A Long Way Back (Unfinished Business #2) - Barbara Elsborg Page 0,5
The lid slid under the table and broken biscuits shot everywhere. Fuck it.
Tay bent to pick up the tin and a flash of electric pain pierced his head like a dagger. The room disappeared, his stomach churned, and it was through sheer force of will that he managed to sit on a chair and not throw up. His father stared at him while his mum faffed around with a dustpan and brush.
“You’re white as a sheet,” his father said. “It’s okay to admit when you’re hurting. When did you last see a doctor?”
“A few weeks ago. I’ve got an appointment next week. He’ll just tell me I need to be patient, take it slow. It’s always the same story.” Patient about walking, talking, getting back to the life he had. He wanted to dispense with his wheelchair, but he couldn’t. His speech was still a fraction slower than it should be. And the headaches were terrible.
His mum huffed. “We all know how patient you are, Mr Speedy. I’ve never seen you let your microwave count all the way down. You channel hop like a kangaroo. And you can’t sit still—”
Another glance from his father and his mum shut up again. That had been him. None of that was him now.
His mum turned back to face him. “I don’t want to leave you when you’re like this.”
Like what? Tay had made an enormous effort to appear upbeat. He sucked in his cheeks. “Just a bad patch. You are not going to cancel this trip. You’ve been planning it for years. You deserve it after all I’ve put you through. I wish I was going.” Sort of.
His mother’s eyes widened. “We can arrange that.”
Shit. “No. I can’t go. I have a job to do.” And there was the not so minor detail that travel insurance would be astronomical, if even possible. How could he manage on a cruise ship when he couldn’t even lift a tin of biscuits from the cupboard without dropping it? Well, there’d probably be a whole load of people ready to help, but that was exactly what he didn’t want. He didn’t want to be looked after. So while the idea of a holiday sounded great, he wouldn’t spoil things for the two most important people in his world. The last thing they needed was a crippled son tagging along. And if he got caught carrying illegally obtained drugs on board, that would be the end of everything.
“I wish you’d not come down here,” his mother whispered. “I wish you’d stayed in the north where we could help you. I still don’t understand why you were so desperate to get away. I don’t believe it was because you blamed Jonty for what happened. That’s just not you. You hurt him, Tay.”
He’d rather admit to bitterness than jealousy. “If Jonty had listened to me, I wouldn’t be in this position.”
His mother sighed. “Once you’d said you didn’t want to see him, we didn’t let him see you, even though we thought you were wrong to blame him. You could have stayed right where you were, not living here on your own. I’m worried about you.”
“Mum, this is what I wanted. What I still want. I’m fine.” Fuck that word.
“You’re not,” his father said.
His mother banged her mug on the table as she put it down. “If you don’t let us find someone to help you while we’re away, we’re not going.”
“I don’t want help. I don’t need it.” Oh God, sometimes I do. How long would those biscuits have stayed on the floor? Probably until mice found a way in. But Tay had hated every person he’d employed to clean, tidy and cook, because they’d driven him round the fucking bend. As had the physio. No one had lasted more than a few days.
“There’s a company called Helper.” His mother took a leaflet from her handbag and put it on the table. When he didn’t pick it up, she pushed it towards him.
Tay stared at it. The picture on the front was of a happy young woman walking two golden retrievers with an older woman using a Zimmer frame at her side, smiling up at her. Life is fucking wonderful. Not the heading on the leaflet which was No need to be alone.
Fuck the hell off. “I’m twenty-eight, not eighty-eight.”
His mother ignored him. “It’s a live-in service. They judge the level of support you require and match people carefully. You could get help around the clock and not even