Broken Silence (Silence, #2)(32)
I woke in the morning to Leona shouting my name over and over.
“Untle Ole, untle Ole! Get up,” she sang, slamming her hands down on my bed. I loved her, but I was installing a lock on my door.
Groaning, I forced my head up. “Alright, I’m up!”
She grinned, turned, and ran out of the room. Was there even a point in waking me? She didn’t want anything!
I suddenly realised that today was the start of the trial. Shit! I grabbed my phone and called Oakley.
“Hello,” she mumbled sleepily. Great so not only was today the first day of her dad’s trial, but I just woke her up to remind her…
“Hey,” I said, wincing at how dumb I was.
“Before you ask, I’m fine, and I will be fine. Mum and Jasper are amusing me until you get off work.” Then, softly, “I’m not a child, you know?”
“Oh believe me, I know!”
She laughed quietly, “Behave.”
“But I find it so hard around you.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“I’m not even going to waste my time arguing over that.”
“Go to work, Cole. I’ll see you at lunch.”
“Okay. I love you.”
She sighed, and I could sense her smile.
“I love you too.”
I found it only half weird that we said that to each other, but we weren’t together. It felt so natural.
We hung up, and I forced myself out of bed. Forcing a smile as I walked into my office, I flopped down in my chair and debated sleeping for a bit. Would anyone notice? Hmm, probably…
I wanted the whole day off, but I had a few urgent things to deal with. Usually I would hang out in the kitchen for a few minutes, drinking coffee and chatting to my colleagues, but today I made a mug of coffee and got straight to work. At quarter past twelve I was done.
“It’s all finished,” I told Glen, leaning against his door.
“Already? I don’t think you’ve ever worked that quickly. I’ll expect that every day.” He joked. At least I hoped he was joking!
“Hey, I can work that quickly. I just don’t want to make everyone else look bad.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Get off now then. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Cole.”
I nodded once. “Thanks. See you later.”
Oakley was on my mind the whole time as I drove back to my house to change, but that wasn’t a surprise. I really didn’t want to go looking at boring carpets and different shades of the same colour paint, but she was excited about it so I could suck it up for the afternoon.
As I stopped in front of the house, she came walking out. Her eyes were tight with stress, and she walked with a clear, single purpose – getting away from whatever had been going on inside.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, anxiously.
She shook her head.
“If I don’t leave now I’m gonna kill them both, I swear!” She took a deep breath. “And new rule, don’t ask me if I’m okay.”
“I take it you’ve heard that a lot today.”
“Every five seconds. If I left the room for longer than a minute, one of them followed me and asked how I was.” She got in the car, laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.
“It’s only because they care.”
“I know it is, but it drives me crazy! I’m not the only one going through this, but they only focus on me. Anyway, can we change the subject? How was work?”
I shrugged. “Fine.”
“That’s what you used to say when your mum asked how school was.” That was the universal reply to the ‘How was school?’ question. “I thought you like your job?”
I did until you came back. “I do like it. Just had other things on my mind.”
“I would ask what those things are, but I have a feeling I’ll have to tell you to behave yourself again.”
Shrugging innocently, I turned the key in the ignition and started the car. “Smart girl.”
“Do you have the room measurements?” she asked.
“Yep. Ready to be bored to death in a carpet shop?”
“Yep,” she replied, mimicking my voice badly.
Walking into the carpet shop, I fell into a deep boredom. I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t want to start.
Oakley laughed at the expression on my face.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s just rows and rows of rolled up carpet.” Oakley shot me a warning look. “I know that’s what it’s supposed to be, but it’s so boring. If I worked here, I’d suffocate myself in one of those rolls.”
Someone cleared their throat behind me. “Can I help you?”
Oh shit. I grimaced, and Oakley replied, “No, thank you.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. As soon as the door closed behind us she turned and slapped my arm.
“I can’t believe he heard what you said! That was so embarrassing!”
“Well they shouldn’t creep up on you then.” I linked her arm in mine and we walked on, laughing.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in DIY shops. I was instructed not to talk to anyone. Ever again, actually. By the end of the day I had, well Oakley had, picked out carpet for my house, and I had some say in the paint. Apparently I had to pick actual colours.