Never Giving Up

Chapter 22

"My mum said she'll drop off some homemade food for your mum and siblings today. She's also offering to do a food shop for your mum so she doesn't need to think about having food in the house for Declan and Chloe to eat."

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Allison's lips moving but I can't really hear what it is she's saying to me. It's been like that since the moment we got in the car to go to work, neither of us opting to put the radio on this morning like we always do as soon as we get into the car for whatever reason.

Simply put, it's not a radio type of morning.

It hasn't been much in the way of music or television type of days since Saturday if I'm honest.

I spent the rest of yesterday afternoon with Luca then last night with Allison like I said I would. It worked out well seeing as Luca had an impromptu business meeting with Fredrick after he landed here with Jade, and Allison and I both had to prepare ourselves for starting back to work today. We couldn't have planned it any better and for all neither Allison nor myself – especially me – wanted to go back to work today, it's a welcomed distraction.

Minutes pass, traffic gets heavier, and buildings come and go as the car gets closer to my office on Grosvenor Street. I can't help all the yawning I've been doing every five minutes or so during the car ride. I didn't get much sleep last night, about three hours worth in total if I'm lucky.

I kept waking up and checking my phone for a message from someone in my family to give me some news about my dad. The last message I got was from Chloe telling me that my dad still hadn't woken up but that they were going to try and wake him up at some point today. They couldn't say when for sure, but it was going to happen for definite today.

If I wasn't doing that, I was having nightmares about my dad having to be rushed back in for surgery and dying on the table. Those dreams had me waking up with such a start that my breathing was erratic. I couldn't calm down and thought I was going to wake Allison up the way I was acting. Seeing as she can be a heavy sleeper at times, I know she would have come into my room and helped calm me down if she wasn't in a deep sleep.

The only thing that seemed to calm me down and help me to sleep was the texts I received from Luca as soon as I text him saying I couldn't sleep and was having nightmares. Each and every time I woke up, I would text him and then fall asleep after a few responses from him which had me forgetting for a small moment that everything else in my life wasn't as in check as what our relationship was.

"Kaylee," Allison says firmly.

I avert my eyes down to my red trouser covered legs and run a finger down the ironed creases running over my knees. I yawn once more and tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"I'll see you then," Allison finishes, bringing her car to a stop outside my office building.

I finally look at her and frown when I notice that we've come to a complete stop. I look out the window at my office building then back to Allison. "Are we here already?"

"We are," she confirms.

"I didn't notice."

"Did you even hear what I was saying to you?"

"Not really," I admit.

She flashes me a heartfelt smile and grasps one of my hands in hers, giving it a small squeeze. "I said I'll pick you up when you finish and take you to the hospital if you don't get a call before finishing time."

"Oh." I take my seatbelt off and prepare to get out the car. "That's fine. I'll let you know."

"Please do."