Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
‘I can’t go.’
‘Yes, you can,’ Una said. ‘And now’s the perfect time, Jack wants to see you, and they don’t even need you at the shop now that Niall will take up Mr O’Callaghan’s hours.’
‘Yes, they do.’
‘You could go for a whole year if you wanted, there are visas you can get.’
‘It is a stupid idea.’
‘It’s a brilliant idea. You’re scared, I get that, but think about it, Pearl, it’s like it was meant to happen, Jack turning up, leaving you a note, Mr O’Callaghan dying … you can’t get more fate than that!’
‘If Jack wanted to see me again he’d have texted me by now.’
‘He’s probably on the plane and can’t. I bet he’ll be in touch when he gets back. Look, it says here you can get an open ticket for eighteen hundred euros and with one stop at Kuala Lumpur.’
She turned my laptop to face me.
‘I could buy a car for that.’
‘You don’t drive.’
‘And where the hell is Koala Lumpur?’ I exaggerated the Koala bit.
‘KWAA-LUH-LUUM-PAH you eejit, and it’s in Malaysia. You don’t even have to leave the airport, it’s a few hours to wait and then you can get your connecting flight.’
‘What’s an open ticket anyway?’
‘It means you can be flexible with when you come back, in case you decide to go somewhere else in New Zealand.’
‘Why would I go somewhere else?’
‘You just might, I don’t know. But what I’m saying is it’s better to have an open ticket so that you’re not tied to dates.’
‘Una,’ I said sternly. ‘I haven’t been abroad since I was eight and that was with my parents. I can’t even leave my own house without having some sort of bloody meltdown and that’s just to get to the shop and then to meet you. How the hell do you think I am going to fly to New Zealand, on my own, find Jack, find somewhere to stay, and then get home?’
‘I will help you.’
‘How? You’d be here and I’d be there.’
‘We can text.’
‘There’s an eleven-hour time difference.’
‘I’ll keep my phone on loud.’
‘You sleep through your own alarm.’
‘I’ll keep it on vibrate by my head then, that’ll wake me up.’
‘I’m not going, Una.’
‘This one says you could fly in a week.’ She ignored me.
‘I’m not going.’
‘It’s two-hundred euros cheaper if you fly midweek.’
‘Una.’
‘I’ll email it to you.’
‘No, thank you.’
‘I’ll make a list of things you’ll need and we’ll get you sorted.’
‘No.’
‘Is your passport up to date?’
For a moment, I thought that was my get-out but then I remembered I had renewed my passport a few years ago when Una last tried to get me to go on holiday with her, and I'd done it just to shut her up.
‘I’ll give you some time to gather your thoughts,’ Una said.
‘Don’t bother.’
‘Then we’ll book the flights.’
* * *
My phone pinged with an email four minutes after I’d waved Una off and got back inside the house. That was how long it took to drive from Anickuna Cottage to hers. I lay on my bed and sunk my face into my pillow. I could still smell Jack. I could still taste him. I would never wash my sheets. I opened Una’s email.
Flight details here.
You can fly from Dublin (I’ll drive you there and pick you up).
You will need one of those big travellers’ rucksacks (which means you can pack both your salmon-pink jumpers, and probably have space to buy some more over there, imagine!).
There’s a hostel twenty-five minutes from the airport in Auckland (link here ). You can get a bus (five-minute walk from hostel) from Auckland, which will take you straight to Puke Town (it takes five-and-a-half hours but you don’t have to change buses).
If it all goes tits up, then you can get the bus back to Auckland and change your flights using this link.
What do you think? I’ll be with you every step of the way – it’d be like I was right there next to you…
(PS: the flight is in ten days.)