Against All Odds

Chapter 37

Two Days Later

STELLA

"Now, you be careful," dad said as he hauled my bedraggled, sorry-looking backpack from the trunk of the car. "I know you like gallivanting off to all these weird and wonderful places, but you still need to keep a sound head upon your shoulders."

I rolled my eyes playfully, helping him dump the bag on a trolley I had snatched that somebody else had abandoned to the side nearby. "You sound like mom."

He grinned at that, a gnarled hand covered in age spots smoothing down the wisps of silver hair that bothered him as they got blown by the wind wafting through the busy overpass. "She'd be worrying herself sick over you," he admitted. "So I have to do the worrying for her now."

"It's the Maldives, dad," I told him, pulling him into a tight hug. The last couple of days with him only reminded me of how much of a 'daddy's girl' I was. Mom always used to tell me how jealous she was of the relationship I had with my dad. We had spent countless hours joking with each other, drinking coffee while he read the newspaper and watched cricket on the TV. He told me about all the shenanigans going on in the garden with the birds, and now more recently moles, and how one of the neighbours was coming over more and more often to check on his solitary, lonely bachelor existence. As far as I was aware, dad hadn't actively sought out companionship after mom died and I wondered if perhaps it was time that he did. Seemed as if Petronella down the road thought so too. "I don't know how much trouble I could get into at a luxury, five star resort."

He gave me a speaking look as I pulled away from him. "Knowing you, you'll find some way."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." I chuckled, moving the trolley onto the pavement and out of the way of the drop-off parking bay. "Renew your passport, old man. I told you I have a month off after this and it'd be great if you came to visit me."

"We'll see." Colin dug his fists into the pockets of his shorts, his blue eyes looking suspiciously damp as he considered me for a long moment. "Give your brother a break for me, kiddo. He's trying hard and I know he's sincere about making things right with you."

The only thing I could do was offer my dad a tight, reassuring smile because I wasn't sure myself how things would pan out between Garth and I. Maybe he would stay clean and sort his shit out, but until I could be sure that he wouldn't go off the rails and fuck up our collective lives again, I was keeping my brother at arm's length. Dad had more of a forgive and forget mindset about life than I did. He always told me that the only effect a grudge had was to the person who was holding it. "I'll try my best."

He nodded, smiled, offered me one last hug, awkwardly coughed to one side, and then I was watching him climb into his creaky old car and pulling away from me. The uncertainty of when I would see him again weighed heavily on my mind, especially now that I could visibly spot the signs of age wearing his body down- the slowness of his gait, the deepening of wrinkles on his brow, and the overall forgetfulness was at odds with the memories I had of the man who raised me.

Feeling melancholic, I turned and pushed my trolley through a throng of people, entering the terminal through a glass sliding door. Scanning the crowds and the illuminated signboards above the check-in counters, I found my flight and joined the economy check-in line. Judging by the masses of people lining up before me, the flight would be full.

I stifled a groan at the prospect. It was a long flight and since there were no direct routes from Johannesburg to Malé, there was a very short layover in Qatar to break up the journey. I was looking at approximately fourteen hours of travel time to get to the Maldives. At least on this flight I had the time to shower and relax rather than rolling through the airport honking like a team of husky dogs.