‘Every day for about three months, apparently. Ever since she did mediation herself. She says it’s really helpful and something I should consider. For closure.’ Brianna flips the switch to cancel the windscreen wipers, and the view is quickly obscured by the rain. ‘Closure seems like a good thing, wouldn’t you say?’
Heather takes a deep breath and closes her eyes before replying. Sothisis what Scott was trying to talk to her about when she left him in Edinburgh to check up on Georgia.
‘Yes. Yes. Closure. It does sound good.’
Heather glances down at the phone on her lap and the message that came in from Scott at two o’clock this morning when she and Brianna were fast asleep in a local hotel.
“DO NOT LET HER GO. GETTING ON THE PLANE. DO NOT LET HER GO.”
‘Your dad’s replied to my text,’ she says. ‘He doesn’t want you to go.’
Brianna’s lips thin, and her eyes are blazing when she looks across at Heather.
‘My dad, who says he trusts me to make my own decisions in life, doesn’t want me to make this decision for myself? Figures.’
Heather unclips her seatbelt and swivels so she can look Brianna face on. The girl’s face is a mask of determination.
‘Is this something you’re sure about, Brianna? Really, really sure?’
‘Positively. Definitely.’ Brianna thumps the dashboard to emphasise this point. ‘I’ve thought it through for days. I’ve contacted the family support officer and I’ve arranged this appointment. I’m going.’
‘Even though you’ve got important exams coming up?’
She nods defiantly. ‘Even though I’ve got exams.’
‘Well, in that case. I don’t suppose I can stop you, can I? Do you want me to come in with you?’ Heather rummages in her handbag to locate the umbrella she put in there last minute as they left Edinburgh.
Brianna unclips her own seatbelt, throws the car keys in Heather’s direction and zips up her raincoat.
‘This is something I need to do on my own. I’ll see you back here at two o’clock.’
‘Good luck,’ Heather shouts as a pale faced Brianna opens the door, clenches her fists and disappears under her hood.
‘I’ve got this,’ she says as she closes the door.
***
Brianna returns at two o’clock, her eyes hooded, and her cheeks wet with tears. The rain has stopped.
‘I’m going to see my auntie,’ she says.
Heather is immediately on high alert.
‘Honey, what went on in there?’
‘Nothing. I need to see my auntie. Ask her something.’
‘Okay. But …’ Heather observes the shake in Brianna’s hands as she inputs her aunt’s address – somewhere outside Stratford Upon Avon, an hour and a half's drive away via A roads – into her sat nav. ‘Can I drive? It might give you a bit of space to unwind and think things through?’
‘I’m driving,’ Brianna says, her lips pulled into a thin white line.
‘Are you okay, sweetheart?’ Heather asks tentatively, observing the cackhanded way Brianna thrusts the key into the ignition, and the scream of the engine when it finally fires.
‘I’m fine.’
Brianna looks straight ahead and takes an angry swipe at her swollen eyes and tear-stained cheeks.
‘Are you sure?’
