All at Once

Chapter Thirty-One

For some reason, I felt the overwhelming need to stuff the small, white paper bag into my new, bottle green satchel before I stepped out of the nurse's office. Even as an adult woman in a stable relationship, something about being given a bag full of contraceptives on a sunny Thursday morning caused my face to burn a fiery pink as I headed out into the maze of the hospital corridors.

Finding my way back to the main reception shouldn't have been as impossible as it was, yet every corner seemed to lead me back on myself until I stood staring up at the sign I'd already seen once that morning.

Muttering a few quiet curse words about ending up back outside the entrance to 'Family Planning/OB-GYN' once again, I huffed and turned on my heel.

"Abigail?"

Glancing back down the corridor, my eyes fell upon a tall, middle-aged man, his light brown hair flecked with grey and his blue eyes crinkled at the corners.

"Oh! Hi," I smiled, desperately trying to rack my brain for the name he'd given me when we'd met just a few days before at my mum's bedside.

As though he knew what I was thinking, he held the name badge pinned to his white coat between his thumb and forefinger.

"John Maynard," he whispered.

I'm sorry, that was really rude of me," I said, shaking my head. "My head's all over the place today."

Following my eye line, he glanced towards the doors of the family planning unit.

"Everything okay?" he asked with a hint of concern furrowing across his brow.

"Yes, I'm all good, thanks," I said, waving my hand nonchalantly to dismiss any suspicion. "How are you?"

"I'm well, thank you Abigail. Tell me, how's your mum doing? She hasn't been in touch yet, but so long as she's getting some rest I suppose I'll forgive her."

Something about the way he spoke was kind and comforting. His eyes took on a subtle glimmer when he began to talk about my mum, the same glimmer hers had once upon a time.

"She's getting plenty of rest, don't worry. I've made sure of that."

"She's very lucky, you know?" he continued. "For a person her age to have such a massive cardiac arrest is quite unusual. Someone must have been looking down on her that night."

I doubt Doctor Maynard knew about my dad, but I'd already thought as much myself. Someone definitely was looking out for her. Someone wanted her to stay alive, to carry on living. Maybe even to find happiness of her own again.

Before I could think straight, the words tumbled from my lips.

"Why don't you pop in once you finish here?" I said. "I'm sure mum would be pleased to see a familiar face other than mine."

He let out a gentle laugh. "I don't know how familiar my face is to her these days," he smiled. "It's been nearly thirty years since we were close."

"No," I smiled back, "She'd love it. I'm sure of it."

I could almost see the cogs in his brain whirring as he figured out just how weird it would be to accept a random invite from the daughter of a woman he'd been childhood friends with.

After a brief pause, his puzzled smile broke into a grin and his bright eyes shone turquoise in the harsh light of the hospital corridor.

"Okay then, why not?" he laughed. "I finish up here at around three. Would it be completely unprofessional of me to say I can find out the address for myself?"

I laughed as I nodded in approval. "Can always rely on the NHS for the utmost in patient confidentiality."

John let out a genuine laugh, his deep voice echoing around the corridor.

"Debbie's dry sense of humour didn't skip a generation, I see."

Causing me to jump, the sharp vibration of my phone in the back pocket of my jeans was accompanied by a loud ring.

"Sorry," I flapped, reaching my hand behind my back. "I thought it was on silent."

"It's fine, you're allowed phones in hospitals nowadays," John said, a wry smile curling up on one side of his mouth and causing a small dimple I hadn't noticed to pop in his cheek. "Even NHS hospitals."

As I mirrored his smile and silenced the call, John was already turning to leave.

"I'll see you this afternoon, then," he said.

"See you then," I replied, giving him a wave before swiping my finger across the screen to answer the unknown number.

By the time the call came to an end, I'd somehow found my way out of the labyrinth of a hospital on autopilot and was sat on a bench outside staring at the phone in my hand.

Taking a deep breath, I scrolled through the phonebook until Noah's name came up and I tapped it with my thumb.

He answered within two rings.

"Hey, Abs, how's it going?"

I wanted to get the small talk out of the way, to tell him about bumping into Doctor Maynard and how I'd gotten on at the family planning clinic, but instead I launched straight into a tirade of overexcited rambling.

When he could finally get a word in edgeways, Noah spoke up.

"So, hold on. Arla's team wanted the duet? The one we wrote that night in the studio?"

"Yep."

"And she's going to release it with Shaun Carerra? As in, poster boy pop icon Shaun Carrera?"

"Yep."

"So, unless I'm massively wrong we could be looking at a massive hit here? Like, worldwide Number One kind of hit?"

"Yep."

I could picture his grin as a couple of seconds' silence fell between us.

"Fuck," he finally said. "This is amazing. You're amazing."

"Yep," I replied, basking in the glow of his laugh as it travelled through the phone and wrapped its warmth around me.

They say bad things always come in threes. After the shit hitting the fan for The Ambition, Charlotte's trial ending in a 'not guilty' judgment and then mum nearly dying, it felt as though the sun was finally starting to shine once more.

Things were good. Life was good. And I couldn't have been happier.