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“She told Brian to stick it,” Halle laughed, completely unphased. “The electrics in her flat never came back on after the power outage. I went round and discovered she was a one trip away from—”
“It wasn’t good,” Lydia said pointedly, nodding towards the kids. The last thing anyone needed was the triplets flipping out about house fires.
“Yeah, it wasn’t good,” Halle finished.
“I called Brian, and he was his usual useless self. I just had enough and told him to shove it.”
“Then she realised she was homeless for a week,” Halle grinned, “And I told her to come here. So, she did.”
“Right. Good, that’s good.” Fe nodded comically, entirely uncomfortable but doing her best to keep it together. Years of controlling Halle and Lydia’s relationship toward one another was hard to let go of, evidently.
“We went skydiving today!” Lydia blurted. “It was great.”
“Today! You went today?”
“Yeah, it was so cool.”
“You did it too?” Fe asked Halle with raised eyebrows.
“Hell yeah, I did. Couldn’t let Lyds have all the fun.” The wink that followed caused Lydia a little problem in the knicker department.
“Wow. I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it.” Fe’s comment stung.
“I knew she would,” Halle interjected. “And next it’s bungee jumping. Speaking of which. What’s your schedule this week, Lyds?”
“Oh, um… working Monday through Wednesday. Thursday, Friday off. I was going to spend some time cleaning up the flat before officially vacating, but I’m not doing it anymore. Brian can shove it!”
“Hear, hear,” Halle called. “So, how about we look at getting you a reservation to bungee on one of your days off?”
“So soon?” Fe asked.
“Why not?” Halle said, her eyes on Lydia. “You’re going to be busy with the house soon. It could be an excellent opportunity to check another item off the list?”
“Let’s do it!” Lydia was completely onboard. “Will you do that with me, too?”
“If you want me to, then yeah.”
“Since when have you wanted to chuck yourself off a bridge?” Fe scoffed at Halle.
“Since I’d do anything Lydia wanted me to!” Halle shot back hotly. Fe shrank back, realising she was walking a thin line. Halle and Fe had only just started getting to some sort of normal.
“Sorry, sorry,” Fe mumbled. “Okay, kids, let’s leave Aunty Lydia and Aunty Halle to it.” The triplets moaned loudly.
“But we wanna stay,” Joey whined.
“I want ice cream,” Jenny announced.
“You can stay, Fe.” Halle’s tone had softened. “We can order in, and the kids can watch TV. It’s been a while since we all hung out.” Halle was offering an olive branch, knowing Fe’s fear stemmed from thinking she would be left behind.
Lydia started tickling her niblings, making them laugh. “Yeah, plus I need some time to torture these three!”
Laughing, Fe agreed. It was the first time in weeks Lydia felt good about the situation. Halle’s comment to Fe was firmly lodged in her head. Did Halle really mean what she said? She’d do anything Lydia asked.
After two large pizzas were consumed—the vast majority eaten by the triplets. Lydia, Halle, and Fe shared a bottle of wine in the kitchen. Halle searched for a location to bungee jump and, to everyone’s surprise, including her own, Fe agreed to do it with them the following Thursday.
* * *
“We’re fucking insane!” Fe declared as the trio stood looking out over a terrifying canyon. “I mean, literally insane!”
