Daddy's Here(9)

We'd spent a week on that campsite, slumming it without a care in the  world, watching the stars at night from around the dwindling campfire,  the days spent doing not very much at all, a bit of shopping, a bit of  flirting with the local boys, something I was not very good at unless  I'd had a few too many. At least drinking meant I didn't have to deal  with myself, how I really felt about things, better to block it out with  booze.         

     



 

What a difference a few years made. I'd moved out since then, I had my  own place, my own life, away from the ostentatious house of my father.  Even after leaving, he managed to spoil it like he'd spoiled so many  other things. My hands turned into fists as I thought about the audacity  of it. To think that he could have me married off like some medieval  chattel, not even caring about my opinion.

"You look like you're going to miss this place," the man next to me  said. I turned to find his hand thrusting towards me. "Michael Dooney,  salesman at large."

I shook his hand, he held onto mine for a little too long before finally letting me go.

"And you are?"

"Isabel."

"Where you headed, Isabel?"

"Gladwell."

"Oh, that's a lovely part of the world. You got family in Gladwell?"

"No, just a friend."

"A friend, oh, that's nice. Me, I'm roaming where the money is, got to make those sales, am I right?"

"You don't drive then?"

"Who needs to with company like you, Isabel? Maybe I can show you round the town when we get there? I know all the best places."

"No, thank you."

"Oh, come on, don't be like that. It's a long journey for you to be  frosty the whole way. Why not have a drink with me? I've got some cheeky  tins here in my bag." He pulled out a can of lager and cracked it open.  "Want one?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Suit yourself." He lapsed into silence while he drank but the peace  didn't last. Just as we reached the dual carriageway he turned to me  again. "Sure you don't want one?"

"I'm sure, thanks."

"What about a chat?"

"I'd rather not."

"Oh, don't be so cold, Izzy."

"Please don't call me that."

"All right," he said, tapping my knee with his hand, making me squirm to move away from his hand. "I'm only being friendly."

"Do you mind?" the goon said from across the aisle.

"You got a problem?" Michael asked.

"I'd rather you didn't touch my daughter like that."

"Your … your daughter?" He took a look at the goon and then at me, his  face draining of colour. "Geez, I'm sorry, I didn't realise. I was just  making conversation."

"I know exactly what you were doing. Now, Isabel, come and sit beside your father."

"Of course, Daddy," I said, sliding off the seat and across the aisle, squeezing in next to him. "Whatever you say."





THIRTEEN


ISABEL





I couldn't believe my luck. I was able to tease my ‘Daddy' to my heart's  content and there was nothing he could do about it without making a  massive scene. Having slid into the seat next to him, I could feel the  salesman opposite still watching me. With the most innocent grin I could  manage, I snuggled in closer to my Daddy.

I could feel him stiffening in place. He clearly wanted to shove me away  from him but he'd started this lie, he had to keep it up. So he sat  there, pretending to be my Daddy while I pretended to be his little  girl. The strangest part of it all was the fact that I was enjoying it  so much. Making him uncomfortable was a lot of fun. Almost as much fun  as being his little girl.

I hooked my hand through his arm and pressed myself closer to him. "I  love you, Daddy," I said, resisting laughing as he turned and scowled  down at me. "I love you so much. You're the bestest Daddy in the whole  wide world."

"All right," he grumbled. "That's enough."

"What?" I said loudly, enjoying the moment more as he became more uncomfortable. "Don't you love me, Daddy?"

He sighed and I caught his lips moving. He swore under his breath before  plastering a fake grin on his lips. "Of course I love you."

I turned to the salesman and stuck my tongue out at him. "My Daddy loves me."

I snuggled up closer next to Daddy, feeling the heat of his body through  his jacket sleeve, the firmness of his bicep as his smile faded away,  leaving his face as angry as it had been before. I knew I was pushing my  luck so I didn't tease him any further, just chuckling quietly to  myself while he growled at me. "My Daddy loves me," I said again, more  to myself than to anyone else.

"That's enough," he said, shuffling along the seat until he was squashed against the window.

"What, am I not allowed to talk to you anymore, Daddy?

"Now when you're supposed to be resting. Close your eyes and try and nap."         

     



 

"But I don't want to nap."

"You either rest or I'll spank you in front of all of these people. Would you like that instead?"

I closed my eyes at once, ignoring the tiny little voice that spoke deep  inside me, the voice that said, yes, I would like that very much.

I must have dozed for a while because the next thing I remember was  being jolted forwards as the bus suddenly stopped dead. I almost hit the  back of the seat in front of me but Daddy was faster than me, catching  me across the chest and pushing me back against my seat. "You all  right?" he asked, already getting to his feet.

"I'm fine," I replied. "What's happening?"

"I don't know. Hold on, I'll go and look."

The bus driver answered my question before he was able to squeeze past  me. "Sorry folks," he shouted. "Engine trouble. Just stay where you are  for now and we'll soon be on our way."

He was wrong. The bus hadn't moved a muscle by the time sun set. We  might have been all right if we were still on the dual carriageway but  down a tiny rural road like this, things were very different.

We were stranded in the middle of nowhere and not a single bar of phone  signal was to be found by anyone. In the end the driver wandered off to  try and find a phone, leaving the rest of us to sit and wait. And wait.  And wait.

Not long after the sun had set, I went to find Daddy. He was standing by  the front of the bus, leaning back against it with his arms folded.  "You all right?" he asked when I stepped off to find him.

"Bored," I replied.

"Look, you stay here, I'll be back soon."

"Where are you going?"

"You'll see," he said in a voice that suggested I'd get nothing else out of him.

"I can't believe no one else has driven down here all day," I said.

"They have, you were asleep."

"I was?"

"I found you draped over the seat earlier. You were snoring."

"I don't snore."

"Must have been someone else then."

"So, hang on? People have been driving past? How come none of them offered to help?"

"A few stopped but what could they do? It'd have to be a pretty big car to fit all seventeen of us in it."

"But a replacement should be here by now?"

"You'd think. You stay here, I won't be long."

"What if a bus comes while you're gone?"

"Then you get to escape."

I thought about that as he walked away, his shoulders hunched against  the growing wind. He soon vanished into the darkness and I was alone,  all the other passengers still on the bus. I looked left, then right,  then made a snap decision. I should run, get away from him. Someone like  that wouldn't stick to a deal. This was a trick while he got a car and  then he was going to drag me home. I just knew it.

I had the perfect opportunity to get away from him. Making sure he'd  really gone, I gave him another couple of minutes before heading off the  road onto the verge. I tried to break into a run but almost at once I  came up against a row of trees. I slowed, weaving between them, the bus  disappearing from sight behind me. Almost at once, my chest began to  tighten. The only noise was the wind through the branches and I felt  scared, no, I felt terrified.

I'd never been good in the dark and in woods in the middle of nowhere, I  felt like such an idiot for trying to run. I made it back to the bus  after an awful couple of minutes of being certain I was going to die. I  thought he was back when I saw someone with the passengers but I quickly  realised it wasn't him, it was the driver in the middle of a sentence.

"-offers its apologies but there is a guesthouse just half a mile up the  road. The company'll pay for you to stay the night and then the  replacement will be here first thing tomorrow."

I looked down the road as the passengers all began to gather their  things. "Your Daddy's back," the salesman said as he stepped off the  bus, pointing into the distance. From the gloom, a figure emerged,  striding over to me without a care in the world.