Chapter 13
Dixie had a dilemma. She could call a garage and get the van towed.
But given the apartment was now rented out, where would she ask them to take her?
It was a sad reality that she had very few options and Nora was really the only viable one.
And while Nora was lovely, she couldn’t stay with her indefinitely.
She sighed as it dawned on her that the only sensible thing to do was to call her parents.
Dixie looked at her phone. Her dad would say it was all right but she’d hear the disappointment in his voice.
And her mum would be a flurry of activity as she sorted everything out for her.
But that wasn’t what she wanted. For once she had hoped she could stand on her own two feet.
Outside, the blue of the day was being rubbed out by the gentle lilacs and pinks of a cloudy sunset.
The van was at least watertight, thanks to Renee’s expert welding.
She had all she needed, for a while at least. Maybe she didn’t have to decide right now.
She could give herself some time to think. Perhaps there was another option.
Dixie locked up the van and went for a wander.
By luck she had parked in a truly beautiful spot and now the smoke had stopped pouring from the van she could see all the different colours.
Granted, they were basically multiple shades of green, but they were pretty all the same.
She was glad she was wearing her trainers because her flip-flops would not have coped well with the undulations and debris of the woodland floor.
There was a large stump nearby that she had to inelegantly climb over.
She caught her toe and tripped, banging her shin on the stump.
‘Bastard stump,’ she snapped. She sounded like Renee.
On closer inspection the stump was teeming with bugs and creepy crawlies, making her recoil and frantically brush all manner of mini creatures and dirt off her hands.
There was no obvious path to follow and it didn’t look like anyone had been through this way in quite a while.
Excitement rushed through her. She was like an epic explorer discovering this tranquil place for the very first time.
She did a little filming for her followers and made out that it was a planned stop to enjoy the wilds of the countryside and maximize her experience of being at one with the natural world.
Zooming in on the biggest mushrooms she’d ever seen growing on the side of a tree, she advised her followers not to eat such things in case they were poisonous.
It was nice to think she was providing them with something informative as well as fun, plus she didn’t want anyone suing her.
Slightly side-tracked by some pretty pink flowers, Dixie found herself in an area where the trees weren’t as dense and she could see fields stretching out beyond.
Something else struck her. Dixie spun around to face the woodland.
In the growing dark there was no sign of Elsie.
She’d been walking for over thirty minutes and now she wasn’t entirely sure which direction she’d come from.
Dixie gave herself a mental shake. She wasn’t lost exactly, she just didn’t know how to get back.
The worst thing she could do now was panic, although at the thought of it her pulse unhelpfully picked up its pace.
She had visions of Elsie coming to life, her headlights blazing as she made her way through the trees to find Dixie like the car in Harry Potter.
But that wasn’t going to happen. No one was coming to her rescue and that was good because for once she had to sort things out for herself.
That, or they would find her emaciated body in a few months’ time.
She knew it was the flowers that had brought her on this last section of her journey so she followed them in reverse, taking her deep into the wood, which was much darker than before.
She was about to put her phone torch on when it flashed up it only had 10 per cent battery left.
A few deep breaths were meant to calm her but they weren’t really doing the trick.
‘Don’t be a wimp,’ she said out loud. ‘What would someone else do?’ She thought of her friends.
Renee wouldn’t be fazed and seemed to have limitless skills so she would likely set up a shelter from bracken and ferns and sleep there after a gin nightcap.
What would Nora do? She would have calculated the odds of getting lost and not ventured out in the first place, or laid a trail to follow back.
The gift of hindsight was a wonderfully useless thing.
The real question was: what was Dixie going to do?
She turned to the internet for counsel. Her happy followers liked a poll and they seemed keen for her to sleep under the stars.
Lots of suggestions to switch on Google maps but there was no Wi-Fi and patchy network coverage.
Someone else seemed to think she was Lara Croft because they suggested she machete her way out.
But most commented on the pretty colours of the flowers.
It was nice that she had these supporters in her phone.
Even if their comments weren’t that helpful, it made her feel less alone.
If she closed her eyes and listened …
Shit, no, that’s dark and scary! she thought.
Closing her eyes was not a good idea. However, she was now aware of the distant thrum of road noise.
From where she’d left the van, the main road was probably less than a mile away, so if she headed towards the noise she should be heading in roughly the right direction.
It was a revelation and it filled her with confidence.
She positioned herself and set off confidently.
Immediately she tripped over a root and faceplanted a tree.
She stumbled around for the next forty minutes until it was completely dark.
She glimpsed a sliver of moon before it was engulfed in cloud.
It certainly wasn’t enough to light her way.
She’d not noticed before but it was getting colder.
Enough to make her shiver and add to her low ebb.
The scent seemed to have subtly changed from sweet and earthy to damp and decaying.
This was no longer a fun adventure. Her phone began flashing insistently at her that she was almost out of battery.
Best to save in case of emergency, she thought as she reluctantly switched it off. Now she felt totally alone.
*
Nora and Jay had not said much since leaving the house and the journey home had been particularly quiet, a silence thankfully broken every so often by Bruce, who liked to bark at things he saw out of the windscreen, like a furry canine sat nav.
A police car with blue flashing lights and siren blaring came up fast behind them, making Nora grip the steering wheel and Bruce bark louder than before.
For a moment she had a nasty feeling it was chasing her.
Was destroying a police investigation an offence?
She feared she was about to find out but the police car flew past. A glance in the rear-view mirror and Jay’s wide eyes gave her the feeling he’d thought the same.
They continued in silence. It wasn’t that she was cross with Jay, it was more that it had all been such a lot to take in that it was easier to keep her thoughts to herself until she’d properly worked out how she felt about it all.
At last she pulled up outside Jay’s place.
‘Thanks,’ he said, getting out and coming around to unbuckle Bruce.
The dog flopped down on the passenger seat, reluctant to leave.
‘Look, you don’t have to talk about any of what happened today if you don’t want to, but equally if you wanted to then …
’ He pointed at his front door. ‘Maybe get a takeaway?’ Jay and Bruce looked at Nora with similarly tilted heads and hopeful eyes.
What did she have waiting for her at home? A chameleon who was far more interested in crickets and the occasional episode of David Attenborough. She had recently noticed that he would train one eye on the TV if that was on.
‘I mean, I’d quite like to talk about it,’ said Jay.
‘I definitely don’t want to talk about it,’ said Nora.
‘No, nor me. Best forgotten. But did you fancy a pizza? The one you like with the little meatballs?’ Bruce’s tongue lolled out of his mouth. ‘If not, I’ll be eating it cold for breakfast so you could at least save me from that.’
‘Yeah, go on then,’ said Nora, taking the keys out of the ignition and opening the driver’s door. Bruce decided he preferred that exit and got on Nora’s lap in an attempt to get out of the car at the same time as her.
Jay hung on and found that he was about to be pulled on top of Nora. ‘Here, you have his lead, that might be easier.’
‘I can only see fur,’ said Nora. ‘Phht – and now I can taste fur.’
‘Sorry.’
Nora took the lead as Bruce walked over her and out of the car, whacking her in the face with his tail before attempting to pull her out with him. She followed them into Jay’s house, plucking fur off her top and out of her mouth.
She took off Bruce’s lead and harness while Jay pretended to hunt for the takeaway menus but she suspected he used them more than he let on. They ordered pizza and Jay went to the utility. Bruce was there in an instant.
‘It’s his dinner-time too. I swear one day he’ll eat the bowl.
Watch this,’ said Jay. He put a measured scoop of dry food from a bag on the worktop into a clean bowl and Bruce went up on his hind legs to try to snatch it.
Jay held it above his head at the same time as he made a sort of yelping noise.
‘You OK?’ asked Nora.
‘No I’m not. Look at him. I can’t even put the bowl down.’
‘You’re getting him all excited,’ said Nora, watching Jay and Bruce dance with each other like week one Strictly Come Dancing contestants.
‘Bruce!’ said Nora with authority. The dog spun in her direction. ‘Sit.’