The van was still blocking the entrance when I stormed out of the hospital. I was so close to running him down. Summer Leaton’s family was waiting inside. I had space books in my hand, a stupid excuse to be there.
But then I saw him. “Oi! I went through hell while you pretended you hadn’t seen me. ”
“I didn’t pretend.
Did you? ”
“Well, can you see me now? ”
“No, she’s stopped taking her meds again. ”
I had a hyper.
That’s what they called it. As if that explained everything. He was glad I was out, he said. Glad.
Like he’d done something to help. Like he hadn’t walked past me every day while I was locked up. “Just stay away from me. ”
I meant it.
I didn’t want his pity or his guilt. I didn’t want anything from him. Later, the others were planning their trip. A luxury retreat, they said.
No phone signal, no internet, no interruptions. They had it all worked out, the lies and the excuses. But soon as they got there, things started to unravel. Debbie ended up in Spain, drunk and confused, video-calling from a hotel room she didn’t remember booking.
The whole thing was supposed to be a break from reality. Instead, it dragged them all deeper into the mess they’d been trying to escape. Back home, Tyrone was trying to make things right with me. He came to the hospital, sat down, told me it gets easier.
He’d been to prison, he said. Long story. He told me he was there if I wanted to talk. “What do you want me to do?
Say I forgive him? ”
“No, of course not. ”
“Right, good. Because I don’t.
”
That was that. But then I found him. Tyrone. Under the bonnet of my car, trying to cut the brakes.
And I knew. I knew he’d done it before, with Abi. I knew he’d never changed. Kevin was furious.
Of course he was. He wanted to smash Tyrone’s face in. But Ronnie held him back, told him to think about Jack, about Debbie. Told him if he beat Tyrone, he’d be the one facing consequences.
“Let’s go around and I’ll tell you the truth,” Tyrone said. “You deserve that. ”
The truth. As if he had any idea what that meant.
“You all knew about it,” Kevin said. “You didn’t tell me because you wanted to avoid this. You attacking him again. ”
I was stuck in the middle, as usual.
Sick of both of them. Sick of being dragged into their feuds. When I found out Tyrone had put Kevin in a wheelchair, I threw it in his face. But that wasn’t for me.
It was for Kevin. And all he cared about was getting his own back. “You’re as bad as each other,” I told them. Kevin didn’t care.
He grabbed the wrench, went after Tyrone. Ronnie pulled out a gun to stop him. A fake one, apparently. But Kevin didn’t know that.
“You pulled a gun? ” I shouted. “Looks like it. ”
Ronnie told him to drop the wrench.
Kevin laughed, said it wasn’t real. “Looks pretty convincing to me,” Ronnie said. “Well, there’s only one way to find out. ”
I was the one who talked him down.
I told him about Debbie, about Jack and Alfie growing up without a dad. Told him if he went through with it, Debbie would never forgive him for killing her brother. “She has forgiven you a lot. But she will never forgive you for killing her brother.
”
That got through. Kevin dropped the wrench. Ronnie put the gun away. And for a moment, it seemed like it was over.
But it wasn’t. Meanwhile, the girls were in the pub, drinking and gossiping. Christina was going on about her perfect life, her perfect husband Tim, her perfect kitchen. But I knew better.
I’d seen her sneaking off, taking calls she didn’t want anyone to hear. “Come on, Christina. Why don’t you spill the beans about you and George? And who is it who keeps calling you?
”
She shut up after that. But the questions were already out there. And then there was Gary. Maria was convinced he was having an affair.
She’d checked his phone, found nothing. No texts, no messages. She thought he was deleting them. “You think he’s been deleting them?
”
“I know if you need to talk to him, find out what’s going on. ”
But she didn’t want to hear that. She wanted confirmation. She wanted someone to tell her she wasn’t going mad.
At the hospital, I was trying to get through to Sam. He was on Risperidone now, and it was knocking him out. He wasn’t talking. He wasn’t even listening.
“How long’s he going to be in that state for? ”
“We started Sam on a drug called Risperidone, and it can often have that effect in the first days of treatment. ”
“How do you know if it’s going to work? ”
“We don’t, yet.
Finding the right medication for Sam’s condition can take weeks, sometimes months. ”
Months. That was the worst-case scenario. But what else could I do except wait?
I told him I wanted to see him, that I loved him. I promised I’d be there when he was ready. Back at the garage, the tension was still boiling. Kevin walked in, saw Tyrone, grabbed the wrench again.
Ronnie pulled the gun out a second time. “Stop pointing the gun. Okay? I wanted to draw a line under everything.
Move on. ”
“But he won’t let me. ”
“Well, why would I? All you do is stab folk in the back.
”
I was screaming at them by then. “SHUT UP! What sort of person wrecks a family just for kicks? ”
Kevin lifted the gun, aimed it at Tyrone.
I thought he was going to pull the trigger. I thought it was over. “I can’t believe you did that to service,” someone muttered. “Oh, come on, mate.
You know what just happened, see? You’re still going on about the poem. It’s embarrassing. ”
The gun was still in his hand.
Tyrone was still standing there, waiting. And I didn’t know if Kevin was going to drop it or use it. “You’ll be pleased to know I didn’t get that job in Echo Bay. And if none of you is willing to take a chance on me, then I’m done.
So, go on, Kev. Pick it up. Put us both out of our misery. ”
The gun was on the table.
Kevin’s hand was shaking. And everyone was holding their breath.
