Page 2 of Meet You in the Waves
The only downside was that the walls were paper thin and I knew from past experience how the soundtrack I would be listening to for the rest of the night would go.
It was late and I was about to give up on attempting to follow who did it on Midsomer Murders when my phone rang beside me. I plugged in my earbuds as I answered the call.
“Hey, Mum,” I began cheerfully.
“Ajay,” Mum replied with a soft sigh. The tone in her voice had me sitting up instantly, caution dropping in my gut.
“What is it?”
“I’m so sorry, darling,” she said quietly, a quiver in her voice. “Tim’s mother has fallen ill and we’re not sure if she’s going to make it.”
“Oh,” I said, not sure what my role was here. Tim was my mum’s new husband of the past twelve months and I hardly knew the man. I’d definitely never met any of his family other than the small handful who had made it to their fast-tracked wedding last year. I wasn’t even sure if my mum had met her mother-in-law given that most of Tim’s family lived over in New Zealand.
“We’ve managed to get on a last minute flight over to Wellington first thing tomorrow morning,” she told me as the reality of the situation dawned on me and I felt my balance tip.
“Oh. Right.”
“I’m sorry,” she repeated once again. “I know it’s Christmas and you’ll be left all alone but I …”
“Yeah. I get it,” I sighed, trying to ignore that stab in my gut, the one that kept whispering at me that she had picked him. Again. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. It had been this way since they had met. I’d already moved up to Sydney by then on a full scholarship to the top music school in the country so I hadn’t been around when they started dating. But my mum had been lonely for years, just the two of us together since my sister Emily had left to study economics in Melbourne and my dad long since out of the picture.
I was glad my mum had found someone, really I was. It just would have been nice for her to think about me sometimes too. I couldn’t help feeling like my place in her life had taken a dramatic dive since she’d met Tim. I knew I didn’t always get the full story but all I ever heard wasTim wants to do xorTim needs me to do y.Orsorry honey, we can’t make it up to Sydney next weekend after all as Tim’s daughter just surprised us with a snap visit. I never factored into any of their plans anymore. Itseemed it was easier to disappoint me than any of Tim’s family and their frequent ‘impromptu visits’ that always managed to derail any plans that might have involved me.
It was one of the reasons I hadn’t been home once in the past year.
“Will you be all right, Ajay?” Mum asked. I could hear the distress in her voice and I knew I didn’t want to add to it. She was probably stressed enough as it was and I was big enough to at least pretend I wasn’t completely gutted about being left stranded and alone at Christmas time.
“I’ll be okay,” I told her, sitting back heavily on the sofa, running my hand through my curls.
“I’ll call you when we’re in Wellington. I love you, darling.”
“Yeah. Love you too.”
Dane found me sitting in the same spot later that night, immediately sensing something was wrong.
“What’s up?” he asked, sitting down alongside me in just a pair of loose boxer shorts and nothing else.
“Ah, plans have been changed,” I told him, trying not to show how much it was affecting me.
“Why? What happened?” he asked, concern etched onto his face. I felt Dee sit down on my other side and her soft arm wound around my shoulders. I let out the sigh I had been holding in.
“Tim’s mum is sick or something and they’re rushing over to New Zealand to be with her,” I explained, feeling their gazes lock over my head.
“Dude. That sucks,” Dane replied, shifting beside me.
“What are you going to do?” Dee asked, rubbing my back softly. I’d always been a bit tactile in nature and I appreciated that soft touch from my bestie’s girl.
“I don’t know,” I sighed, leaning against the back of the sofa. “Hopefully I can get my shifts back at the café though because otherwise I’ll be eating tinned food for a while.”
“What about Christmas?” Dane pressed. Christmas was only two days away. I had been planning to fly down to Tassie tomorrow morning in time for Christmas Eve and spending the whole summer break back home. Now I had nowhere to be and no one to spend the festive season with. Emily was skiing somewhere in Switzerland with her new boyfriend so my sister was out of the equation too.
I sighed. “They’ll be gone for a while so guess I’ll be eating take out alone,” I replied, trying to inject some false bravado into my tone.
“Nope, no way,” Dane replied, shaking his head. “You’re coming home with me. You can spend Christmas with us and then stay for the whole summer. My parents are heading overseas on Boxing Day anyway so it will be just us. We’ll basically have the whole house to ourselves.”
“I can’t do that to you, Dane,” I replied.
“Sure you can. My parents love you,” he returned.
