AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Thirty-Six
Paige
Paige sat on her sofa, Disney on in the background, Mr Higgins nowhere to be found and Connie helping Jenny downstairs. Really that’s where Paige should be too but it was early afternoon and she could afford a few minutes to regroup. Her phone pinged and she saw the email from Melanie asking for help with the wall painting. She knew Melanie hadn’t meant it for Paige, but Paige would be there, morning noon and night if it meant a chance to talk to her. She had to make this right in some way, but she just wasn’t sure how. She forwarded the email to the girls asking if any of them could jump in and help out at any point.
Her phone immediately lit up; the girls’ WhatsApp group had a notification.
Polly: Girls group assemble. Video Chat in five mins xx
Paige sighed, her heart heavy and actually, she realised with a shock, she needed her girls. She knew she could ask them to help her out. It was difficult and it didn’t come easy; she was the fixer not the fixee, but look where that had gotten her. The video chat pinged and Paige opened the app.
‘Hey,’ Paige said.
‘OK come on out with it, what happened at the psychic night?’ Polly asked impatiently, clearly having wanted to ask for a few days.
‘Yeah Paige, what’s going on?’ Sophie said.
‘Has Melanie had enough of your grumpy bum?’ Mya laughed.
Paige didn’t say anything to that, but didn’t need to, her silence and no doubt the look on her face telling them all they needed to know. Mya’s laughter quickly died as they realised that was exactly what had happened.
‘Oh no. Sorry, Paige,’ Mya whispered.
Polly sighed. ‘Oh Paige, what happened?’
Paige looked at the faces on the screen. Polly was sat in front of some sort of sound desk. Sophie was sat at her kitchen table, her lighting and make-up impeccable. Mya was sat in her home office. ‘I wish you were here,’ Paige said quietly.
One by one she watched as her girls each disconnected from their real life. She saw Mya shut something down and reach to grab her Mulberry handbag. ‘I’m going out Smithy, love you.’ Sophie disappeared from the screen and returned a second later. ‘All sorted, be there in a few minutes.’
Polly was moving through some hallways, phone still in front of her face. ‘Hang on.’ Paige watched as she pushed through a door. ‘I’ll be back later, if not then I’ll send over the suggested samples tomorrow . . . Yeah thanks.’ Polly was back down a corridor again, into another room where she grabbed her coat. ‘I’m on my way, Paige.’
‘Thank you,’ Paige said, her throat rough. The call disconnected and she knew they would all get to her as quickly as they could. She shouldn’t have been surprised; she’d ran to the aid of her best friends many times, even travelling to Vegas. But she was still moved with how quickly they’d dropped everything for her.
Connie: It’ll be OK, Paige. You and your girls will sort it. I’ll come back up later and will help however I can xx
Paige untied her hair and lay down on the sofa, surprised when a minute later Mr Higgins curled up by her side, his face nudging into hers.
‘How do I make this right, Mr H?’
He continued to head-butt her face. ‘You’re not all that helpful, you know. It’s not just her though, is it?’ The head-butting continued mercilessly. ‘Yeah, I know it’s little Alf too.’ The butting stopped, as Mr Higgins looked up at her, with a glare that made her feel like an idiot. ‘Yes, I know. I fell in love with her. But it’s not going to be reciprocated is it? What have I given her to love?’
Mr Higgins sat down beside her, a look of great concentration in his eyes.
‘Do you have an answer?’ she asked. The eye contact remained, until with cat speed Mr Higgins reached around and began licking his own arse.
‘Yeah great, you know, sometimes I credit you with too much intelligence.’ Paige leaned back, her mind racing, unable to remove that image of Melanie’s face, the look of betrayal, and it had been. Oh, it had never been malicious in its intent, but the consequences were unpleasant all the same.
The door knocked just twenty minutes later and Paige dragged herself off the sofa, trying not to disturb his majesty as she did so.
‘Did you run here?’ Paige asked, but Polly threw her arms around her and Paige leaned into it. Polly pulled away. ‘I’ll get the kettle on, or is this a tequila situation?’
‘Let’s start with a brew.’ Paige sat down at the kitchen table, sliding along the bench. ‘But seriously how did you get here so quick?’
‘I was in a studio not too far from here. It’s going really well actually. They’re letting me feed into the production elements of it, I mean I don’t get my own way, but they’re listening to my suggestions.’
‘Are we still forbidden from knowing who you’ve written it for?’
‘Afraid so. They’re really concerned about a leak and as the newbie I have to show my worth so that they’ll think about using me again.’
