That night I hardly managed to get any sleep, I spent the whole night worrying about my dad. My dad would always let me know if plans were being changed and he keeps his phone with him at all times, I had never been more worried in my life.
The next morning when I went down for breakfast Dixie was already there, I tried to act as normal, but that's kind of difficult when you're being interrogated.
"You alright sweetheart?" Dixie asked.
"What?.. Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.
"So what time did you eventually get back at?" She laughed.
"Can't remember" I said.
At this point Jeff strolled into the kitchen,
"Mornin' Dix, mornin' Lee. I'm completely shattered, hand over the grub." He always calls me Lee, I hated it at first, though I kind of like it now.
He sat and devoured his toast, then he turned to me, "so where's this person you said you were bringing home?"
"They were unable to make it, something came up yesterday," I mumbled.
"You ain't been ditched by some fella have you? Cos you seem a bit upset, which I don't like to see and in all honesty, I would feel uncomfortable with some guy of yours stayin' here anyway." He quizzed.
"No, no it's nothing like that, I don't have a boyfriend, you don't need to worry about anything like that, something has cropped up, that's all," I hated it when he spoke about this kind of thing, especially as I've never really been with a guy before.
The awkward conversation came to an end and we made our way to work.
We arrived at the hospital and Jeff sent me in to fetch Jamie while they prepared the ambulance. After about ten minutes of looking I eventually found him talking to Robyn by a cubicle.
"Alright Jamie, time to go," I said.
"Okay." he said following me.
On the way out he asked me if my dad was home yet, he was the only person I had told about my dad coming home. I told him that he wasn't on the plane and that I had no idea where he was.
"I'm sure he's fine," he replied as we approached the ambulance, "I mean, he probably had to get a different flight or something and forgot to tell you, or too busy, he'll probably call you later."
"Probably," I mumbled. I really hoped that he was right, I doubted it though. I never told him about the strangers answering the phone.
Later on in the shift we stopped at a local café to get some lunch, everything had been relatively normal so far and work had distracted me from my anxious thoughts. I saw that the café had a small television in the corner, playing the news, I payed little attention to it though as I knew that Jeff would watch it later and spend the rest of the day complaining about it. It was a quiet lunch, until something on the news caught my eye. There had been an accident at an airport in Sierra Leone, it didn't say much, only that a couple of British men had been killed. What if my dad was one of them? What if he was dead? He couldn't be! They never said who they were but I was sure one of them was my dad.
"You alright Leah?"
"What's wrong?"
"Are you okay?"
My hands were shaking and I had no idea of what was going on around me. I leapt out of my seat and ran from the café. I heard people calling on me but I didn't stop, not until I had collapsed against a wall and burst into tears. The voices caught up with me, I think it was Jeff, Dixie and Jamie, but I didn't care, I was in too much of a state. I tried to calm down but I couldn't. I just kept repeating the words, "he's dead."
"Who's dead? What happened?" I heard Jamie ask. I never replied, I didn't want to worry them, but I had forgotten how to talk.
Jamie put his arm round my shoulder and tried to calm me down, while Jeff and Dixie stood there confused. We were like this for a good five minutes or so, until my initial distress had subsided into broken sobbing.
"My dad," was all I was able to choke out.
They all looked confused, "What about your dad sweetheart?" Dixie asked.
"British men, killed at airport, Sierra Leone" I managed to say.
"Look I'm sure it's nothing," Jeff interrupted, "why would he of been at the airport anyway? I'm sure he's fine."
That was when Jamie spoke, "He was meant to be coming home yesterday," he explained to Jeff and Dixie, "Leah went to pick him up at the airport, but he never arrived."
"Oh come here sweetie," Dixie pulled me into a hug, "Why didn't you tell us?" She asked stroking my hair.
"I know darlin', we would of understood, we would of helped you find out if anything had happened to him." Jeff said, "he might be okay though, he might not of even been involved. Have you tried phoning him?"
I then went on to explain the phone call and managed to stop crying, I was so scared, but I think I had used up all of the water in my eyes. Dixie then told me that I was to take the rest of the day off and that Jeff would go home with me.
Jeff and Jamie helped me walk back to the ambulance, as I was too unsteady to walk by myself. Dixie had to sort something out at the hospital before we went home, so we headed there first.