Lizzie
Lizzie hugged her mum tighter as she felt her throat closing around her airway.
‘Surprise!’ her mum said. Lizzie could feel her mum’s shoulders shuddering inside their embrace.
‘I can’t believe you’re here. Aaron.’ Lizzie touched her hand to his wrist. ‘I thought you were injured. Didn’t you have a competition to win this week?’
Aaron rotated his wrists around and grinned. ‘If I’d have said I was pulling out of the competition for personal reasons then you might’ve guessed the surprise. This was way more important than any competition.’
Hot tears burnt at the corners of Lizzie’s eyes. ‘I’ve got so much to tell you. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff we’ve done.’
‘We have been watching, you know,’ Peter replied with his ‘dad chuckle’, which made Lizzie’s heart swell. It sounded like a mix between a Father Christmas ‘ho, ho, ho’ and a dog barking, but it was her dad’s laugh, and it always made merriment dance through her.
‘I forgot.’ Lizzie grinned.
‘Tell us anyway,’ her mum said, dabbing a tissue under her eyes. ‘I want to hear it.’
‘Oh, Evelyn.’ Her dad rolled his eyes. ‘She’s only watched every episode ten times. She probably knows more about what you’ve been doing that you do.’ Peter stretched an arm around his wife and dropped a kiss on the top of her head.
‘And you haven’t?’ Her mum smiled. ‘Which reminds me, where’s Ben?’ She dropped her voice to a whisper. ‘Is he filming? Are we allowed to say hello, or is that not cool?’
Lizzie laughed. ‘They can still hear you, Mum, even if you whisper. Ben’s not filming this weekend.’ She spun around and waved him over.
‘Hello, Mr Appleton, Mrs Appleton. It’s nice to meet you,’ Ben said, shaking their hands, which for some reason made Lizzie laugh again.
‘Nice to finally meet you, Ben, and call me Peter,’ her dad replied.
‘We’re so grateful for everything you’ve done for Lizzie,’ Evelyn said, ‘and for calling us when you did. It means so much to us to know that Lizzie is being looked after.’
‘You’ve been calling my mum and dad?’ She fixed her eyes on him and felt the familiar lurch in her stomach, urging her to move towards him.
Ben furrowed his forehead. ‘I was hoping you wouldn’t find out. It was just the once, whilst you were in hospital on the Gold Coast.’
‘Why?’
‘Because that idiot Harrison had called the papers and was standing on the steps of the hospital telling anyone who’d listen that you’d lost your sight. I knew it wouldn’t be long before it hit the British media, so I thought your parents would want to know you were OK.’
‘Oh.’ Lizzie stared at Ben. He smiled at her. ‘Thanks, I guess,’ she said, her stomach turning in somersaults.
Aaron stretched his hands above his head and opened his mouth in a long yawn. ‘Not that it’s not great to see you, sis, but I need to close my eyes for a minute, or have a shower or something, if I’m going to be awake for this helicopter ride later.’
‘What helicopter ride?’
‘Caroline’s arranged it,’ Ben said. ‘For all of us. You’ll be watching the sun set over the Grand Canyon from a helicopter tonight.’
‘And,’ Aaron continued, ‘we’re all staying in a massive suite on the forty-second floor. It even has a kitchen and a private butler,’ Aaron said. ‘You can pick up the phone, day or night, and ask him for anything.’
‘Wow.’ Lizzie cast her eyes around the lobby, searching for Caroline. She needed to say thank you, but the producer had disappeared, along with Jaddi. She caught sight of Samantha and David huddled in the corner.
‘I think we’ll go for a quick shower and change too,’ her mum added. ‘We set off for the airport at a ridiculous hour this morning.’
‘OK, Mum. Good idea. I’d better just say hi to David, then I’ll come up.’
‘We had a nice chat with him on the plane. Didn’t we, Peter? And Jaddi’s friend, Suk; she’s very nice too.’
‘She?’ Lizzie frowned, her mind reeling. Had she missed something?
‘That was her name, wasn’t it, Aaron? Jaddi’s … er … friend?’
‘Yep.’ He nodded.
‘See you upstairs in a bit,’ Peter said, before kissing her cheek.
Her eyes followed her family across the lobby. Pain gripped her chest. She thought she’d made peace with it – only having three months left. Now though, she wasn’t so sure. Seeing her family made the enormity of her situation wash over her again. Maybe she should have stayed at home, soaking up every last minute of her time with them.
‘I told you that you’d like it.’ Ben’s words startled her. A dizzying uncertainty clawed at her thoughts. She felt herself nod and turned in search of Samantha.
‘Hey, where’s David?’ Lizzie said, stepping towards the pillar Samantha was leaning against.
‘I … er … we broke up,’ Samantha said, her eyes wide and staring.
‘What? Just now?’
‘Sort of. I’ve known for a while it was over. Spending time away from him, and with you guys, has made me realise that he wasn’t good for me, you know? He came here expecting us to still be fine.’ She shrugged as if it was no big deal, but Lizzie could tell by the pale colour of her complexion that Samantha was masking her emotions, or trying to at least.
‘Why didn’t you say something?’ Lizzie stepped forwards and hugged Samantha’s rigid body.
‘I didn’t want to spoil your trip,’ Samantha said. ‘It’s not like you haven’t got enough to worry about.’
‘Oh, honey,’ Lizzie said, throwing an arm around Samantha’s shoulder, ‘I knew something was wrong in Vietnam. You were so quiet. Anyway, you breaking up with Mr Control Freak isn’t bad news.’
‘I thought you and Jaddi liked him?’
Lizzie tilted her head and gave a wry smile. ‘Probably about as much as you liked Harrison.’
‘Oh.’ Samantha frowned.
‘I’ve really missed you at the flat, you know. Jaddi never makes me a cup of tea in the morning and leaves it by my bed. When we get back to London, it will be just like it—’ Lizzie stopped and bit down on her lower lip. She dropped her gaze rather than stare at the anguish crumbling on Samantha’s face. Nothing would be as it was. There would be no going back.
A silence grew between them.
‘I can’t think about going back yet,’ Samantha said. Fresh tears welled in her eyes.
Hurt jabbed at Lizzie’s chest. What could she say to help Samantha, or herself? Nothing.
‘Where’re your mum and dad?’ Samantha asked, drawing in a long breath. ‘I haven’t said hello yet.’
‘They’ve gone for a shower. Caroline’s booked us all on this sunset helicopter thing over the Grand Canyon.’
‘She’s really pulled out all the stops,’ Samantha said.
‘Tell me about it. She’s even booked us all a suite, according to Aaron.’
‘Seriously? You mean I won’t have to put up with your night mutterings and Jaddi’s snoring for two nights?’
‘Looks that way.’
‘Talking of Jaddi –’ Samantha scanned the lobby ‘– did you see where she went?’
‘I’m not sure. Suk’s here. Maybe they went to look around.’
‘That was Suk? As in, Jaddi’s-secret-relationship Suk?’ Samantha’s mouth dropped open.
‘I think so.’ Lizzie nodded. ‘My mum said she introduced herself as Suk.’
‘Um … did you know Suk was female?’ Samantha asked.
‘You mean, did I have any clue that our best friend who we’ve lived with for nine years was in a relationship with a girl?’
Samantha nodded. ‘Yes.’
Lizzie shook her head. ‘None whatsoever. You?’
‘Nope.’ Samantha shook her head. ‘Although, for some reason, I’m not surprised. Do you know what I mean?’
‘I was thinking the same thing. She’s always been kind of protective about her love life. She was forever walking out of the room or the door whenever we tried to get any information out of her.’
‘No wonder she was hiding Suk from her family, though. I mean, that’s going to be tough on both of them,’ Samantha said. ‘But what about us? Aren’t you just a little hurt that she didn’t tell us?’
‘I don’t think I am,’ Lizzie said. Lizzie stared into Samantha’s pale-blue eyes when she spoke. ‘Sometimes, people keep secrets from the ones they love the most to protect them from being hurt. They start down a road and before long they know there’s no going back. But whatever we’re feeling right now, we need to put it to one side and look at the bigger picture. Our friend needs our support, now more than ever.’ Lizzie paused. ‘She’ll need your support,’ she corrected in a low voice.
Samantha’s face fell. She opened her mouth and closed it again before shaking her head and pulling Lizzie in for a hug. Lizzie felt a jolt of guilt as she hugged her back.
‘Come on, let’s go and meet Suk,’ Lizzie said a moment later, taking Samantha’s arm.