Читать книгу As Far as the Stars - Virginia Macgregor - Страница 16

Chapter Six

15.48 EST

Except, when I get to the car, it’s not there.

Blake’s car.

The mustard yellow 1973 Buick convertible that he loves like it’s a living thing.

The car which has my rehearsal dinner dress in it, and my bridesmaid’s dress and Blake’s suit and Leda’s food.

The car Dad was going to drive Jude and Stephen to the airport in after the wedding, to catch the flight to Florence for their honeymoon.

The car that was my one chance of getting to the wedding on time.

Leda barks at the empty space where I parked it, like she’s seeing a ghost.

My head spins.

I look around and then spot a parking notice taped to a post next to where I left the Buick.

I peel it off but I already know what’s happened.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

It’s been impounded. Obviously, it’s been impounded – it’s what happens when you leave a car illegally parked in the pick-up zone for close to three hours. I’ve given Blake this lecture before. Blake who parks anywhere, anyhow, thinking he’ll get away with it because he’s Blake Shaw and that somehow makes him untouchable.

I put Leda down. She pees against the post where the parking notice was taped and then starts whimpering.

I feel like screaming. At the sky and the sun and all the planes flying overhead. At whoever it is who decided to land me in this shit storm of a situation.

I think of Blake’s car on the back of some horrible truck being carted to an impounding lot miles and miles from here.

I think about how much money it will cost to get it back – money I don’t have.

And I think about how long all this is going to take.

But instead of screaming, I take my telescope off my back and sit down on the sidewalk. I slump my shoulders and all the oxygen goes out of my body.

Leda lies down beside me and rests her head on my lap.

I stroke the spot she likes to have rubbed behind her ears: a soft, silky bit, the colour of gold, amongst all the rough, straggly fur.

‘What are we going to do?’ I ask her.

She looks up at me with her dark, glassy eyes like she’s asking me the exact same question.

I wrap my arms around her and close my eyes.