Tammy rubbed her face with her hands, trying to think about what to do. Maybe her dad was right — maybe she should just leave Liberty and never come back. Sure, she’d be turning her back on whatever this new thing with Finn and Conor was, but she’d also be leaving behind a bunch of problems…
She just couldn’t do it, though. She couldn’t have done it before looking at these blood results, and shedefinitelycouldn’t do it now.
She had a mission here.
‘There are certain things that only a doctor knows,’ she said to herself under her breath.
She found Conor and Finn at the pub. When Tammy pushed the door open, the two brothers looked up at her with weary smiles on their faces.
‘Tamster,’ Finn said, just before Conor uttered, ‘Tam-Tam.’
‘Good morning,’ she said, in a way that sounded more formal than she had intended.
There was an atmosphere in here that was hard to describe. Even though she’d barely seen Shay since moving to Liberty, she felt his absence acutely.
‘How are you doing?’ Conor asked. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. She wondered if he’d slept in them.
‘I’ve been better,’ she said. ‘Is Shay…?’
‘Gone,’ Finn said with a nod. ‘Not sure where to, of course. He didn’t say a word. Don’t even know if he packed.’
‘Good,’ Tammy said, but she definitely didn’t mean it.
‘You reckon?’ asked Finn, giving voice to her concerns.
‘I don’t know. I’m in shock. Still can’t believe my father came all the way out here.’
‘He either cares deeply for you or is a dangerous psychopath,’ Finn said.
‘Probably both,’ Conor offered.
Tammy drew in a deep breath. She had to ask them, and now was the time.‘I need to know,’ she began. ‘Is there anything you need to tell me? About your pasts?’
They shifted uncomfortably, glancing at each other knowingly. ‘What do you mean?’ Conor asked.
‘My dad said there are things I should know about you. He was dramatic. Said there were things only a doctor knows.’
Conor gave a wry smile. ‘You wanna know about my chicken pox scar?’
‘Conor, now’s not the time for jokes.’
‘Sorry. You know me.’
There was a moment of silence. The brothers looked at each other, then at the floor. Conor opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Finn interrupted. ‘Come with us.’
*
Although Conor hadn’t been informed of the plan by Finn, his twin instinct was giving him a pretty good idea. They’d piled into Finn’s beat-up old Volkswagen and hit the road, presumably to get to some neutral ground, away from Liberty and Haze and her father, away from the brand-new, box-fresh baggage that they’d been piling onto the already-groaning cart of their relationship.
But Conor was surprised when, after nearly an hour of driving, they pulled up at a Whataburger.
The brothers got out of the car first, and Conor hissed: ‘A burger joint? Why?’
‘Fast food joints feel safe. Unassuming.’
‘But… a burger bar? It’ll be hard to talk.’
‘Nah, the music and families make loads of noise. No-one will be listening.’ He shrugged. ‘Plus, I’m really hungry and I’ve never been to Whataburger before.’