Being away from the barn also meant Carrie managed to get into an area with phone signal. After checking her emails and scanning through the 234 new messages to pick out any important ones, she called up the office to check in. Finally she got through to Leanne who told her to enjoy her time off and not to worry about work as it would still be standing once she got back in 12 days. Carrie didn’t want to say on the phone that she would be back the day after for fear Leanne would stop her. She would rather just turn up and face the arguments face to face and then end up back to work.
Carrie also had a few text messages from Leah asking her how it was going, if she had arrived safely and how were her mum and Jason. She texted back a quick reply telling Leah she would call her and fill her in as soon as she got back the next day, before switching her phone off and putting it back in her bag.
After a couple of hours spent in the town, Carrie stayed with her mother whilst Jason went to fetch the car. Spending so much time out had exhausted her and the extent of her illness showed. Carrie put her arm around her mum’s shoulders to help keep her warm and could see the pain in her mum’s eyes from the headaches the tumour was causing and it broke Carries heart to see her mum in so much pain.
The journey back was better than Carrie had expected, her mum had dozed in the backseat and even though she was left with just the company of Jason it wasn’t that bad.
“So you plan on going back tomorrow then?” he questioned, not taking his eyes away from the road
“I have to get back for my job Jay; I’ve missed a lot being off this much”
“You’re entitled to holidays though right? So when do you take them?” he asked glancing at her quickly before returning his focus to the country lane.
“I am but I like my job and like being ahead with what I do, so I don’t take them anymore. Instead they pay me the time I am owed plus my salary at the end of the year if I don’t take it” Sighing Carrie stared out of the window; she hadn’t taken a holiday since her honeymoon with Ian.
“So there is no way you can stay a few days longer? I know Lacey would love to see you, and I’m sure you would love to see Mia”
He was right; she would have loved to have seen her gorgeous niece again after so long. What would another day hurt? Sighing, she nodded and lent her head against the cold glass of the window. She felt like she could sleep for a week. The emotional stress of everything was beginning to take its toll as well as the insomnia it had caused her.
“1 more day to see Mia, but then I really do need to get back home” she said quietly.
“Thank you” Jason muttered quietly.
The rest of the drive home was a quiet one, Jason concentrating on driving, their mother fast asleep and Carrie sat just staring into space and thinking.
Chapter 6
“Damn it” Said Jason slamming the oven door shut, making Carrie and Anne both jump.
“Looks like the element has gone” Jason muttered whilst fiddling with the controls of the oven. Carrie stood up and grabbed her coat
“Who do I need to speak to about it? I’ll go find them, I assume they live on the premises?” She asked slipping the coat over her arms.
“The owner is over in the old farmhouse, go across the courtyard and around the buildings and it’s behind there” Jason shouted
Carrie left the barn and started to walk across the courtyard when she spotted the same guy she had seen in the garden behind the
Learning to Kill: Stories