Chapter 16
Her plan was to drive to the airport and book a flight when she got there. She would have to drive all the way back to Dublin Airport which would take three hours if she did it without stopping. Shannon Airport was closer but she wasn’t sure if she would be able to drop the rental car off there.
After that she wasn’t sure what she would do. Fly back to Leeds and get the train home to York? It all seemed surreal.
She stopped for petrol outside Charlestown, paying the bored looking teenage boy at the counter with the last of her Euros and putting the rest on her debit card.
It was probably time to go home anyway, she thought as she typed in her pin number, whilst the teen stared into the space above Annie’s head with a dead look in his eyes, chewing loudly on a sweet. Soon she would be completely broke and then what would she have done?
“Stayed with Tadhg probably,” she thought, “he wouldn’t have minded. I wouldn’t have minded...”
“Thank you,” she said to the boy as he handed her a receipt; he didn’t reply.
She hopped back in the car and loaded up the sat-nav again. She still couldn’t work the thing but at least when you’re driving to the capital city all the road signs point in the right direction. She chucked it back on the floor and it rolled underneath the passenger seat again.
Annie drove and drove, thinking over and over again about everything and, somehow, nothing in particular at the same time. She had so much on her mind that nothing particular took focus, so he ended up thinking briefly about one problem before her brain dropped that problem to think about a different problem, and so on and so on.
“I can’t do this, I need to figure out exactly what I’m doing,” she thought, definitively, “what am I going to do?”
She couldn’t go back to the flat she shared with Greg, at least not right away. And she couldn’t go to her Mum’s because she would never be able to live with her. Her brother Alec probably wouldn’t have room.
She could ask one of her friends, she considered, at least for a night. Julia or Leanne would take her in, definitely; she’d called them when she got to the airport and knew her flight time.
So, what about Greg? Her stomach rumbled.
“I can’t make decisions on an empty stomach,” she thought, knowingly postponing that decision.
She was coming into the main road in Longford and spotted a McDonalds sign.
“That’ll do,” she thought as she headed for the drive though.
…
After a dissatisfying meal she sat silently watching the other cars coming and going and finishing off her strawberry milkshake.
Her phone rang. She lifted it up. It wasn’t a number she recognised but it was an Irish telephone number. She let the call run onto voicemail.
“It’ll be Tadhg. Now I’m avoiding two men,” she thought, sadly.
A moment later her phone pinged with a voicemail notification. She dialled her inbox.
“Oh, hello there Annie. This is Rosie from spa. I just wanted to ring and see how you were doing with the camping. It’s bad weather there now so be careful. Hope you’re holding up. Don’t let them get you down, you live your life. OK, bye for now.”
Annie felt something wash over her. It wasn’t sadness, it wasn’t heartache this time. It was acceptance. The clear voice of reason of an outsider who cared about her. Rosie wasn’t interested in getting attention, she wanted to make sure Annie was doing OK.
Greg had never asked Annie if she was OK their ten years together. He had only ever cared about himself.
Annie hit redial.
“Hello?” came Rosie’s clear voice.
“Hi Rosie, it’s Annie. Sorry I missed your call, I thought you were someone else calling.”
“Not to worry,” said Rosie, “it was only me checking in. How are you doing?”
“Fantastic!” Annie replied with a happiness that caught herself off-guard, “I’m really great.”
“You sound it too,” Rosie laughed.
“Thanks to you, Rosie,” Annie said, “I really have to go, but I hope you’re good too and we’ll speak soon.”
“No problem, you stay safe dear,” replied Rosie.
“I will, bye now,” said Annie.
“Bye dear,” said Rosie in her pleasant sing-song voice.
Annie turned the car on, took one last slurp of her milkshake and hit the road again.