Page 67 of To Hell With It
When we parted ways, she gave me a spontaneous hug and the thought of it exhausted me all the way back to my room, where I made a quick turn around to the bathroom to take another shower and change my clothes. By the time I climbed into the single bed in my box room, I’d made a promise to myself not to hug anyone else the entire time I was in New Zealand.
Apart from Jack, I would hug Jack.
ChapterThirty-Eight
Idon’t think it had hit me that I was on the other side of the world, that I had actually got on a plane full of people, departed from gate two, sat in seat number seventy-two, and had made it there in one piece (mentally, not just physically).
The problem was I had no idea how I would cope with the rest or what the rest would be. I suppose the first step was to get on the bus to Te Puke and the rest would become clear pretty soon. I wasn’t sure whether to text Jack again to tell him I wasn’t joking about being in New Zealand or whether it was better to wait until I got there to surprise him.
I guess a part of me thought that if I did that, if I’d warned him, he might have told me that he didn’t really want me there and then what? Go home? So I decided not to tell him until I’d got to Te Puke, because he would be less likely to turn me away if I was actually standing in front of him.
I’d washed and dried the clothes I’d travelled in at two in the morning. That was when the jetlag set in and I was wide awake like it was two o’clock in the bloody afternoon. I stayed up reading for the rest of the night and hoped that I would sleep on the bus to Te Puke. My bus was at eleven and by the time I’d got downstairs (I went up and down the stairs three times), checked out (which involved leaving my card on the reception desk with no sign of orange hair in sight), I only had five minutes to wait for the bus. And five minutes was a long time when you’re trying not to think about the thing you’re waiting for.
I hadn’t said anything to Una about her night withShaun did everythingand she’d been unusually quiet about it, which meant there was more to her feelings than she was letting on. I didn’t buy the whole Carmel thing. I knew it was more than that. I pulled out my phone and texted her.
I’m at the bus stop to Te Puke.
OMG! How do you feel?
Una texted back straight away.
Weird.
That’s because you are weird … only joking. Have you told Turbo you’re coming yet?
No.
When are you going to?
I don’t know.
I think you should just turn up like he did!
What if he’s not there? He might have plans.
What plans?
Work?
You can spend your time sunbathing while he’s working. It’ll be fine, Pearl, this is the best thing you’ve ever done!
It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.
Text me when you get there!
If you don’t hear from me, the bus crashed on the way.
Can I have Anickuna Cottage if you die?
No.
Why not?
Because you won’t look after the woodlice.
I will, I promise.
You said you’d squash them.
