Page 38 of The Wish
‘Damn it!’ she mutters before punching in the numbers on the piece of paper.
Max raises his head at the sound of the ringing telephone. Alex is playing a shoot-em-up game and ignores it. Max gives a gentle woof. Annoyed, one hand manipulating the console, Alex snatches up the phone. ‘Hello.’
Silence. He stares at the phone to see if he missed the call.
‘Talk or I hang up,’ he says.
‘It’s Kelly.’
‘Who?’ he says, out of surprise. Kelly was the last person he expected to hear from.
‘Kelly. From the hospital.’
‘How’d you get my number?’
‘You gave your number when you signed in to be a permitted visitor for Jesse, before Dean . . .’
‘What do you want?’
‘You to come back and help Jesse make her wish.’
Alex says nothing. The silence drags on.
‘Look, I’m sorry for the way I’ve behaved towards you. I’ve spoken to Mandy, and she’s given her permission for you to help make Jesse’s wish.’
‘What about her father?’
‘Well, although you have permission from one parent, it might be best if you try to avoid him. Will you please come back?’
‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ Alex tells her, disconnecting the call.
Turning to Max, Alex shakes his head. ‘Women,’ he mutters.
It is enough for Max, who goes back to sleep. Alex closes the game he was playing and finds the file he wants, markedJESSE.
Closing her phone, Kelly returns to the sofa, wraps herself in the blanket, turns up the sound on her movie. ‘Men,’ she mumbles to no one.
CHAPTER 18
Turning off his computer, Alex swings a bag onto his shoulder and leans over the cubicle. He’s excited this morning and filled with determination. Time is running out and he’s not going to let Jesse down – too many adults did that to him when he was her age. He’s going to show them what he can do, all of them, Kelly and that father in particular. He’s also started to feel really excited about the wish. He doesn’t want to curse it but this could be groundbreaking stuff. If he can pull it off, then he may have created something that can be used the world over by people, young and old, wanting to leave behind an immersive, interactive experience for their loved ones. His inward smile disappears as the memory of the only photo he has of his mother, with a seven-year-old Alex sitting on her knee while she reads him a story, threatens to overwhelm him. What would he give to have the very thing he is creating for Jesse? He pulls himself together as he realises Steve is looking at him over the top of the cubicle.
‘Now that I’ve got your attention,’ Steve says to him, ‘I took a phone call yesterday that was meant for Ian. It was from a kid called Ryan. I take it you know him because he knows you.’
‘Ryan, yeah, he’s one of the kids on the ward with Jesse. What did he want?’
‘He’s a smart kid. He rang here looking for your boss. Thank God Ian was out so I told him that was me. He wanted me totell you to pull your head out of your ass and get on with making Jesse’s wish.’
Alex laughs in appreciation. ‘Shit, Steve, these kids, barely teenagers, are smarter than you and I put together. They see us adults being hopeless and they’re not afraid to call us out. I’m so impressed. I’ll tell him I got your message: you slapped me around and I’m back in the game.’
‘Does that mean I get to slap you around?’
‘No. It means, I’m on it. This afternoon still OK for you?’
‘Yes, I’ll meet you in the car park and you can take us to the part of the beach where Jesse and her family hang out, below where they live.’
‘Would you bring a drone with you, and we’ll get some aerial shots as well?’
‘Sure, no problem.’
