Down London Road - Young Samantha (читать бесплатно книги без сокращений txt) 📗

‘After coming to Paisley and not finding you, we tried Facebook too, but you don’t have an account. We thought we’d found Cole, but we couldn’t be sure, and Dad was worried that you didn’t want to hear from him anyway.’

I looked up at Mick, my hand curling on his arm. ‘I’m sorry for losing touch. It was childish.’

‘Baby girl, you were just a child.’

‘Cam was pretty sure you’d want to see Dad.’ Olivia smiled gratefully behind me and I turned to face Cameron.

‘I can’t believe you did this,’ I whispered softly, knowing and not caring at the moment that everything I felt for him was shimmering in my eyes.

Cam’s knuckles brushed along my jaw affectionately. ‘Happy?’

I nodded, choking on the lump in my throat. I was happy. Just having Mick in the room … I felt safe.

We settled around Cam’s coffee table while he made us refreshments. I sat between Mick and Olivia, surprised by Olivia’s friendliness and enthusiasm. I’d have thought she’d be mad at me for having had her dad for the first thirteen years of our lives, but she seemed anything but mad. She seemed glad for her dad that they had found me.

‘How long are you staying?’ I asked Mick as he relaxed against the cushions, his long arm draping across the back of the sofa behind me.

His eyes drifted to Olivia as he replied, ‘We don’t know yet.’

When Cam rejoined us the questions just started pouring out of my mouth.

I was saddened by some of the answers and my resentment towards Olivia began to diminish. I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t had it easy.

Mick had moved to Phoenix to get to know his daughter, and there his affair with her mother, Yvonne, rekindled. Mick worked for a few contractors over there, he and Yvonne got married, and they were a happy family. Until Yvonne was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. She passed away three years ago, leaving Olivia and Mick all alone in the world. Yvonne’s mother and sister lived in New Mexico, but they weren’t that close to them.

‘We thought of Cameron’s e-mails as a sign,’ Olivia told me quietly. ‘Perhaps we just need a break from Arizona …’ She shrugged. ‘It just seemed like the right thing to do to come here and see you and take a breath.’

I frowned. ‘But what about your lives there? Uncle Mick’s business? Your job?’

‘Things haven’t been the same for us in Phoenix for a long time,’ Mick replied softly. ‘We both thought a break might do us good.’ I gathered from the sadness buried in the back of his eyes, he meant things hadn’t been the same for them since Yvonne’s death. Mick smiled softly down at me. ‘Do you fancy coming on a wee walk with me, Jo? We’ll talk.’

It was the most bizarre day. I walked by Mick’s mammoth side and for the first time in my adult life I felt physically small. He kept close to me, but I could see his eyes drinking everything in as we strolled all the way to Leith Walk and continued on to Princes Street. Uncle Mick stared at the Balmoral Hotel across the road from us as we passed it.

‘I missed this place. Edinburgh wasn’t even my city and I missed it. I missed everything here.’

‘I can’t imagine anywhere more different from Scotland than Arizona.’

‘Yeah. Ain’t that the truth.’

‘You were happy, though?’

I felt his eyes return to my face as we dodged the busy foot traffic. As soon as we were side by side again he began to speak. ‘When I had Yvonne and Olivia, aye, I was happy. But there wasn’t a day that I didn’t think about you, Cole and Fiona. I have two regrets in life, Jo. One is missing out on the first thirteen years of Olivia’s life, and the second is not being there for you when you needed me. Especially now that I know what you’ve been going through.’

‘Did Cam tell you everything, then?’

‘He told me about Fiona. How hard you’ve had to work. He told me you’ve raised Cole and that he’s a good kid. Things have been tough, but I’m glad you’ve found someone who cares about you, baby girl.’

Remembering my earlier freak-out at Cam, I felt another rainfall of guilt begin to drop on my head. I had to make it up to him.

‘I would like to see Fiona.’

‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea.’

‘I need to see for myself. She was never the easiest person, but she was my friend.’

I sighed, wondering what kind of drama Mick’s appearance would kick off in my tiny flat. However, the man had flown thousands of miles to see us. I couldn’t say no. ‘All right.’

‘And I’d like to meet Cole.’

‘Okay.’

‘I don’t how long we’re going to be here, but I’d like to spend as much time as possible with you.’

I threw him a wry but worried grin. ‘That shouldn’t be a problem, since I quit my job today.’

Curled up in Cam’s lap on his couch, I stared at his television in silence.

Uncle Mick and Olivia had left as soon as we returned to Cam’s, and not long after that Cole had arrived home and I’d had to explain everything to him.

Cam had insisted we have dinner with him and when I’d got up to leave so Cole could shower and do his homework, Cam had insisted even harder that we stay. Since I still wasn’t happy leaving Cole alone in the flat with Mum for any length of time, I’d agreed to stay as long as Cole took his shower at Cam’s.

‘You’ve hardly said a word.’ Cam suddenly spoke up, his fingers trailing a lazy caress down my arm. ‘Earlier you said you were happy I contacted them. Are you still happy?’

‘Aye,’ I assured him. ‘I feel a kind of peace knowing that he’s okay. And Olivia seems nice.’ I twisted my neck to look into his eyes. ‘Thank you.’

He shrugged and looked back at the telly. ‘I just want to make you happy.’

My stomach rolled out another somersault. ‘You do.’

‘Really? The earlier drama was definitely just an emotional … female … thing … ?’

I wanted to laugh, but in the end the crap I’d pulled out in the hall wasn’t funny. ‘I’m sorry for doing that. It wasn’t nice. I was pissed off at Meikle and at myself and I twisted it all in my head so I could blame someone else. Someone more accessible to my rage.’

Cam grunted. ‘So naturally that someone is me?’

I stroked his chest affectionately. ‘Sorry.’

He looked down at me carefully. ‘Would this be a bad time to tell you I got a job?’

Taken aback, I pushed up off of him. ‘In graphic design?’

‘Yeah.’

Delight for him surged through me and I found myself grinning like an idiot. ‘Where?’

‘Here. I got my old job back. Their restructuring hasn’t gone over well and they realized they’d left themselves a man short. They can’t handle the workload without another designer. My boss put in a good word for me.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s a gamble to go back with them, but it pays well and I’d be doing what I love to do.’

I leaned into him, placing a soft kiss on his mouth. ‘Cam, I’m so pleased for you. When do you go back?’

‘Monday.’ His arm tightened around me. ‘Su’s unhappy with me for not giving two weeks’ notice, but I can’t risk losing this offer.’

‘Su will manage. I’ll probably take on more shifts.’ My mouth turned down at the thought of working more backshifts.

‘You know, if you took Braden up on his offer this wouldn’t even be a problem.’

‘I said no. I’ll find something. Don’t worry.’

He shifted under me, tensing. ‘You’re so bloody stubborn. You’re always all concerned about Cole and providing for him and making sure he’s going to be okay. I bet half of what happened out in the hall this afternoon was because of him and you feeling like you’d let him down. If you’re so concerned about him, then take a bloody job when it’s offered to you.’

I pulled out of his embrace, my cheeks burning at being spoken down to like that. I stretched out on the other side of the couch and reached over for the television remote, bumping up the volume of the sci-fi programme we were watching. Not only was I annoyed by his tone, but I was annoyed that he was absolutely right.