by Em Taylor
“Go on then. Since it’s a charity,” he said. “I’ll text you the address. When will you come and see it?”
I checked my watch. It was just after midday.
“I’m in Glasgow. It will probably be about five by the time I get my friend to come with me.”
“Fine.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you later then.”
I hung up and called my pal Robbie who was a mechanic. He’d agreed to come with me if I could find an ambulance to check it out together. Now I had to tell him we were headed to Sunderland in England. It was a wee road trip, if nothing else.
FIVE HOURS LATER, ROBBIE was driving behind me back up the motorway, him in the ambulance since he had the appropriate licence and me in my own car.
My phone rang and since I had it hooked up my car Bluetooth I answered. “Jonas.”
“I just left her in tears, mate. You better not be fucking her around.”
“Who did you leave in tears?”
“I’m going to fucking kill you, arsewipe.”
“Calm your jets. Everything is going to plan.”
“Not when Lacey’s in tears.” The stress rang through in Jonas’s voice. No doubt he was tugging his hair.
I saw a sign for the service station and indicated to come off the motorway. “Hang on. I’m driving.” I hated driving and trying to talk on the phone.
“You better not be driving to see some slapper.”
“Of course not.” I furrowed my brow at the presumptuous little twat, but he was only looking out for his sister, and he had no reason to trust me at that moment. I couldn’t blame him.
I pulled into a parking space in the car park. “Right, your job is to keep her calm, Jonas. I have no idea if this will work, and I may have to end it. You’re going to have to be there for her if it comes to that. For now, be positive because you might need to be her shoulder to cry on later.”
Robbie knocked on the window of my car and leaned back to check my wheels. He must have thought I pulled off the motorway because I had a problem.
I made an okay gesture and held up a finger to indicate I’d be a minute. He nodded and returned to rest against the bonnet of the ambulance.
“This has to work, Rory. We can’t lose you again,” Jonas said.
“What’s with the ‘we?’”
“I liked you.”
“Umm, Jonas ...”
He snorted. “Fuck off. Not like that. I’m in love with Simon. We’re getting married.”
“You are?”
“Did Lace not tell you?”
“No. We were ... uh ... busy last night.” I bit my lip and stared at my feet resting on the pedals.
“You did not shag her and run, you fucking dog.”
“I ... Jonas, it wasn’t like that.”
“You’re a cunt.”
The line went dead.
Maybe he didn’t like me after all.
However, he was right. I had been a cunt. Maybe I shouldn’t have slept with her before leaving, but she was mine, and I had to have her one last time. I’d tried to be cruel to make it easier to part, yet in the end, I’d made love to her.
I looked out at the old ambulance. This had to work. I had to get her parents onside with this gesture.
Chapter 27
Lacey
“I THINK I’LL GO HOME tomorrow,” I announced to my parents over breakfast.
“Lacey, no.” My mum tilted her head as she looked me over. “I know you’re upset about Rory, but that’s more reason to stay and be with your family.”
“You chased him away,” I said, with less venom than I felt. I was furious with them, but I was also wrapped in a blanket of devastation and disbelief so couldn’t show it.
My mum gazed at my dad and widened her eyes in a plea for help. He shrugged, and I felt a tiny bit sorry for her in that moment. Why were all men fucking useless? She turned back to me, her voice rising in her petulance. “He would have stayed and dealt with us if he’d had anything about him. He proved our point.”
“It took a lot for him to come up here and face you. He knew how much he hurt you when we split up, and you threw his courage back in his face and brought up his horrible childhood. You dragged me to church all through my childhood and taught me forgiveness, and yet when you’re asked to forgive someone who had a rough life, you failed at the first hurdle. What kind of Christians are you?”
My mother’s face coloured, and my dad picked up his newspaper, trying to pretend he wasn’t there.
“We’re the kind who care about our daughter.” Mum stood and started to clear away the breakfast dishes. Part of me was glad she was uncomfortable, but part of me agreed with her because Rory bailed the moment things got tough.
I got up and headed out the kitchen door, intent on going to my room. Not looking where I was going, I hit what felt like a brick wall and fell back.
Two strong hands caught me. “Yo, Big. Watch it.”
“Jesus, when did you turn into a brick wall?”
“I went through this thing called puberty,” Jonas said with a grin.
“I think we need to switch nicknames.”
“Maybe.” His grin faded as he gazed at my face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. Well ... you know ...”
“He’s coming back. Fuck knows what he has planned, but I’ve spoken to him.”
“I want to go home, Jo.”
“Wait for him to come back.” His voice was gentle. “I have faith in him. I don’t know why, since he’s an absolute cunt for fucking you and running.”
“How do you know that?”
“He told me.”
I closed my eyes. I wanted to melt into the carpet. “Could the arsehole be any more inappropriate?”
“I’ve heard you two bonking. I’m unshockable. Although, I told him I wasn’t happy about him doing that. You deserve better.”
“I honestly can’t talk to my wee brother about this.”
“Stay a couple more days and I promise I won’t talk about your sex life. We’ll talk about mine instead.” He wiggled his eyebrows and I couldn’t help laughing.
“You’re disgusting. I have no desire to hear about your sex life. The fact you want to hear about mine is freaking weird.”
“He wants to show off because he’s such a stud,” Simon said as he came down the stairs. “Morning.”
“Yeah, I heard him being all studly last night. And you.” I scrunched up my face as I looked between them. “The walls are thin, and my room is next door.”
“Yass. Payback.” Jonas lifted his hand and high-fived his fiancé.
I grinned. “Ah but, they have now invented noise-cancelling earphones, so I was saved.” I pulled out of my brother’s hold and stepped past Simon. “I’m going to read and think about what I’m going to do.”
“Don’t go home yet. He’s going to come through for you.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t going to commit to staying.
“I need to phone that wanker,” I heard my brother say before I closed my room door.
RORY
“I hope that dog is nearly ready,” Jonas growled down the phone.
“Hi Jonas. Nearly there.”
I glanced at the four lads helping me. I’d have to watch my P’s and Q’s. They were finishing the decal on the outside of the ambulance and touching up the paint. It looked great. I’d contacted my friend at the local college where some of our pupils were doing a holiday course in car mechanics. He’d been more than happy to let me come along with the old ambulance and show the boys how to check the engine and make sure it was roadworthy, giving me workshop space during the holiday to fit out the inside.
I’d used my other contacts from my years of playing hockey to drum up funding for the new charity. We were in the process of getting charitable status. It would take longer than the few days I had to convince Lacey, but I had agreements from some donors. However, there wasn’t enough for a full-time wage yet for
Lacey. If it was going to work out, Lacey would need to start part-time with the charity and work part time in a regular vet practice to make money. There was a lot to consider and I had put a lot in place without her consent. I needed the woman I loved on board. She might lose her mind at me for organising this, but it was worth the chance.
“Lacey is thinking of coming back down to Glasgow, so you need to hurry,” Jonas, said, drawing me from my thoughts.
“I think it will be ready tomorrow. It’s not fully finalised, but I have enough plans in place. Enough to convince her and your parents, I hope.”
I had one more thing to pick up in the morning before heading back to Glencoe for the charm offensive.
And if that didn’t work, then I guessed Lacey and I were over for good.
Chapter 28
Lacey
“I WISH YOU’D STAY,” Mum whined as I put my bag into the boot of Jonas’s car. My brother and Simon were giving me a lift home, then driving back to Edinburgh.
“There’s nothing to stay for, Mum.”
She winced and I swallowed hard. Of course my parents were worth staying for, but I was still in a lot of pain from their part in the break-up. It was going to take time.
“Be careful driving down that road, son,” Dad said. “Don’t get frustrated behind slow-driving campervans.”
“I never do. I’ve been driving that road for years.” Jonas gave Dad a quick hug, as did Simon. They’d all really hit it off, much as Rory had the first time.
I gave my parents a cursory hug and hung my head to avoid their gazes before I slipped into the back seat. Mum stepped forward opening her mouth, but Dad put his hand on her arm and drew her back.
Jonas glanced at me in the rear-view mirror before we pulled out the drive. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”
“Just drive, Jo. He’s not coming back.”
We set off, a playlist of banging dance tunes blaring out of the rolled down windows.
Maybe I should have texted or phoned Rory to check he wasn’t heading to Glencoe, but I couldn’t bear the idea of hearing his groggy voice and some other woman in the background.
As we drove over Rannoch Moor, my vision blurred, and I swiped at my tears. I couldn’t cope with Rory moving on. Not yet. Maybe not ever. I needed another clean break.
“You okay, Big?” Jonas asked looking in the rear-view mirror.
“Fine.”
I swiped my tears away again and frowned. Why was there an ambulance parked in a lay-by at the side of the road? And why did the guy at the front of it look like Rory? God, I was going insane. Even the way he was leaning against the bonnet of the ambulance looked like Rory.
“Is that not ...?” Simon started.
“Well, well,” said my little brother.
The vehicle didn’t say ambulance, and it had no blue lights. The writing on the side said, Kendrick’s Pet Hospital.
Jonas braked slightly but couldn’t stop because of the arsehole in the campervan behind him who obviously wanted to get better acquainted.
“What the ever-loving ...” I asked.
“He never ceases to amaze me,” said Jonas.
“Turn around!” I yelled. The guy in front of the ambulance was waving us down. I undid my seatbelt and leaned between the front seats. “You need to stop.”
“I’ll turn around when I can. You know this road is hellish. Besides which, if Mr Campervan gets any closer, he’s going to need to introduce himself and bring some lube. And Simon and I are not those kinds of boys, are we, darling?”
Simon snorted. Neither of the men in the front seat were the slightest bit camp, but Jonas could put it on when he wanted to.
What the hell was Rory up to? We’d be almost in Tyndrum before Jonas could turn.
Shit.
Rory
I COULDN’T BELIEVE Jonas drove past with Lacey in the back seat. Just fucking drove past. Did he even see me?
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. There had been signal when I called recovery, but there was none now.
Walking up and down the lay-by, I held my phone out at every angle, yet there was no signal to be had.
Fuck my life.
All my plans had gone up in smoke. There was no point taking the pet hospital to Glencoe and showing her parents if Lacey wasn’t there. She was the reason I was doing this. She had to agree to it for her parents to see how much it meant. Had she really given up on me? Did I mean so little?
I was such an idiot. I’d lost her again. She was going to change her number. She’d probably just block me on everything like I blocked her last time. For the first time since I was a kid, my throat tightened and my vision blurred.
At the tooting of a horn, I snapped my head up and a grin started to form on my lips. They were back. However, when I saw the recovery vehicle, my smile disappeared.
A middle-aged man got out of the recovery van and walked towards me. “Hi, what have we here?”
“A flat tyre. I can change a car tyre, but this is a different prospect. I have a spare.”
“Aye, that’s fine. Probably best not to try it yourself. I have a good jack in the truck.”
I already had the spare wheel and the locking wheel nut out for him, and he set to work. He had just got the wheel off when a white Ford Fiesta hurtled along the road right for us.
Jonas drew alongside the ambulance, the rear window down with Lacey yelling above the music blaring from the car. “What the fuck is this?”
I gestured for Jonas to pull in as a large lorry barrelled towards them. I had no doubt he would see the car and stop, but better to be safe than sorry. Plus, there was no need to upset a big hairy lorry driver.
Lacey blew a frustrated breath through pursed lips and leaned forward to speak to Jonas as he pulled the car into the lay-by in front of the ambulance.
“Yo! Watch my toes,” I yelled, stepping back to avoid them becoming roadkill.
The second Jonas cut the engine, Lacey got out of the car. She walked over to me, shoving my chest. “I thought you weren’t coming back, you dick.”
“Well I was.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do,” she said, but there was no heat in her voice. She gestured to the ambulance. “Rory, what the fuck have you done?”
“Let me get this fixed and we’ll go back to Glencoe and I’ll explain.”
She gazed at the side of the ambulance and raised an eyebrow. “It had better be a good explanation. You have a lot to make up for. Although, my parents are always going to hate you.”
That hurt.
“Maybe this will bring them around.”
“What the hell is it?”
“Wait until we’re back in Glencoe.”
“You dug a big hole for yourself, buddy. You’re never climbing out of it.”
“Would rather be balls deep in your hole, sweetheart.”
She punched me in the stomach, and the pain took my breath away. She was quite the little fighter.
“Nail in the road,” the recovery guy said, rolling the old wheel over to me. “You need to get a new tyre on that, but the spare will do for now.”
“Will it get me back to Glasgow?”
“Aye.”
“Cool. Thanks man.”
“No problem.”
The recovery guy turned to Lacey. “Listen, hen, I don’t like leaving wee lassies stranded at the side of the road, and you obviously have an issue with these guys. Do you need a ride?”
She smiled at the recovery guy. It was sweet of him to worry about her.
“No, that’s my brother and his fiancé, and this big arsehole isn’t actually bothering me.”
“His fiancé? But it’s a man?”
“Yeah he’s gay.” She frowned. This was not going to end well.
“Oh, I don’t hold with that gay nonsense.”
She drew in a breath and straightened to her full height. I placed a hand on the small of her back. She could be fe
isty, but she needed to stay calm. Getting into trouble for assaulting a middle-aged man wouldn’t go down well.
“That’s a shame. I’ll score your name off the guest list for the wedding then, shall I?” she asked in her sweetest, sickliest tone.
The man scowled and looked to me.
I couldn’t stop grinning. “Don’t look to me for support. I have no issues with the ‘gay nonsense.’ The lad driving is one of the nicest blokes you could meet.”
The man harrumphed and muttered something about me needing to sign something. I followed him to his van, and Lacey went to speak to her brother.
My heart raced.
Was she going to leave again? Go back to Glasgow after all?
I needed this homophobic old tool to hurry the fuck up.
I scribbled my name on his form and raced down the lay-by in time to see Jonas’s car speed off. The fact he was heading towards Glencoe meant nothing. He might have been looking for a better place to turn.
He’d taken her.
What was I going to do?
I hauled open the door and gazed into the cab, only to find Lacey sitting looking around.
“A CD player? Really?”
I rolled my eyes. “The little thing at the side is an aux in player that connects to Bluetooth. Worry not, my modern music buff, you can still play music through your phone.”
“Thank goodness.” She gazed at me her eyebrow arched. “So, an animal hospital?”
I started the engine and pulled out onto the main road. The ambulance drove well. “Did I fuck up there with the recovery guy? Did I say the wrong thing about Jonas?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean parroting back his words about ‘gay nonsense’ to him and saying Jonas is a nice bloke. It seems a bit ... understated for the fact being gay shouldn’t even be a fucking issue in this day and age.”
She shook her head and chuckled. “Jonas heard the whole exchange. He says if I don’t give you a blow job for sticking up for him, Simon has given him permission to give you one as a thank you.”
“Would it be terribly homophobic of me to pass on his kind offer? I really don’t fancy your brother. Never have. Christ, he was so young when we met. The very thought is kind of incestuous.”
