Lizzie
Lizzie closed the door to her bathroom, pulled out her camera and sat down on the tiled ledge surrounding the bathtub. Her image appeared on the camera screen. The left side of her hair was flattened against her head, and had tuffs sticking out at odd angles. The tip of her nose and her cheeks shone pink from where the biting wind of the canyon had chilled her face.
‘So last night I said goodbye to my mum and dad, and Aaron. I’m so grateful to Channel 6, and to Caroline, for flying them out to see me. The time we’ve spent together this weekend has been magical.’ Lizzie felt the emotion of last night’s goodbye well to the surface. ‘When I said goodbye to my mum and dad at the start of all this I knew I wasn’t being fair on them, but I had ninety days and the start of our adventure to think about. Spending time with them this weekend has been so amazing, but saying goodbye again was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.’ A loan tear raced down her cheek.
‘I thought …’ Lizzie ran through the sentence in her head before forming the words, ‘… it was OK to be selfish, but now, I don’t know. A big part of me just wants to go home and cuddle my mum on the sofa, and eat her leek and potato soup, because right now, I really don’t know …’ Lizzie swallowed down the lump growing in her throat.
She drew in a breath and changed the subject before she said something she couldn’t take back. ‘So tomorrow we’re flying back to LA, and the day after that we leave for Brazil.’
‘Lizzie,’ Ben said, knocking on the door. His voice sparked an explosion of fireworks inside her. ‘Breakfast is here, and Caroline wants a word with all of you before she goes.’
‘I’ll be out in five,’ Lizzie replied, powering off the camera and staring at the door for a moment. She could see the shadows of his feet from the gap underneath the door. She had a sudden desire to yank it open and drag him into the shower with her, but she didn’t.
They hadn’t spoken since he’d lifted her onto the bed. Since they’d ripped off each other’s clothes … since he’d pulled her close so that every part of her naked body was touching his. A burning hunger spread through her.
Lizzie tiptoed to the shower cubicle and started the spray. She glanced back at the sliver of light from the doorway. His feet had gone.
Was he avoiding her? Was she avoiding him? Or had there simply been no time to talk away from the camera crew that had been following her with the assiduity of her own shadow. One thing was for sure, it wasn’t just adrenaline or shock that had brought them together. Every time she looked at him, the same yearning pull now grabbed hold of her, willing her to step into his arms.
Lizzie stepped into the shower and immersed herself in the prickles of hot water.
Bright sunlight spilled through the vast expanse of the window and painted rectangles on the soft carpet of the living room as Lizzie made her way to the edge of the sofa and the silver trays of food.
Samantha sat at the end of the L-shaped sofa, her head bent forwards, her face fixed in concentration as she scrolled through something on her phone. A slice of toast sat untouched beside her. Lizzie was glad to see her friend so happy, she just hoped it wasn’t masking part of the shock.
Jaddi sat cross-legged next to Samantha, munching on pastries in shorts and a cut-off T-shirt, which displayed not only her flat stomach, but the heel-shaped bruise left by David’s shoe print. Her hair was still wet and made wet lines on the back of her T-shirt.
‘So did you girls enjoy your surprise trip to Las Vegas?’ Caroline turned from the window and beamed at them. Her smile dropped as her gaze fixed on Samantha. ‘I meant other than that …’ Caroline laughed her tinkling laugh before fixing her eyes on Lizzie. The thin line of her eyebrows jumped an inch.
‘Er …thank you, Caroline,’ Lizzie said, swallowing a mouthful of toast, ‘for organising everything and for flying my family here to see me. Seeing them has been amazing.’
‘And the helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon that I managed to reschedule for last night …’
‘Was brilliant,’ Lizzie said, fidgeting with the cushions behind her back. Beneath its sleek leather finish, the sofa was hard and unforgiving.
‘I know it was emotional saying goodbye to your … er … loved ones last night.’ Caroline flicked a glance at Jaddi before focusing on Samantha. ‘I am just so sorry about the David thing. If only I’d known you’d broken-up—’
A sudden heat thrashed inside of Lizzie. ‘By thing, I assume you mean the kidnapping and attack of my two best friends by a deranged maniac?’
‘Drop it, Liz,’ Samantha said, lifting her face from her mobile. ‘It’s not your fault, Caroline.’
No one spoke. Lizzie sighed and followed the movements of a silver SUV in the distance, negotiating its way through the suburban streets. It reached a line of stationary cars and stopped outside the gated building of a school. Tiny red dots zipped around the playground inside the gates.
‘Well.’ Caroline clapped her hands together. ‘It’s almost time for me to catch my flight back to London. So I’ll be leaving you once again in Ben’s capable hands. But I do have a small favour to ask?
Lizzie glanced to Ben. He’d pulled one of the dining room chairs over to the sofa, and was eating a bowl of cereal with his back to the window. He smiled at Lizzie but gave no indication as to whether he knew what favour Caroline was about to ask. Their eyes remained fixed on each other for a moment too long.
‘How would you girls feel about moving your stay in New York from the end of your trip to next on the itinerary?’
Lizzie shrugged and scanned Jaddi and Samantha’s faces. Samantha looked up from her phone and focused her attention on Caroline.
‘Will we still get to go to South America?’ Jaddi asked.
‘Absolutely,’ Caroline nodded. ‘I promise. No more changes to your destinations, just the order.’
Jaddi shrugged. ‘Fine by me then, I guess, but why?’
‘Neil Mullon of The Sunday Night Late Show would like to have you on as special guests tonight. They phoned me last night after the latest episode had aired in the UK and asked if you’d consider it. The videos of you on stage with Guy Rawson are all over the internet, and they have picked us up a huge American following.’ Caroline watched their faces. ‘But you don’t have to do it. It would be great for Channel 6 and for me personally, but it’s by no means compulsory.’
‘I don’t know,’ Lizzie said. She looked at Jaddi and Samantha.
‘I don’t mind.’ Jaddi shrugged again before turning her face to Samantha.
‘I’m good with going to New York first, and with leaving here today,’ Samantha said, ‘but I don’t want to do the interview.’
‘No, no, of course not,’ Caroline said. ‘I can put a call into the producer. I’m sure it will be fine for just Lizzie and Jaddi to do it.’
‘Let’s go to New York then,’ Lizzie said.
Caroline grinned. ‘Fantastic. Thank you, girls. I’ll sort all the flights and accommodation out straight away,’ she said, already tapping the screen of her phone. ‘There’s a flight leaving for New York just before lunch time which will get you in, let me see, with the time difference, it lands at JFK at … six pm. Which gives you two hours to check into the hotel and make your way to the studio.’
With her eyes fixed on the screen of her phone, Caroline stepped towards the door. ‘Shoot, Lizzie, I almost forgot.’ She spun around. ‘Your doctor has been phoning the studio. Dr Hab-i-bi. Am I pronouncing that right? He’s trying to get in touch with you. Apparently he’s left several messages on your phone?’
Lizzie sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and forced her eyes to remain on Caroline. She could feel Ben’s gaze on her, no doubt scrutinising every twitch of her face. ‘Oh, my phone’s been off. I’ll call him in a minute. I’m sure he just wants to check I’m still taking my meds.’
Lizzie leant forward and plucked her last piece of toast from the tray on the coffee table. It lost its crunchy texture the moment it entered her mouth. The sweetness of the jam disappeared too, so that all she was left with was a chewy glob of cardboard. She continued to push her teeth into it whilst fighting to keep her face void of expression, as if she was eating her breakfast without a care in the world, and not spinning into a frenzy of panic at Caroline’s comment.
Only when she’d finished every last bite did she stand up. Blobs of red and yellow appeared in her vision again, adding to the dizzying affect.
It was an effort to walk in a straight line across the hotel living room. Lizzie pictured the pink and yellow teacups, on the seafront near her childhood home, and the ride operator, always a teenage boy in a white vest, always moving with purpose and ease between the teacups as if the ride was stationary when in actual fact it was rotating around and around.