Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
The line goes dead. I guess that tells me all I need to know. I have a father, and she’s clearly lying. Why won’t she just tell me the truth? I stare at my cell phone, my chest aching.
On impulse, I Google Gavin Hampstead and the first hit lists him working at a prestigious law firm based in New York. He’s one of the senior partners. If he is real, then I can’t help but wonder if this whole thing might just be real too. What would a scammer get out of pretending to be a solicitor for a dying man? He hasn’t asked for money or anything from me except a visit. What would a scammer get out of convincing me to go home, pack a suitcase, and wait for a car that isn’t coming?
Nothing, that’s what. This is no scam. This is real.
For a moment, the world dips and rolls, and I have to put out a hand to steady myself. I hang my head and breathe in deeply until the moment passes. Then I put my phone back into my purse, turn around and walk back into the bar. The heat wraps around me like a hug as I head back to our booth.
My friends are mid-argument about something to do with sex when I slip back into my seat. They stop when they see my face.
“Jo?” Jenny asks, instantly concerned. “What’s happened? Who was that?”
I look up slowly. “Apparently, my father is dying, and he wants to see me.”
For a moment, there is silence and three confused faces.
Then Serena reaches for my hand and breaks the silence. “Ok. Start from the beginning.”
So, I do. I tell them about Gavin Hampstead’s assertion that I googled him and he really is a solicitor at a New York firm, and about my mum’s reaction to my call. When I finish, Jenny looks like she might cry, Olivia looks like she might punch someone, and Serena looks like she’s already planning the logistics of my trip.
“Wow, this is huge,” Jenny gasps.
“It’s insane,” Olivia declares. “You didn’t know your father existed until tonight, and now he wants you to fly halfway around the world to meet him?”
“I’ve wanted a father my whole life,” I say softly. “The lawyer said he’s kept tabs on me my whole life. Something is not right. What if he didn’t walk away by choice?”
Serena squeezes my hand. “Then you go and talk to him and find out. Go with an open mind and the knowledge that you owe this man nothing, and that you can leave at any moment if things get ugly.”
Jenny nods. “I think you’ll regret it if you don’t go.”
My chest tightens. “I said I’d go, but I have to be honest. I’m a little scared.”
“Of course, you are,” Jenny says. “But you won’t be alone. We’ll all be just a call away if you need us. I could do with a holiday in New York.”
Olivia nods in agreement, and Serena changes her accent to a broad Brooklyn accent. “Yup, we could all do with a vacay in the Big Apple.”
I take a deep breath and offer them all a shaky smile.
“Holy shit, guys. Looks like I’m going to New York.”
Chapter
Three
JO
Istep into my flat and click the door shut behind me. The action seals me into the safe space I’ve claimed as my own. I don’t switch on the light; instead. I lean back against the door and let my eyes rove around. My flat is tiny, but it has character, and I love it. It’s the kind of place where everything has a story or a function.
The walls are pale yellow and filled with my paintings and sketches, each one a tiny rebellion against a world that is always trying to tell me to be ordinary. The faint scent of orange and spice from the little sachets tucked into the covers of my cushions hangs in the air. My cream sofa is a refurbished, re-upholstered Victorian daybed that someone had thoughtlessly abandoned by the roadside. It is wonderfully soft and inviting. I can see the outline of my favorite mug on the side table, still half-filled with the tea I never finished this morning.
It seems unbelievable that I’m about to leave this familiar and secure place behind and head across the Atlantic to meet a dying man who claims to be my father. My stomach flips at the thought, and my feet twitch with the impulse to do something that will make sense of the impossible.
The enormity of what I am about to do suddenly hits me. A tiny voice in my head whispers it’s too fantastical to be true. Can this really be happening to me? As a child it was my greatest dream. To have a father. To have what all the other girls in class had. I never had anyone to cheer me on from the sidelines. And I wanted it so bad, I was even prepared to pretend he was away on a long business trip.