“Can you key in Manchester on the sat nav?” Imogen pointed at the dashboard navigation system.
Morgan nodded. “Do you know the address?”
“Just put in the big Primark. If we head for that, that gets me on the right road and I know where to turn off beforehand.”
Morgan glanced at Ali, her face ashen. She gave Morgan a tight grin and raised both eyebrows.
Five minutes later, they were out of the airport and on the road. They hadn’t crashed. Yet. Morgan allowed her muscles to relax by ten per cent.
Imogen fiddled with the radio dial, keeping one eye on the road. She settled on a station playing Mariah’s ‘All I Want For Christmas’ and tapped the steering wheel as she navigated onto the motorway.
“How long have you two been a couple?”
Morgan frowned at Imogen, then shook her head. “Oh no, we’re not—”
“—a couple,” Ali said decisively from the back.
Imogen glanced Morgan’s way. “I just thought… you said you’re both lesbians and you’re travelling at Christmas together.”
“I’m a lesbian.” Morgan pressed her index finger to her chest. “I can’t speak for Ali.”
“I’m queer,” Ali confirmed. “Sometimes I’m a lesbian. It depends on my mood.” She gave Morgan a wink as she turned to her.
Now they’d met again, Morgan wanted to know more. Had they seen each other at queer venues in Glasgow? Had they slept with the same woman? That thought made Morgan suck on her teeth. It was possible, because the lesbian community in Glasgow was hardly huge. But now wasn’t the time to ask that question.
In fact, she wasn’t sure there wouldeverbe an appropriate time for that one.
“Okay,” Imogen replied. “How do you know each other?” Her knuckles turned a little whiter as she gripped the wheel. “You do know each other, right? I’m not being kidnapped, am I?”
Morgan shook her head so there was no room for confusion. “Relax. We know each other from school. No kidnapping is taking place.”
She could still picture baby Ali walking home behind her and Nicole. She was always told to keep a respectable distance. Far enough away for their school rep to remain untarnished, but not too far that it looked like they didn’t care. Morgan’s cheeks coloured at the memory. Being a younger sister must have been hard. “I really am a communications expert, and I can’t vouch for exactly what Ali does, but I know her parents and they’re lovely.” Morgan glanced in the mirror again and met Ali’s gaze.
As soon as she did, Ali dropped it.
“It’s true. She knows where my family lives.” Ali sat forward and put a hand on the side of each front seat. “In fact, we first met when Morgan came to my sister’s eighth birthday party. We might have met before that, but that’s the time I remember. Morgan won pass-the-parcel that day and walked away with a toy trumpet. I really wanted that trumpet. I wassojealous.”
Morgan turned in her seat. “I remember that trumpet. I played it to death and drove my parents bananas.”
“You’ve known each other forever.” Imogen switched to the fast lane. She was no laid-back driver.
Ali held Morgan’s gaze. “For as long as I can remember, Morgan has been in my life. Well, my sister’s, which made it mine too. Because that’s how families work, isn’t it?”
What Ali said was true. She had been a part of her life forever. Just not when they were adults. Morgan turned to face front.
“It is,” Imogen replied. “I’ve got 14-year-old twin brothers and they annoy the crap out of me.”
“Give it time. You might like them when they’re older.”
“I doubt it.”
“But you never quite grow out of the roles you had when you were younger. No matter how old Ali or I get, she’ll always be my mate’s little sister. One that I better get home safe or Nicole will kill me.”
“I can get home myself just fine.”
Morgan caught Ali’s peeved tone, but she ignored it. “Anyway, enough about us. What about you? Tell us about you and Sam.”
Now it was Imogen’s turn to sigh. She flicked the wipers onto fast speed as the snow came at them in waves. The flashing lights on the overhead signs told her to lower her speed to 30mph. Imogen obliged.
