Breaking Point (Drew Ashley 1) (38 page)

Guilt lodged in the pit of my heart as more visions that I'd had about Travis replayed in my mind. Was I responsible for not doing something? But how was I to know?

"I thought maybe he'd just gone clubbing with friends at first, but when he didn't show up all day on Sunday I knew he was in trouble. It's not like Travis to just go AWOL."

I pushed away from my dad and wiped my eyes. Maybe if I'd just done something…but what could I have done?

"He was here on Friday morning," Carol continued. "He told me he was going to see you, Drew. I told him he shouldn't because Sharon wouldn't be pleased if she found out. But he said it was just as friends—that he was going to talk to you about Christianity."

I leaned my head on my dad's shoulder. I should have said no when Travis said we should meet up. If I'd said no maybe he'd still be alive.

The TV in the room was on News24 although it was muted. They were reporting from outside the Chelsea football stadium where fans had gathered all wearing Travis' football jersey and holding up banners and pictures of him. Thousands of flowers lined the street.

"Just for the record, Drew," Carol said. "I know you had nothing to do with it, like the media are insinuating."

"Thanks," I said, glad that she didn't suspect me.

Kale hadn't told me that the media was insinuating anything. Maybe he was trying to shield me.

"I feel so sorry for Wanda," Carol said, removing an embroidered hanky from her pocket and blowing her nose. "She's supposed to be getting married in a few weeks, but she's a wreck. She's thinking about rearranging."

Carol continued to talk and cry, and me and my mum and dad just listened silently. Travis' dad got home just as we were preparing to leave. He looked like he was coping a little better than his wife, but not much.

Carol burst into fresh tears when she saw him. "How did it go?" she asked.

My mum vacated her seat beside her to let Travis' dad take over. He shrugged as he sat. "The funeral's on Friday. I'll have to let everyone know."

Carol let out a heart-breaking moan. Even my dad's eyes were wet now.

"You're invited," Travis' dad told us. "Eleven thirty on Friday at West Street Chapel."

"We'll be there," I told him.

As we left, I made a decision. I still had a lot of money that Travis gave me while we were together. I was going to give it to charity. Every last penny of it. Because there was no way I'd be able to spend it now.

Friday came around fast. Kale dropped me off at my mum and dad's hotel on his way to work. They were still getting ready for the funeral.

My donation to charity was in the news, and of course they'd put two and two together and realised that I was getting rid of Travis' money. The media made it sound like it was out of spite. It wasn't. Maybe I should have waited until things had calmed down a little. I just hoped Travis' family wouldn't be upset.

I'd given half the money to Womankind—a charity that worked to improve the quality of women's lives in Africa, Asia, and Latin America——and the other half to Unicef. Women and children. It was money well spent.

"We've found a rental house," my mum told me when we went down for the hotel breakfast.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"Croydon. It's not great, but it'll do for a few months while we look for a house to buy."

The three of us were quiet while we tucked into sausages, eggs, toast, and baked beans.

I looked at my dad. "This is some holiday from work, isn't it?"

"Yes. I was supposed to go back to work next week Saturday, but I've asked for a two week extension."

Next Saturday was Kale's graduation. "I wish you didn't have to leave."

"Me, too. But I'm moving to a new shift pattern after Christmas. Three months on, one month off."

"That's still not great, but it's a start," I told him. "When are you going to start winding down? Don't you retire in a few years?"

My dad grinned. "Retirement is still over ten years away."

My father and I had this conversation every time he came home. I felt so sorry for my mum. What was the point in having a husband if you only saw him four months in a year? Ridiculous!

We left the hotel at quarter to eleven and made our way to the West Street Chapel. Travis' funeral was pretty small. Family and friends only. His mum and dad read passages of the Bible and Wanda read a poem. Sharon sat on the front pew of the church with Travis' family, still wearing her engagement ring. She looked devastated.

Travis' cousin, Lee Haywood was there. I hadn't seen Lee for a good few years. Not even at Wanda and Simon's engagement party a few months ago. I actually met him before Travis. We even went on a few dates, although there was never any spark from my point of view. Thinking about it made me smile.

When Lee had introduced me to Travis I'd preferred Travis, and it'd had nothing to do with Travis' place in the Chelsea football academy. We were only eighteen at the time and I knew a few other boys that had been in the academy and never made it. I'd thought that Travis was just chasing an empty dream, too.

Lee Haywood turned around and caught me staring at his back. He stared back at me coldly, unsmiling. Things had been awkward between us ever since I started going out with Travis when we were eighteen. He couldn't still be holding that grudge, could he? We were just kids at the time.

I looked down at my funeral booklet to escape Lee's glare. He was grieving so I'd let it go, but if he ever glared at me again, he'd get what was coming to him!

After the service, I went to say hi to Travis' mum and dad. Carol looked miserable. I couldn't pretend to fully understand how awful this was for her, but I knew it must be horrible.

In a moment of bold spontaneity I took her hands and said a quick prayer. She thanked me, then we all headed out to the burial ground.

***

When Kale picked me up from my mum and dad's hotel on his way from work that evening, I told him about my prayer.

"That was nice of you," he said.

"To be honest, I wasn't really trying to be nice. It just came out of nowhere."

Kale switched on the radio and we continued the ride in silence. When we got to his flat he started cooking dinner. Well, preparing, not cooking, as it was a ready-made supermarket Indian meal.

"You're quiet tonight," I told him as we ate.

He switched on the TV. "Had a busy day."

"Looking forward to your graduation next week?"

Kale shrugged. "Yes. My mum and dad are coming. They want to meet you."

"It's about time we met."

"Yeah, we'll have to apologise for not going to Manchester to see them when we first got engaged."

"Are they annoyed?"

"A little."

Great. Annoyed in-laws-to-be. And when they found out that their son was engaged to Travis Haywood's ex-girlfriend, they were going to be just ecstatic. "Are your parents Christians?"

"No."

Well, they may not mind me being Travis Haywood's ex after all. I sank my fork into a tender chunk of chicken in Biryani curry, feeling guilty for being glad that Kale's parents weren't saved. That wasn't right. "Are you sure you're okay, Kale?"

"Yeah. Just tired."

"Well, my mum and dad have found a house, so I'll be out of your hair soon and you'll be able to sleep in your own bed again."

"When are they moving in?" Kale asked.

"Sunday, I think."

"If they need help, I can help out after church."

"I'll let them know, but I doubt there's much to move. We're all just living out of suitcases at the moment."

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"My mum said the rental house is in Croydon," I told Kale as we made our way over on Sunday afternoon. Kale wasn't driving in the right direction.

"The postcode she texted me wasn't a Croydon post code," he replied. He continued to drive. Before long we were on the motorway.

I was convinced this was wrong. "There's no way the house is outside London, Kale."

"I've put the post code in my sat nav, and this is where it's leading."

Kale sounded a little cranky. "Are you okay?" I asked him.

He frowned, looking straight ahead at the road. "Sorry."

He'd been acting strange all weekend. "Is something bothering you, Kale?"

"No."

"Can you pull over at the next exit?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired of you being so cold. We need to talk."

"I'm not being cold," Kale said.

"You are. We haven't had our first fight yet. Now is as good a time as any to have it."

Kale passed an exit. He glanced at me and grinned.

I glared at him. "I told you to pull over."

"I don't want to fight, Drew. I'm just…not really myself."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you sometime. Not now."

I was sick of Kale saying that to me. "If we're going to be married, we need to learn to talk to each other about things."

"I'll tell you Drew, just not now."

Okay, I was annoyed now. I took out my phone and called my mum. "Did you send Kale the right postcode?" I demanded when she answered her phone.

"Yes, are you on your way?"

"We're on the motorway. I thought it was Croydon."

"No, we actually found a house to buy, and the owner said we could move in right away."

"Really? When did you find it?"

"Yesterday."

"And they let you move in today? Have you sorted out the finance and all that?"

"Yes, it's all sorted," my mum sang. "Don't you worry. See you soon."

Twenty minutes later we pulled up outside a cottage, and I was enraged. "This is the house Harvey was renovating! My mum purposely didn't tell me."

Kale gave me a weird look.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. I'm just sick of Harvey this and Harvey that." Kale got out of the car and walked to the door.

I got out and followed. "Kale, what's going on? Please tell me. This is not like you."

Kale exhaled. "You know there's something I need to tell you?"

"You mean the thing that made Jazz go anal?"

"Yeah. I'm going to tell you this week. After you meet my parents."

"Is it something to do with your parents?"

"No, it's about me," Kale said, knocking on the door.

My mum opened it. "Welcome to your new not-so-humble abode, Drew," she said with a flourish.

"This is Harvey's house."

"Not anymore. Your dad signed on the dotted line and now it's ours. Isn't it beautiful?"

The first thing I checked was that awful room that Harvey had been working on. I was impressed when I saw how beautiful it looked now. There was not a single clue as to its former state.

"Harvey is an absolute darling, isn't he?" my mum called from the hallway.

I turned to look at Kale who was behind me. His eyes clouded over so I ignored my mum's question.

I went upstairs to see my bedroom. Kale came with me. I'd improved with getting into bed at Kale's house, but I wasn't sure how I was going to react to a new bed.

"Do you want me to go in first?" Kale asked.

"No, I feel okay." I opened the door and looked at the bed. Nothing was bulging under the duvet, thank God.

That night, since I no longer had the luxury of Kale sitting at my bedside reading the Bible to me, I found an audio Bible online and played it. I feel asleep to Alexander Scourby's voice reading the book of Revelation.

***

I was washing my face in the bathroom on Monday night, when I heard the doorbell. I rubbed my exfoliating cleanser into my skin, enjoying the fresh stinging sensation of the microdermabrasion beads scraping my cheeks. I waved my hand under the tap and the water gushed out. Everything in this house was automated. Even the toilet flusher was one of those automatic sensor things that you just had to wave at and it flushed itself. Harvey obviously liked life on the techie side.

"Drew!"

It was my mum.

"I'm in the bathroom," I yelled back.

I held still waiting for her reply. There was none. I finished rinsing my face, and the tap held back its water once I removed my hands from under it. All this bathroom needed was a Dyson Airblade hand-dryer and it'd be complete.

I unlocked the door and ran downstairs to see what my mum wanted. She and my dad were going out for dinner tonight, and I wasn't looking forward to being home alone. I would've told Kale to come over, but he was working late and might not feel like driving out here after a long day.

I entered the living room and found Harvey sitting on the white leather sofa, holding a can of Coke. Immediately, I wished I'd dried my face before coming down. Better yet, I wished I'd never washed my makeup off. "Hi, Harvey."