Forked Roads Back

74 - TESSA

THE CLOSING OF THE front door pulls me out of sleep, and from his flinching, it looks like it woke Jamie up too.

"What time is it?" He asks, stretching.

I giggle. "We must have dozed off. It's five. That'll be Dad home, I think."

He nods, yawning.

"You want some food?" I ask. "I was going to try and make fish and chips?"

"Sure." He smiles, kissing me softly. "Give me a minute to check emails and stuff and I'll be down." He disentangles himself from me. "I doubt there will be much because everyone else is probably even more hungover than I was."

"Okay." I nod with a smile. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He smiles, leaning down to kiss me. "And you know I'm sorry?"

I nod and he kisses me once more before he gets out of bed, pulling his laptop from his bag. I smile at him as I leave the room and head downstairs towards Dad, who seems to be coughing much harder, even since yesterday.

"Dad, are you okay?" I ask, trying to direct him to a chair. "You should get that cough checked." I've been saying it every day for the last three weeks, hoping he would actually listen to me.

He sees me and nods, hacking again. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just clearing something, apparently." He pours himself a glass of water and gulps it down, and when he breathes, the water seems to have helped. But he doesn't look well at all.

"Probably picked something up from one of the patients." He smiles as he finally lets me sit him down. "You okay?"

I nod. "Yeah. I spoke to Jamie." He raises his eyebrows expectantly. "Even if there was some shouting, he's okay with me going to New York." I shrug. "Just about."

"Ah that's great, sweetie." He puts a hand over mine, and his hands are cold. "Have you spoken to Millie yet?"

I nod, telling him that she was very much looking forward to seeing me in a few weeks time. But when I smile wider, he frowns at me.

"Is there something more?" He asks, not able to help smiling back.

I don't answer him, but I come and sit next to him, scrolling to Archie's messages from last night.

He frowns. "Tessa?"

Showing him our exchange, I watch as he reads all the messages. His face doesn't give away anything, but when he gets to the end, I feel like he's experiencing all the emotions at once. His smile is wider than I've seen it in a long time, and I swear more colour erupts into his cheeks.

"This makes me so happy, Tessa. I'm so happy that you're talking."

I shake my head as I stand and go to the fridge, putting all the ingredients for our omelettes back and getting what I need for fish and chips out. "It's just texting, Dad. The rest will happen over there... I hope. But I know this conversation is still going to be really hard, even with the broken ice."

He nods and stands to join me, pulling me into his chest. He feels warm now, and that warmth is making me feel happier than I did this morning, knowing that things are finally settling into place.

"How did Jamie take it?" He asks, and I can hear his question rumbling through his chest.

"Not great to start with," I tell him, pulling away to sit back down. "He blamed me for not telling him more about Matt and said I was doing this to hurt us, but..."

I look up at Dad, whose expression is unreadable. "But what?"

I continue with a shrug. "I read him Archie's letter. I told him about his past, our past... and I think that helped. I was honest with him. I think, even if he still hates the idea, we've at least come to an agreement that I am going... and that it's for the best."