The Aftermath Of You

Chapter Forty

As Toni let herself back in through the door the phone began ringing. "YOUR GRANDDAD WAS JUST HERE," her Granny Smith cried. "HE SAYS YOU'RE HAVING CAR TROUBLES."

"That's just the start of it!" Toni snarled. "I'd love to thank the person who called the police; I might have ended up hospitalized."

"OH THAT'S ALRIGHT!" Granny Smith cried.

"What? What's alright? Getting hospitalized? Getting disembowelled in front of my neighbors?"

"I JUST MEANT THAT YOU NEEDN'T THANK ME."

"I didn't thank you, for goodness sake, are you deaf?"

"It was your grandfather... he-."

"You're all nuts, I'm hanging up on you."

"RIGHTY – OH THE-"

By the time Toni had got through the hole in the fence Danny had made her a hot chocolate. "Athol has a wife!" she told him. "She just slashed my car tires, and was about to try and stab me. And apparently my dead grandfather told my grandmother to ring the cops. Can you believe it?"

"When it comes to you, Shoulder, I can believe anything," Danny admitted.

They sat there side by side quietly drinking hot chocolate. The milk he'd fluffed up gave him a moustache; she began to laugh, her grim face relaxing.

"What?" he asked.

"You'd look great with a little facial hair," she snorted.

Then she looked down at her hands shyly. Do it! Do it now! a little voice told her. Leaning forward in slow motion, she reached her tongue out and licked his upper lip. Danny, frozen, stared at her like she was possessed. Reaching up to hold his head still, Toni covered his lips in tiny kisses.

Suddenly he jumped to life. "Stop it!" He pushed her away firmly, standing up to put distance between them. "I don't know if you remember, but I'm dating a remarkably tall redhead?"

"Pft. We both know that's a short term thing." It was, wasn't it? Crikey, she hadn't ever thought that Danny would look at someone else, let alone date someone properly ...

"Firstly, you must be drunk."

"No, Danny," she told him honestly. "I'm not confused or drunk." She stood up and stepped closer.

"Well, that leaves secondly. Secondly, you are deluded. I'm not a toy that you can pick up and play with when all your friends go home."

"It's not like that," Toni cried, her bottom lip wobbling. "I do really ... like you. But I'm scared of you too. You just don't understand how scared I am."

"It's not always about you, Toni. Sure, you've had a hard time, but that doesn't mean I have to suffer for it because I'm attracted to you." Danny marched to the door and wrenched it open. "I think we need to spend some time away from each other. Now please leave."

She staggered out, hardly see the lawn, she was sobbing so loudly. There was only thing that could make a woman happy now, and it wasn't chocolate or champagne. Pulling the front door open she made her way to the corner of the lounge where she'd placed Ratatouille's cage under a light bulb which Danny had set up to keep the little duckling warm. Sitting down awkwardly, her leg sticking out in front of her, she opened up the cage, and looked around for Ratatouille. She found him lying unnaturally still. Reaching her arm out she gently picked him up, but his body was stiff and cold. Toni gulped hard. Ratatouille was dead.

Holding the tiny duckling in her hands she sat and sobbed until the light disappeared outside. Then she buried Ratatouille under the trellis so that Jayden wouldn't find him ...

Toni woke with a sore throat the next morning. Her tonsils had swollen to the size of a tennis ball and she could hardly swallow, so she stayed in bed. Her throat hurt so much it made her eyes water., It was unbearable to even think of swallowing a drop of water. The phone was ringing off the hook but she didn't answer.

By twelve o'clock Granny Smith arrived with a harried expression on her face. She let herself in with her key and made Toni a cup of tea. "What's the matter, Toni?" she asked with a tightened look about her mouth as she entered Toni's bedroom.

"Don't you know?" Toni asked. "I thought Granddad was keeping you up to date on all my comings and goings!"

"Hmph!"

"I just don't feel well," Toni mumbled.

Granny Smith pulled out her trusty thermometer and popped it in her mouth. "Your temperature is good."

"No, Granny, it's not. I don't think that thermometer works."

As instructed by Toni, Granny Smith put off calling Lulu for as long as she possibly could, filling in the time by tidying the clothes around Toni's room and vacuuming, possibly hoping the noise would dislodge Toni from her mattress. Three hours later Granny Smith finally gave in and called picked up the phone.

Lulu arrived shortly after with an aggressive swing to her step. "What are you doing?" she snarled at her daughter. "Get out of bed; you're worrying your grandmother."

"It's my bed," Toni told her feebly. "Just go home and leave me alone."

"Up! You'll have everyone in the neighbourhood talking about you. I can't stand it; they'll think there's something wrong with you."

"There is something wrong with me," Toni whispered. "I have a sore throat. And the neighbourhood doesn't care about me anyway."  Danny had made that perfectly clear last night. The memories spurred Toni into another round of snuffling, so Lulu threw up her hands and departed.

Granny Smith went onto 24 hour surveillance, and even when she wasn't there Toni could feel her grandmother's beady eyes boring into her. Toni wasn't eating as much as they liked, apparently. Toni wasn't too sure how much someone was supposed to eat when they were suffering from a full blown bout of tonsillitis, but they'd always worried about how much she ate since Jack left ...