang off. Two hours should give Tay long enough to get to the cash machine a couple of streets away. He levered himself upright and the room started to wobble. If he wanted the world to stop spinning, and the pain to go away, he had to get that money. But he’d have to rest for a moment or he wouldn’t even make it as far as his door.
He glared at his wheelchair, though it was his own fault it was damaged. He’d let it clatter down the steps when he’d been trying to move it onto the pavement, and fucked up the brake. He’d have to manage with his forearm crutches. He put on his jacket and pocketed his wallet and keys before he stepped into the foyer. Once he was through the outer door, he shivered. He needed his coat, not his jacket, but he didn’t go back. If he did, he’d not come out again, and he’d be tempted to do something stupid like give Lennie, or whoever Lennie sent with his package, his bank card and his PIN. He was quite capable of being that stupid when he felt desperate.
Pull yourself together. You can do this.Tay took a deep breath and carefully made his way down the steps to the pavement. He was dragging his left leg more than usual.Christ.Something else the matter with him now?
He made it across the road without being run over, which was almost a pity, but quite an achievement considering the speed he was going. His phone rang as he walked through the garden square that divided one line of houses from another. Once upon a time, this would have been a desirable place to live, the Georgian houses lining the square like stately ladies decaying at the fringes. Now the glory had faded, wood was peeling, railings rusting, and everywhere had multiple occupants. When the phone didn’t stop ringing, he pulled it from his pocket.
“Have you called them yet?” his mother asked.
For fuck’s…“You only left five minutes ago.”
“Thirty minutes.”
Shit! Was it?“Not yet.” Tay sagged. Could he get all the way to the cash machine and back? “You phone them. You know what I need, what I like, what I don’t.”
“Do I?”
“Just arrange for people to come and I’ll pick one. Not a woman. No bushy beards. No one with a whip.”
His mum laughed. God, he liked making her laugh. He’d done little enough of that over the last year.
