Absolution(22)

Jack wanted to ask her how, but he didn’t have the words. Her body language, the look on her face, everything about her screamed that he needed to be careful. He searched relentlessly for an opening, a sign, anything. She shook her head slowly, her eyes clouded with emotion so thick that he couldn’t penetrate. He lowered his gaze to her legs. She was using crutches, her hands gripping the handles so tightly that her knuckles glowed white, visible even from where he stood. But she was standing – no wheelchair. His heart soared.

“You’re walking.”

The words hung in the air between them. Every time he had imagined this moment – and there had been literally hundreds – never had he thought that she would just be standing in front of him like this. It was a miracle.

“You need to get out of here,” Callum interrupted, taking a step towards him.

Jack put his hands up in self-defense, automatically taking a step backwards as he tore his gaze away from Ally to face Callum’s anger head-on.

“Fair warning, Jack.”

Hatred spilled out between each word as Jack’s body reacted to the trauma, breaking into a cold sweat.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, taking another step backwards.

Callum pushed him roughly and Jack stumbled back, caught off guard.

“Don’t make me say it again.”

“I’m sorry, I –“

“Save it,” Callum hissed. “Bottom line here? Not interested.”

Jack had difficulty thinking straight as confusion, guilt and fear swirled in his head and his heart, pulling him off-centre. The fury that rolled off Callum did not surprise him. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Callum immediately shut him down.

“You need to go.”

“I didn’t mean to –“

“Where the hell do you get off?” Callum demanded, close enough for Jack to see the fire in his eyes. He pointed at the church beside them. “Your father’s in there, Jack – his coffin is in there! And you stand out here and say you’re sorry?” He shook his head, almost foaming at the mouth with the effort it took to keep his temper under control. “It’s a little late for sorry, don’t you think?”

His heart sank, the truth slicing through it like a knife through butter.

“Callum, please!” Ally cried desperately.

“I don’t want to fight,” he said. “I just… I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Callum frowned, shaking his head. “You have no idea do you? You just thought that if you couldn’t see what was going on here, it wasn’t happening? Do you realise how selfish that was – what that did to him? To Ally, to me?”

Jack struggled to keep it together. Every word seemed to weaken his resolve, wearing him down. He took another step backwards, closely followed by Callum.

“Look, I know –“

“You know nothing!” Callum shouted, bearing down on him.

“Stop it!” Ally begged. “Please don’t do this!”

“Why couldn’t you have come back last week? Or last month, or a year ago? But no, you come back for your Dad’s funeral. What the hell is the point of that?”

“Hey!” Maggie demanded, appearing out of nowhere. “What’s going on here?”

Jack glanced over Callum’s shoulder at Maggie, standing with her arm around a sobbing Ally. Jane stood behind them, watching closely.

“Stop this, right now!” Maggie hissed at Callum.

Callum glared at him, struggling to control his temper, before finally turning to rejoin Ally, Maggie and Jane. The four of them stood there, watching Jack in stony silence, united against him.

“You’ve got every right to be pissed,” he said, addressing Callum.

“You think?” Callum’s nostrils flared. “I have no idea why you even came back here. It’s too late for Tom, and we don’t need you anymore – we needed you four years ago, but you disappeared like the coward you are and left us to deal with everything, which we did – without you.”

Faint strains of a hymn carried out on the wind from the funeral service still progressing inside the church.

Callum took a step closer. “Do you even know what that did to him, you running off like that? Do you have a clue at all?”

Jack’s heart hammered in his chest and he opened his mouth to speak, but Callum wasn’t interested in anything he had to say. Callum took another step towards him and grabbed the collar of his jacket. Backing him up against the nearest tree, Callum drew his fist back.