Golden Luckenbooth

Forty-Three

A tsunami of guilt washes over me as I press the return call button on one of his many voicemails.

He picks up instantly.

"Anna? Are you okay?"

It's at that moment that exhaustion and blame and overwhelm overflow like a pot of milk on high boil, and I burst into tears. My sobs are such that I cannot breathe properly, and I hear Harry becoming increasingly frantic on the phone.

"Anna?! ANNA! What happened? Talk to me, Anna!"

Realising that I'm only making his anxiety worse, I answer his FaceTime call and allow him to see my tear-stained face as I gulp in air.

"I'm okay...Harry...foetus is...okay too."

My expectation is that he will relax having heard this news, but his face clouds even more with worry when Shortbread places her paws on my lap and leans in to lick the salty water streaming from my eyes.

His gaze doesn't leave my face, and I push Shortbread away, which only results in her sitting on her haunches next to me, whining slightly. Once I've gotten myself under control, I try again to talk.

"Harry, I am so sorry! Of course you were worried about me." Rubbing my hand over my face, I clear the bulk of the tears. "Physically I'm fine."

"Emotionally you're bruised?" He asks, a slight smile peeking out like a child playing keek-a-boo from behind his serious countenance.

"That interview – phew – it was a lot," I start, and he nods. "And then the clinic was insanely busy, and we had a steady stream of patients all day long. Because of the interview, my phone was buzzing constantly, so I turned it off." This is when I bite my lip, tears spilling onto my cheeks as though the floodgates at Pitlochry had opened. The compassion in his eyes makes it even harder to finish. "I'm sorry, Harry, for scaring you. I'm not accustomed to people worrying about me. If my family can't reach me, they just assume I'm working."

"Anna..." He begins, and then shakes his head. "It's alright. Don't beat yourself up. We just need to figure out a system." Sighing, he stares into my eyes. "That interview with Stern went sideways –"

"But you did amazing!" I interrupt. "You set your boundary and maintained it."

"Yes, but then I went and sang that song which was like waving a red flag in front of a bull."

My laughter pushes aside my tears. "I'd never heard that song before, but it was perfect. We are kooks."

Joining in on my mirth, Harry giggles with me, and soon we're both in that stage of delirium where we're howling so loudly with laughter that I don't even hear the knocking on the kitchen door until it becomes a pounding and the dogs stop staring at me and begin barking at the door.

Sitting up, I stop laughing and look at Harry on the screen who has also quieted.

"Wanna walk with me to the door?" I ask, and he shrugs.

"Sure. Why not?"

But I don't have to do anything as Blair uses the house key I'd given her for emergencies to open the door, carrying a bag of takeaway. Cautiously, she peeks around the door.

"Is he here?" She whispers.

"Who?" Harry asks boldly from the phone, and my bestie nearly drops everything she's been carrying.

"What the f-!"

"It's Harry on FaceTime," I reveal.

"Oh. He's okay. What about the other one?"