‘I’m sorry,’ she wails into my neck.
I grab her shoulders and pull her away to check her over. ‘What happened? Just tell me.’ But I’m confused. I don’t understand why they’re here, why the car is here. Where are Scarlett’s parents? ‘Are you hurt?’ I ask.
‘No…’ she whines, roughly wiping tears off her cheeks. ‘I’m okay.’
‘Who did you tell?’ I whisper. ‘Was it Scarlett?’ I try to think. Maybe it’s going to be all right if it’s just Scarlett. Maybe we canconvince Scarlett that she was just making it up. ‘How much did you tell her?’
‘What?’ She pulls away. ‘No! I didn’t tell her anything.’
‘So who did you tell?’
‘Nobody. Are you crazy? Nobody!’
‘Oh my God, Holly, I thought…’ I lean against my car, dizzy with relief.It’s all right, everything is all right. She hasn’t told anyone. She hasn’t told anyone.I put my hand on my forehead. ‘Jesus, Holly. You gave me a heart attack. So what’s going on?’
She looks over her shoulder, and her whole face crumbles in tears. ‘I’m sorry…’
I follow her gaze. Scarlett is standing near the car, shaking, her mouth turned down, her big brown eyes full of tears.
And sitting on the pavement, folded in half, is a woman in running clothes. Her head is down; her forehead is resting on her knees.
I run and crouch next to the woman. ‘Are you all right? What happened? Do you need an ambulance?’
‘I stepped off the pavement and the car…hit me.’
‘Hit you?’
‘Yes.’ The woman looks up. ‘My ankle. I…’
I jerk back. ‘Teri?’
‘Hello, Kate… Fancy meeting you here…’ she says with a grimace.
‘My God, Teri! What happened? Are you hurt? I don’t understand? Who hit you? What are you doing here?’
I’m talking too fast, bombarding her with questions. I force myself to stop.
She presses the palm of her hand between her eyes. ‘When I saw you and Holly before, and you said something about Roscoe Crescent…it just reminded me how lovely it is around here, so I went for my run, and I don’t know… I’m such an idiot. I had my earbuds in, and I wasn’t looking where I was going, and youknow…it’s so quiet. I just wasn’t thinking and I just stepped off the kerb and…’
‘And the car hit you?’ I shriek.
She looks down at her foot. ‘I really hurt myself. I’m such an idiot.’
‘All right. Did someone call an ambulance?’
‘I don’t need an ambulance.’
‘You just said you really hurt yourself.’
She looks down at her foot. ‘It’s not so bad. I hurt my ankle. It’s just a sprain. Could you help me up?’
I look down at her. ‘Are you sure you should put weight on it? You really don’t want an ambulance?’
‘God no. I’m fine, really. Except I’m sitting in dog shit.’
Honestly, under different circumstances, I would have laughed. But right now I don’t think I will ever laugh again. I’m still completely confused as to what happened, or why Holly is so upset, and why Scarlett’s Mini Cooper is parked by the side of the road.
‘I’m sorry, girls. I gave you a fright, didn’t I,’ Teri says, leaning against me, one foot in the air. ‘I’m lucky Holly wasn’t driving over the speed limit.’
