Dark Road Home by Sheila Bugler

Author:Sheila Bugler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
Published: 2024-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34

Friday, 19 July

‘Dad, it will be fine. Jim and I are meeting the undertakers tomorrow morning.’

‘I want to be there too,’ Tom says.

‘You don’t have to put yourself through that,’ Aisling says. ‘We can manage, honestly.’

‘It’s not about managing, Aisling. It’s about what’s right. Eamon was my son, and I want to be the person who organises his funeral. Not some fella who barely knew him.’

Aisling is about to tell him that’s not very fair, then decides not to bother. The last thing she wants right now, on top of everything else, is to get into a row with her father.

‘We’ll pick you up at ten?’ she says.

‘Thanks, Aisling. And listen, pet, how about it’s just the two of us tomorrow? No need for Jim to miss work if I’m going to be there. What do you think?’

Aisling thinks that’s horseshit, but once again she doesn’t say what she’s really thinking.

‘If that’s what you want, Dad. I’ll see you tomorrow at ten. Bye.’

‘Is everything okay?’ Jim asks, as she hangs up.

‘Fine.’ She rubs her face, wondering where this ability to lie so easily came from. She’s spent most of her life thinking she’s a terrible liar. Turns out the opposite is true.

‘Dad wants to come to the undertaker’s tomorrow.’

‘That’s not a problem, is it?’

‘No, of course not. In fact, if Dad’s coming with me, there’s no need for you to be there too.’

‘You don’t want me with you?’

‘It’s not that.’ Aisling sighs. ‘He’s not coping very well. I’d like to spend a bit of time with him by myself, and I can never do that at the house because Mam’s always there.’

‘Sure. Whatever you think is best.’

‘Sorry,’ she says. ‘I just think it will be easier that way.’

‘Is everything okay with us at the moment?’ Jim asks.

‘Yes. Absolutely.’ Another lie. Soon, she’ll have lost the ability to tell the truth altogether.

‘You’ve seemed a bit off lately. Obviously I know you’re grieving, but it’s not that. I feel like there’s something else going on.’

She hasn’t told him what she found on his laptop, because she hasn’t had the energy for that conversation. Not when she has so much else to cope with. So she smiles brightly at him and lies again and says things between them are absolutely tickety-boo and he’s got nothing to worry about.

‘Good,’ he says, pulling her into a hug that’s too tight. ‘Because I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’

It’s nothing he hasn’t told her plenty of times before. The difference is that today, when he tells her how he feels, it sounds more like a threat than a promise.

‘What do you fancy for dinner?’ Jim asks, after a moment. ‘I could pop out to the chippy if you’d like.’

‘Sounds lovely. Thanks.’

After he’s gone to collect their food, Aisling tidies up the cottage and tries not to think about her relationship with Jim. But the more she tries to think about something else, the more Jim occupies her mind.

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