The next morning, I wake up and look at my phone. I have seventeen missed calls and it’s only 6:23 a.m.
Lauren is very grumpy. “Your phone keeps giving out bad blue light. It’s kept me awake.”
“I’m sorry, Loz,” I reply. “It was on silent. It just wasn’t on dark. Danny has tried to call me loads of times. He told me he was in the middle of nowhere without reception!”
Lauren is still half awake. “Try calling him back when it’s morning!”
I don’t even try to explain to her that it IS morning. I go to the bathroom and I try to call Danny back, but there’s no reply. I try again just for luck, and he answers.
He seems a bit stressed.
“Hello, Millie! Hang on … Hang on. Just let me go to this washing line. Hang on. It’s night here. Hang on. There’s no point in doing video. It won’t work. Is it true you’re coming here? Mum rang the store in the next village to us!”
“Yes!” I yelp. “In a couple of weeks! Tourism Toronto is paying for it. We can see each other! You will be back in Toronto, won’t you?”
Danny goes quiet and then replies, “Yeah! I should be. That’s great! Anyway, I’ve got to go. It’s not really safe out here. Bears! I’ll send you my home address, though, when I’m back in civilization. Bye, Mills.”
And he hangs up.
I stand by the sink for a few minutes and think about what just happened.
Why did he tell me he wouldn’t have phone reception when he does? Why wasn’t he as excited as everyone else when I told him we were going to Canada? Why have I got this terrible feeling in my stomach that things are not quite right?
Mum knocks on the door. “Hurry up, will you, Millie?!”
I unlock it and step outside. Mum can see I’m wearing a frowny face and asks me if I’m okay. I tell her I’m just tired. That’s partly true, but I’m mainly wondering if my boyfriend is already seeing someone else and if she also lives in the Canadian wilderness. Perhaps she’s been there all this time—waiting for him and carving animals from wood. Or something.
When I go back in the bedroom, Lauren murmurs, “Did you speak to Bradley? Sorry, I mean Danny. I get mixed up in the morning.”
“Yeah,” I reply. “He could speak to me. I don’t think he was that excited, though.”
Lauren wakes up incredibly quickly. “Why?” she yells.
“Just a feeling I get. I think there might be someone else, Loz!”
“No, Mills!” Lauren shouts. “He loves you. You can tell. I think he was just distracted by the—”
“Bears.” I finish her sentence.
Lauren brightens up. “Exactly! Bears! And they are scary. That’s why the Polish army had one in World War Two!”
As Lauren is back on her favorite bit of trivia ever, I check the reaction to the Canada vlog. Some of it is annoying.
I only watch this for Dave! I don’t think I’ll watch Canada if she’s not there.
(I can’t smuggle her in my hand luggage!)
That’s a long way to go for such a short time.
(As Mum says, we don’t turn down a free holiday! We will deal with the jet lag.)
Toronto has the world’s longest road. Can you check it out for me, please, and get some footage?
(This is from Bradley. Yes, of course I will.)
Whatever anyone says, Canada is happening. I’m just worried that Danny and I might not be.