Chapter 24
ERIN
Sam drove them south while Erin tried not to think about how much her head hurt. She’d taken a proper crack on her forehead and even though it had stopped bleeding, when she lowered the sun visor and found a mirror, she could see she had one hell of a bruise developing.
‘Am I missing something here?’ Sam asked her. ‘Should I be driving you to the hospital? You’d say if it were bad, wouldn’t you?’
‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘I just have a headache, that’s all. I’ll get some of those tablets from Martha when we catch up with them.’
She was quiet for a while, just watching the long road ahead come up to meet the bonnet of Chuck’s truck. It was nearly six in the morning and the bus would be arriving in Winnipeg in an hour.
‘Our race is done,’ she said, suddenly resigned to the fact.
Really, right now, she’d be happy for just her and Sam to keep driving all the way to St John’s.
If she could just tune out the ache in her head she would be very comfortable here next to him.
And then she wondered if maybe she had a concussion.
‘Yeah, I know,’ he said. ‘The others will be long gone as soon as they get off the bus. Liz is very fast.’
‘Do you care much?’ Erin said looking at him. He seemed to contemplate her question for a moment.
‘Do I care about missing out on the chance to win fifty thousand pounds? Yeah, of course I do. But do I care about winning the race? Funnily enough, not so much now,’ he said and caught her eye for a moment.
Erin felt sleepy and rested her head back, warm in the knowledge that Sam seemed happier to be with her than win the race. Or that was certainly what she got from his last look.
‘I don’t think you should sleep yet,’ he said.
‘You want me to navigate?’
‘No, I’m concerned you might have a concussion. Talk to me.’
‘About what?’
‘Anything. Tell me about your last boyfriend.’
‘Hamish?’
‘Was he a dog? My granny had a dog called Hamish,’ Sam said and Erin spluttered out a laugh.
‘He was sort of a dog but mostly a bit of a dick. He was Scottish. But that wasn’t the problem. He played rugby all the time; it was his life. He thought I was unadventurous and then broke up with me for a woman he works with.’
‘What an idiot.’
‘Quite.’
‘Hang on, is that why you asked me if I played rugby when we first met?’ he said.
‘Maybe,’ Erin said slowly, desperately trying to remember what else she had said that first night.
‘So, I did pass the test,’ he said and smiled to himself. ‘I row. I’m not that interested in games with balls.’
Erin spluttered again.
‘I wonder if I am actually concussed,’ she said. ‘So, you row, like in a boat?’
‘Like in a coxless four,’ he said. ‘And you don’t have to be childish about it.’
But she was spluttering before he’d even finished that sentence.
‘I’m sorry, I feel like I’m a bit drunk.’
Sam pulled the truck over to the side of the road and shifted across the seats towards her.
He lifted a hand to her face and looked deeply into her eyes.
She was convinced he was going to kiss her and couldn’t breathe for a moment.
Not least because she wasn’t sure when she’d last cleaned her teeth.
Sam didn’t kiss her. Instead, he lifted both of her eyelids in turn to look at… Erin wasn’t sure what he was looking for but it wasn’t very romantic. All of a sudden she felt intensely ridiculous.
‘For goodness’ sake. I said, I’m fine,’ she said, pulling away.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Sam. ‘I just don’t want to miss something really important here.’
You just did, Erin thought, as Sam slid back behind the wheel and started the engine up again.
They were quiet for a few miles until Erin thought she might be coming across as if she were sulking and decided to snap out of what she had to admit was a bit of a sulk.
‘So, tell me about your last relationship,’ she said in the least sullen tone she could muster.
‘She was a rower, like me. We met at the rowing club in Marlow where I live.’
‘No way,’ Erin said. ‘I live in Henley. That’s so weird. We’re just down the road from each other.’
She thought about this geographical coincidence for a moment until she caught up with what he’d just said.
‘You said she was a rower?’ Erin asked, always nervous about the past tense. She’d never really got used to talking about her mum in the past tense. It was one of the many reasons she rarely talked about her at all.
‘Yeah, she got married, had twin boys and moved to north Wales.’
‘She did all that just to get away from you?’ Erin said, and then smiled to show she was joking. She took a glance at Sam to see how it had landed. For all she knew he might be devastated.
‘She said I was allergic to commitment. She took off and the next thing I knew she was very much committed to somebody else.’
‘How long had you been together?’ Erin asked and as she did, she was already calculating what would constitute an answer that wouldn’t leave him wanting. Maybe five years? Maybe four? She couldn’t remember how old he was.
‘Five months,’ he said and she had to really try hard not to splutter with laughter again.
‘So, after five months you hadn’t proposed and suggested a family move to Wales and a couple of kids? Shocking behaviour, Sam. I suggest you may well have just been allergic to her.’
He turned to her and smiled broadly. ‘I knew I liked you,’ he said.
And there it was again, that little charge between them in the small space of the truck.
As they got closer to Winnipeg, Erin used Chuck’s phone to get them to his house. It was still another half an hour drive to the city from that point and she was beginning to wonder how they would manage that with no cash. As if reading her mind, Sam came up with half a solution.
‘I was thinking, I could drive you to the bus station and then take the car back after. At least one of us will be in the right place and I can get Rita, my producer, to follow me in the car.’
‘Absolutely not,’ Erin said. ‘We’re in this together now. And anyway, I don’t really think we should take this truck into the city. You know you’re probably not insured.’
‘There’s no probably about it,’ Sam said. ‘Maybe you’re right. Let’s not push our luck.’
Chuck’s place was a large bungalow in quite a bit of farmland.
The net curtain at the front twitched as Sam pulled up on the driveway and switched off the engine.
Erin was reluctant to leave the little bubble they had created for themselves.
She wondered if Sam felt the same but as she turned to see, he was already climbing out and greeting the woman who had opened the front door.
She looked to be in her late sixties or early seventies, like Chuck.
She had light-brown hair that was swept up into a bun on top of her head.
She was wearing an apron over a long, striped skirt and for just a moment Erin was transported back to the books her mother used to read to her when she was a child.
They were the Little Mrs Pepperpot books and Chuck’s wife could easily be Mrs Pepperpot herself.
It made her feel very much at home. It was also a nice memory of her mum. A nice calm memory.
Erin shut the door of the truck behind her and joined them on the doorstep.
‘I am so grateful to you both,’ the woman said, pulling Sam in for a hug. ‘If Chuck had been on his own, well, I don’t even want to think about what would have happened.’
‘Your husband was just being so kind, picking us up after we lost our group,’ Erin said.
She carried on explaining all about the TV show and then about missing the bus and Chuck finding them at the service station.
‘That’s old Chuck for you. He’s always been a kind soul. Now, I want you both to come in and I’ve got some breakfast ready for you. I’m Mabel. My son has been back on the phone in the last hour and they’ve set Chucky’s shoulder and he’s doing fine. He’ll be home later.’
Breakfast was a huge affair with bacon and freshly baked bread.
There were eggs and coffee, juice and fruit.
Sam had begun to say they didn’t really have time and they needed to rejoin their group as quickly as possible but as soon as he saw the kitchen table, a loud rumble emitted from his stomach and both Erin and Chuck’s wife laughed.
‘Your appetite is working on a different timetable, son,’ she said. ‘The next bus into town isn’t until this afternoon, but I can take you when you’ve eaten. I’ve got some shopping to do, anyway. It’s no trouble.’
‘It’s just because we’ve not been able to be in contact with our group,’ Erin said. ‘It’s made us feel a bit twitchy.’
‘And your group will be at the bus station did you say?’ she asked.
‘They would have been early this morning but I don’t know where they’ll be now.’
‘My friend, Cindy, works there. I’ll give her a call and she can get a message to your group if they’re still there.’
‘Can you? Will you?’ Erin said. ‘We’d be so grateful.’
And with one call, Erin was speaking to Cally who sounded so relieved that Erin could hear the hours of stress she must have gone through in her voice.
‘They’re all waiting for us,’ Erin said. ‘I mean everyone is having a day and a night in Winnipeg and restarting the race at seven tomorrow. Can you believe that?’
‘That’s great,’ Sam said, nodding his head and not really sounding as delighted as Erin thought he might.
‘That 50k is back in play,’ she said encouragingly.
Sam lifted one side of his mouth in a half-smile.
He must be exhausted, Erin thought. It wasn’t a surprise after driving all night. He’d snap back to it once he got to the hotel and rested.
‘Right,’ Mabel said, clapping her hands together. ‘No excuse not to tuck into this breakfast then.’
So, they sat down and began to eat.