Fractured(88)

‘Couldn’t you find a bigger one?’ I teased.

‘It looked much smaller at the garden centre,’ Dad explained.

‘Leave your poor dad alone. You should have seen him struggling up the hill to carry it back.’

I swivelled around with enough speed to actually crick my neck. I’d been so busy examining the tree, I hadn’t seen Jimmy walk into the lounge.

‘Thanks for the lift, lad,’ said my father. ‘I knew I should have taken the car.’

‘Don’t mention it,’ Jimmy assured, his words directed to my father but his eyes never leaving my face.

There was a long moment of silence which was just this side of awkward.

‘Anyone fancy a cup of tea?’ asked my father, already half out the door to make it.

I waited until we were alone before speaking. ‘Hello, stranger. I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever see you again.’

He had the grace to look abashed. ‘I’m sorry I’ve not been in touch. I got your texts, I’ve been meaning to call but…’ His voice trailed off.

‘You’ve been busy. I get that.’

‘No. It’s not that. It’s just…’

This was getting tiresome. Was he ever going to finish a sentence?

‘Nice tree,’ he commented instead, studying the fir with unwarranted concentration.

If I didn’t know better I would have thought he was nervous. But I couldn’t for the life of me think why.

As my Dad passed out the tea, I took the opportunity to study Jimmy unobserved. It looked as though I might not be the only one who hadn’t been sleeping well recently, not if the dark smudges beneath his eyes were anything to go by.

‘Do you have any decorations for this tree then?’ Jimmy asked, after draining his cup.

‘Are you volunteering to help us?’

‘Oh no,’ interjected my father. ‘I’ve done my bit as far as the tree is concerned. You two can take over from here.’

I got to my feet.

‘I’ll get the box, it’s still in the attic, right?’

I had expected one or both of them to get up at that point and offer to get the box of decorations for me, but strangely when my dad looked just about to do that, Jimmy stopped him with a meaningful look, which I probably wasn’t meant to see. But I did.

‘You can manage that by yourself, can’t you?’ Jimmy asked confidently.

‘Sure,’ I replied, taking the very obvious hint and leaving the room.

I wasn’t aware I was muttering under my breath as I pulled down the loft ladder and began clicking the struts in place, until I observed Kizzy staring at me curiously from the top of the banisters.

‘And you’re just as bad,’ I said to the disdainful feline, who took off from her vantage point in a flurry of indignant fur.

Jimmy had obviously wanted to get rid of me so he could speak to my father alone. No doubt he was, even at that moment, recounting to him my own slightly eccentric theory. Proving that Rachel was still far from well. This really was great. My dad had just started treating me normally again, now he believed my ‘amnesia’ might soon be cured, but if Jimmy told him everything I had said in the car the other day, I’d be right back to square one.

I felt angry and more than a little betrayed, and though I’d never actually told Jimmy I didn’t want my dad to know what I was thinking, I’d just assumed he knew me well enough to understand that information had been for his ears only.

Typically it took much longer than it should have done to find the blasted box of decorations, and by the time I had eventually located them and packed away the ladder, whatever discussion Jimmy and my father had been engaged upon was clearly finished.

And if I needed further proof that there was something funny going on, there it was when I walked back into the lounge and found both men deeply involved in some pseudo-conversation about football, a subject neither of them were particularly interested in.

Even as I began to rip the sealing tape from the box, Dad got to his feet and gave a huge exaggerated yawn.

‘I think I might just turn in now.’

I looked at the clock above the fireplace in amazement.

‘It’s not even nine o’clock!’

Was that a blush on his cheeks, or was he just flushed from the heat of the fire?

‘It isn’t? Oh well. Never mind. It never hurts to get an early night every so often. G’night, Rachel. See you soon, Jimmy.’

I waited until I had safely heard the creak of the stairs as he climbed them, before rounding angrily on Jimmy.

‘I know what you two were discussing when I was out of the room!’

And that’s when everything got weird, because instead of replying, Jimmy just looked strangely uncomfortable and was that… yes, it was… the colour in his cheeks was clearly heightened. I actually took my eyes from his face to glance over at the fire burning merrily in the grate. Either it was really really hot in here, or something highly suspicious was going on.