Her voice circles around his head like an echo: ‘You’re going toMorocco?’ and, to Brianna, ‘Are youall right, love?’ Had his daughter’s chin dipped at that point?
His mind flits back to their recent goodbye. They’d meandered around the rock pools by Castle Beach, searching for crabs, andhe made himself ask her: ‘Have I done all right by you, love? The last few years. I know they’ve not been the easiest.’
Brianna grabbed a piece of driftwood from the ground and traced circles in the sand.
‘Bee?’ he said, gently prompting her.
Brianna dropped the stick, picked up a razor shell, and polished the pearly interior with her forefinger before responding. ‘It’s been fine, Dad. You did the best you possibly could. Given the circumstances.’
Given the circumstances.
Scott takes a gulp of cold coffee before closing the lid of his laptop and unzipping his phone from his breast pocket. He swipes past his boarding card and opens the Gallery App. He flicks past screenshots of adventure holidays until he finds what he’s looking for: Brianna on the top of the Chrysler building on her eighteenth birthday, her long blonde curly hair waving in the breeze and intertwining with his own. Was that what she’d meant byfine? Is that what doing his bestgiven the circumstanceslooked like? She hadn’t asked for a trip to New York. It had been his surprise. They’d flown business class. She was smiling, doing one of those weird Tik Tok poses with the pouting lips when they were served champagne before take-off. She’d liked it. Hadn’t she?
A sudden wave of frustration and an unnameable sensation – dislike? annoyance? – directed at Georgia’s mother, Heather, hits him. What is it about her that makes him question everything? And it wasn't just his imagination, therehadbeen something between them, hadn’t there? He wasn’t kidding himself. He can still envisage the fervent way she grabbed a dirty napkin and dabbed the water spill on his trousers, and the way her chest rose and fell outside her hotel room that evening, or that glistening in her eyes when he’d taken a cheap dig at her over breakfast. He can also recall, like muscle memory, herunbelievably firm buttocks when he stabilised her in the student flat.
How can someone so unlike him rile him so?
And if the girls are destined to be best friends, as they both predict, will it be possible to avoid her at all?
Scott has spent the past seven years protecting himself and Brianna from letting other people get too close. He is a past master at self-protection. He has this covered. He’s not about to screw it up now.
The departures board has updated. Flight 249 to Agadir now boarding. Gate 12. He grabs his bag, shoves the laptop inside and throws it onto his back before heading for the gate. Thankfully, he can now fill his brain with something altogether more familiar and comforting than Heather McVey.
Adrenaline sports.
FRESHMAN PARENTS' ONLINE FORUM: ST ANDREWS UNIVERSITY
Sorry about the anonymity. Son would be horrified if he knew I was doing this. Anyone else’s YP struggling socially? DS hasn’t made it into the university football team and was hoping this would help him meet others with similar interests. Now wondering if he’s thinking university is the wrong choice for him. I’m getting really worried.
This is a post I could’ve written myself. My son didn’t make the cut either. Football is his life, and he was so keen to meet some similar people. He wants to see the match tonight, but it looks like he’s going to watch it alone on his laptop in his room. I’m gutted. Normally we’d watch as a family, so he has someone to share the experience with, even though we’re not that into the sport ourselves.
Same. My son will watch the match in his bedroom alone. Won’t even ask his flatmates to join him. Says he feels too shy.
What accommodation is your DS in?
John Logie.
Same. Would your son go to the college bar to watch the match if he knew someone else was there?
Probably. Could ask.
Mine JL also. He says yes.
