Page 56 of After the Accident
Both of his legs were in casts – but they weren’t the sort of big, white plastered ones I had pictured. It almost looked like two long brown and white bandages that ran most of the way down his legs. I could understand why he’d been going stir-crazy as soon as the drugs wore off.
Dad said he wanted to go back to the hotel to enjoy the last proper day of holiday, but Mum said we should wait to hear what the doctor said first.
It was a long fifteen minutes or so. Dad wheeled himself back to the private room and we followed. We ended up sitting in the chairs by the empty bed as Dad impatiently wheeled himself back and forth across the room. He kept saying: ‘Let’s just go,’ but Mum would give a firm: ‘No.’ It was all a little surreal. I think Dad was probably still high on the drugs.
I suppose that was why I decided to chance it.
Nobody was talking and so I asked Dad if he remembered what happened when he was on the cliff. It was almost as if I’d jammed the wheels on the chair because he instantly stopped moving. He glanced to Mum and then focused on me. I was sitting and we were at about the same level – although it felt like he was looking down on me. His brow rippled and wrinkles appeared as his eyes narrowed. There was a moment in which I wanted to get away. He seemed so…focused, I suppose. Focused on me. I felt like a naughty child about to be told off.
His first words were: ‘I wasn’t drunk,’ even though I don’t think anybody had gone out of the way to say he was.
Geoffrey:Before we start properly, I want to make it clear that I’m only talking to you because my son thought it would be a good idea. It sounds like there are lots of wrongs to right and corrections to make. Sloppy work on your part, from what I’ve heard.
That holiday was supposed to be a time for my wife to enjoy what was going to be her last trip abroad. Obviously, things didn’t quite turn out like that – but I will absolutely not countenance anyone saying I was drunk on that first night. I admit I’d had a couple of glasses of wine but nothing more than I might have had on a normal evening at home. I’ve read the police report, for what it’s worth, and it doesn’t mention alcohol.
Emma:Dad said that he didn’t remember what happened. He was looking out over the cliffs and then heard the wind whistling. Next thing he knew, he was in a hospital bed.
Geoffrey:There’s not much to say. I was on the cliff and then I was in that hospital. Accidents happen. No big conspiracy.
Emma:It felt like an anti-climax. The man in the village told me he’d heard voices on the cliffs – but it’s true that sound echoes and amplifies around the cove. He could have been wrong.
I felt deflated, like I’d been chasing something that wasn’t there.
Geoffrey:I’m still here, aren’t I? Cliffs: nil, Geoffrey McGinley: one.
Emma:I wanted to ask more – but then the door opened and the doctor came in. It didn’t take long for things to be decided: Dad was going back to the hotel.
Chapter Thirty-Four
THE DISHEVELLED NON-GIRLY-GIRL
Emma:I went into the main hotel when we got back and took the lift up to Julius’s room. It was early when I knocked on his door, but he was up, watching TV with the girls. I told him that Dad was up and about. It was an obvious slip of the tongue, a stupid thing to say. I blamed it on the early morning and said that what I meant to say was that Dad would be on his way back to the hotel once he’d had the proper paperwork to clear him. It was something to do with needing documents for the airline.
I remember Julius blinking at me, like I’d told him the sky had turned green. He was surprised and I think confused that it was me who’d been at the hospital instead of him. He asked how Dad was.
Julius:It was a surprise to see Emma that morning.
She’s never been a girly girl – and I’m not saying that she should be, or anything like that. I’m a feminist, you know. I love women.
But there was something a bit… dishevelled about her that morning. Like she’d slept on the floor, or something like that. I don’t think she’d been into the main hotel since that night she babysat the girls, plus she’d skipped dinner the night before. I didn’t know if we’d fallen out, or if we were getting on. It’s always difficult to tell with her.
Emma:Did he really use the word ‘dishevelled’? I don’t remember what I was wearing. I suppose Mum rushed me up that morning. Does it matter? Why would it matter?
Julius:You have to understand that was the starting point. My scruffy sister was unexpectedly knocking on my door.
Emma:Julius was acting a bit strangely. It’s hard to tell you exactly why, other than that he kept looking past me along the corridor. He said something like the girls would be happy Dad was coming back. It made me realise that I should’ve spent more time with them since that night I babysat. We’d had those few minutes on the cliff edge, but that was unexpected and I hadn’t gone out of my way to plan anything with them.
I regret that. I was wrong.
Julius:I tried to help Emma. I asked her to babysit because I wanted her to rebuild her relationship with Amy and Chloe. Then what happened? She looked after them for one night and essentially ignored them the rest of the holiday. Don’t ever let her tell you that the family isolated her: she isolated herself.
Emma:Julius asked if Dad had said anything about what happened on the cliff. It was a fair question, considering it was more or less the first thing I’d asked Dad.
I told him that Dad didn’t know what had gone on. I probably could have left it there – but… I didn’t.
Julius:I saw it in her eyes: conspiracy time.
Emma:I told him that I’d found Daniel in my cottage the day before. Julius reeled a little at that and asked why.
