He turns her body to face him and places one hand on each cheek. The contact makes her face burn, and her lips tingle.What is it with this man and his effect on her?
‘Some of us might not want to be on the sidelines any longer,’ he says.
Heather’s brain fizzes as he pulls her in for a kiss, and it’s at that exact moment, when they’re about to fall irreversibly into each other, that Heather’s phone rings.
‘Mum.’ The panic in Georgia’s voice has a physiological effect on Heather. Her heart races, sweat springs into her armpits, her vision blurs. It’s always been this way.
‘What’s going on?’ Heather chokes out as her mind oscillates from one catastrophe to another:
Georgia has been in a fatal accident (improbable – she’s calling and lucid). Someone is holding Georgia at gunpoint (again, unlikely, given she’s located her phone and called her mother). They caught Georgia plagiarising, and the university expelled her (inconceivable, given she hasn’t submitted any assignments in the past month).
‘It’s Todd.’
Heather’s heart calms a little. She can handle boy trouble.
‘What about him?’
‘He’s ended it, Mum. He’s already posting about his new girlfriend on Insta. I can’t believe it. I’m such an idiot.Everyone’s laughing at me. And it’s Valentine’s Day soon. Imagine that! Valentine's!’
Georgia’s voice rasps, and Heather’s hand slips to her chest as she hears her daughter’s heart breaking down the line. And, of course, she knew it. She bloody knew that lad was no good. If she could see him now, she would …
‘Honey. I’m so sorry. But maybe this is a sign he’s not the right boy for you?’ she says tentatively, forcing a focus onthe right things to say.
Scott, who’s been watching Heather’s body language with concern, visibly relaxes when he realises why Georgia is calling.
‘Why don’t you try to distract yourself for a while?’ Heather suggests. ‘Why not go into town? Have a few drinks with your friends. Or go out for a meal. There’s that lovely new pizza place, isn’t there? I can pay if you like.’ She tries to add a jaunty “boys aren’t forever” uplift to her voice.
‘Which friends do you suggest?’ Georgia says, her upset making her voice bounce with a catty undertone.
‘Well. I don’t know. What about Brianna?’
Heather and Scott lock eyes, and Scott nods assuringly. If the girls are together, Georgia will be okay, and the adults can get back to their date and the heart-to-heart Scott has clearly been planning down to the smallest detail. This much is apparent from the variety of wines cooling in her fridge and the bottle of red already airing on the table. The candle Scott’s just lit flickers in the afternoon air.
‘Don’t think that’s an option, Mum,’ Georgia says.
Heather’s eyes flit to the side, and she gives Scott a shrug to show that they’re not yet in the clear.
‘Brianna hates me now,’ Georgia says, as though shifts in friendships are unequivocal and permanent.
‘She doesn’t hate you, honey.’ She turns to Scott, who’s sitting on the sofa with widening eyes. ‘I suspect she just feels a bit hurt.You went all out when you and Todd got together. I imagine Brianna and Trey felt a little sidelined.’
She doesn’t miss a beat. Heather’s clearly hit a nerve. ‘Yes. Exactly. They’ve got a whole new group, and I’m not in it.’
Georgia breaks into full-blown sobs.
‘Honey. I’m sure it’s not that—’
‘Yes, it is, Mum. I wish I was dead.’
Heather’s reaction is visceral.
‘Georgia! Don’t say that.’
‘Why not? Because it’s true. It's just like you said. Men reel you in, change your life and abandon you. Every time.’
‘I didn’t say that, Georgia,’ Heather says, shocked by the inflexibility in her words when she hears them repeated back to herself.
‘Every time you broke up with someone you told me that,’ Georgia says. ‘And you said it about Todd. And you’re right. Men are shits, and our friends dump us.’
