Daddy's Here(24)
“Washed and pressed,” he replied, passing them over to me.
“When did you do that?”
“While waiting for them to cook your breakfast.” There was a knock on the door behind him. “Which is here now.”
He opened the door and watched as a man in uniform wheeled in a trolley that was piled high with food. “That smells good,” I said, suddenly realising how hungry I was. The man left with a generous tip in his hand, closing the door after him.
“I’ll let you get dressed,” Daddy said, walking into the bathroom and closing the door. I dressed quickly, marvelling at the fact that he’d done all this for me.
“Are you respectable yet?” he shouted through from the bathroom.
I didn’t reply, my mouth was full of bacon. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he added, walking back in and seeing me pouring out coffee from the trolley. “Hold on, that’s not how you have breakfast with your father, is it?”
I looked at him as he frowned at me. “Sorry,” I managed to splutter as he carried the things from the trolley to the table in the corner. There were two chairs and he sat in one, pointing at the other. “Orange juice?” he asked, pouring it out when I nodded.
He slapped the back of my hand when I reached out for a bread roll. “Where’re your manners?”
“Sorry,” I replied. “I’ve not done this before.”
“What? Had breakfast?”
“Had breakfast with Daddy.”
“You must have eaten with your father before.”
“Nope.”
“Really?”
“He was always too busy.”
“Well, you tell me what you’d like and I’ll plate it up for you. That’s how we do this. More bacon?”
“Please.”
“Scrambled egg?”
“I wouldn’t say no.”
He gradually piled my plate before passing it to me. He watched me eat in silence, sipping at a cup of coffee as he did so.
“Aren’t you eating anything?” I asked between mouthfuls.
“Coffee’s all I want in the morning.”
A couple of minutes later, I leant back in my chair and sighed. “Any idea when the bus is coming to get us?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
“What? You mean we missed it?”
“Yep.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because you needed feeding first.”
“But what do we do now?”
“We’ll get the next one.”
“When’s that?”
“Half an hour. Just enough time to settle the bill and take a walk, if you’re up for it.”
The guesthouse looked completely different in the daylight. The car park was surrounded by trees that looked appealing rather than threatening. A thin path headed into the woodland and it was along this track that he led me.
“I found this when I went out earlier,” he said, stepping into a clearing.
In the middle was a pond and the morning mist floating above it made it look magical, as if fairies might come out and skit across the surface at any moment. “So you had time to get my clothes cleaned, order breakfast, and go on a hike? What time did you get up?”
“Early,” he replied. “I had a lot to think about.”
“Like what?”
“Come on, the bus’ll be here soon.”
We walked back to the car park just as a bus turned in off the road. There was a queue of people waiting to get on and we stood behind them, waiting our turn. I stepped onto the bus and turned in time to see him just standing there on the tarmac. “Aren’t you getting on?” I asked as the driver coughed behind me.
“Nope.”
“What? Why not?”
You’re going to go see Ben and I’m going home.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Come on,” the driver snapped. “I haven’t got all day.”
“All right,” I replied. “Just give me a sec. Get on the bus, Jake.”
He shook his head. “You don’t need me.”
“But what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to tell your father that I couldn’t find you.”
He turned and walked away as the bus doors closed. “Wait,” I snapped at the driver. “Let me off.”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” he said, pressing a button next to him.
The doors hissed open again and I jumped down, running after Jake. I grabbed hold of him and he spun round. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Why aren’t you on the bus?”
“Because I’m not going to let you get killed over me.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Then you can come with me.”