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I nodded, my face threatening to crumple into tears again. Bawling in front of Theo would not be my reaction of choice, shock or no shock.

‘He’s OK,’ I mouthed. ‘He had a fall, but he’s all right.’

Theo mimed being relieved and I ended the call with Kate, letting her know that I’d be home as soon as I could, probably tomorrow morning now as I doubted I’d get a flight tonight. I suggested to Kate that she ought to be at the hospital with Dad, but of course she made some excuse about having her book club group round and not being able to cancel.

‘What about Zach?’ I asked. ‘Can he get himself down there?’

‘I’ll ring him, but I can’t guarantee he’ll go,’ she said.

‘Well one of you is going to have to be with Dad at the hospital and I don’t care which one!’ I stated with conviction.

‘Fine. But seriously, Scarlett, I don’t know how you put up with him, you must have the patience of a saint to do everything you do. He’s just so difficult all the time! Sonegative.’

‘I know.’

I got it, of course I did, but he was our dad and we loved him so we had no choice but to carry on.

‘I’ll be there as soon as I can. But until then it’s up to you two to take charge,’ I reiterated.

Once I’d put the phone down, Theo looked at me with concern.

‘Do you need to get home?’

I nodded, wiping a stray tear from the corner of one eye and hoping to God that Theo hadn’t noticed. The familiar tug of guilt was in danger of engulfing me, showing me all the things I’d done wrong, all the ways I’d contributed to Dad’s accident: I was too far away, I should never have left the country, I should be in Cambridge sorting everything out for everyone. I shouldn’t be in the South of France having a nice time with nice people, one in particular. I’d got carried away out here, imagining that I could have a normal kind of life with a reasonable amount of freedom and the independence to do what I wanted with who I wanted when I wanted. I’d let my guard down and now look what had happened.

Theo slid his own phone out of his back pocket.

‘I’ll find you a flight,’ he said, tapping on his keypad.

‘I can do that,’ I said, not wanting to put him out or – more importantly – for him to think I’d fallen apart and therefore couldn’t manage to do any of this by myself.

‘I’m perfectly aware that you can do it, Scarlett,’ said Theo, his voice soft and soothing, ‘but you have other things to get on with, I imagine. So let me do this one thing for you. Let me make things a little bit easier.’

I almost told him no, that I didn’t need him, that he should go back to the dinner table and enjoy his meal. But there were new feelings in the mix, too: a realisation thathe had noticed me and had picked up on the fact that I was momentarily struggling. That he was prepared to help me without question and that it didn’t mean I was any less of a capable person. And wouldn’t I have done the same for him, or anyone around that table? Of course I would have done, in a heartbeat. And so I let him google flights from Nice to London while I called Dad’s local hospital, Addenbrookes. I managed to get through to the ward he was on and they told me he was comfortable and sleeping and that visiting times were the following day now, 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. I asked them to give him a message from me when he woke up: that I’d be there as soon as I could, that I was on my way and not to worry. And then, without over-thinking it, I texted Kate. She was probably fed up with me saying the same thing about three times, but I wanted to make sure she understood that for once she was going to have to be the one to step up.

Kate, Dad is sleeping now but somebody needs to get there at 2 p.m. sharp tomorrow to be with him. Either you or Zach. No excuses, he needs you.

I took a deep breath and pressed send, immediately, ignoring the feeling that I needed to add an addendum, something about me being there as soon as I could. If she knew I was on my way, she’d be likely to wait for me to swoop in and fix the situation, which was how our dynamic pretty much always played out. But the fact remained that Dad needed at least one of his children with him and if it couldn’t be me, it would have to be one of the other grown adults he and Mum had produced.

‘There’s a BA flight tomorrow morning at 10.40 a.m., gets you into Heathrow at 11.45 a.m. UK time. Shall I book you a seat?’ asked Theo, getting his credit card out of his pocket.

I’d pay him back, of course I would, but for now it feltunbelievably good that he was here and that he was doing this for me. I smiled gratefully at him.

‘Yes, please.’

Chapter Twenty-Five

The following morning at eight o’clock, Claire walked me out to the waiting taxi. Melissa came rushing out to say goodbye, too, pressing her card into my hand.

‘I do individual therapy, too,’ she said, winking at me.

I hugged her and Claire and when I looked up, Theo was there, looking all French Riviera chic in a Lacoste polo shirt and blue jeans and the suede desert boots he’d worn every day since we’d been here. I waved to Claire and Melissa as they rather unsubtly crept back into the hotel, presumably wanting to leave us to it.

‘Did you get some sleep?’ he asked.

I shook my head. ‘Not much. Don’t tell me you can hear me tossing and turning in bed as well as singing in the shower.’

He laughed. ‘I just assumed. News like that isn’t usually conducive to sleep.’