Page 84 of London, Can You Wait?

Twenty-Four

“Sorry I took so long.” Lucy shoved through the door, her eyes hidden underneath the wet, faux fur trapper hat that was swallowing her face. “Fucking Elephant and Castle.” Exhausted, she placed an umbrella and two full shopping bags on Alex’s apartment floor with a thud.

Cheeks streaked with tears, Alex plunged her swollen nose into a handful of disintegrating tissue. “How am I going to get through this?” She clutched a rectangular blue, green, and pink tin decorated with hearts and birds against her chest.

Lucy’s arms flew open. “One shitty day at a time, babe. Come here…”

Alex’s knees buckled, her body collapsing into Lucy’s embrace. “I feel like I’ve fallen under the wheels of a bus—on purpose.” Her body shook with sobs as Lucy held her. “Freddie texted me, ‘What have you done?”’

“Oh, ignore Freddie. And fuck Mark.” Lucy pulled back, making close eye contact. “What you need right now is the Bezzie Mate Treatment…” She opened her shopping bags. “See? Ice cream, wine, vodka, oven chips, Lucky Charms, Pizza Express dough balls, triple chocolate cookies, cheese strings…oh, and I can confirm… Kick Ass, Kill Bill, and Waiting to Exhale are still on Netflix. Or if you need comfort and the soothing tones of Whishy, there’s always Bright Star or The Hour, even Spectre if you fancy some Q in a wooly hat. We’re all sorted for the weekend.”

Alex chased breaths between sobs and dove a hand into a bag. “Chicken Christmas trees with…BBQ dip?”

“The chicken trees were marked down—clearance. Actually, most of this stuff was on offer.”

“Thanks, Lucy. I need a food hug.”

“Hey, wanna mainline carbs? I’m your girl.” Lucy dumped her backpack on the floor and frogmarched Alex into her bedroom. “C’mon, let’s put on our jim-jams. I want to hear everything.”

• • •

Alex placed her untouched bowl of chocolate and cheese strings on the table beside a small white box and the rectangular hearts and birds tin. A ratty tissue fell out of her sleeve. “Oh, God, look at me—I’m such a mess. If I’m not bawling, I’m in the bathroom. Pathetic.”

“It’s only been two and a half hours since you split, Lex. There’s no fast-forward button for heartbreak.”

“He’ll be landing in Dublin soon.”

Lucy wrenched the belt of her bathrobe.

Alex rubbed her cheek, further smearing the mascara and eyeliner that had smudged underneath her eye. She looked around their flat. All their photos…shared books…memories. Landing in Dublin or not, Mark was everywhere here. “I wonder what he’s thinking…”

“Probably how stupid he was to fuck up the best thing he’s ever had.”

“His face…” A breath caught in Alex’s throat. “He was crying when he left—”

“It’s not helping, worrying about him, and please, stop with the pathetic crap. You’re the opposite of pathetic. You took control and chose the tough option. Fuck, I can’t imagine how hard it is—dumping someone you still love. I’ve never been there. The easy way would have been to accept his cheating, all those absences, and take him back—better the devil you know and all that bollocks.”

“Trust me to ignore the easy way…”

“When have you ever taken the easy way out? Drives me bonkers, but this time, lady, you played a blinder. You had enough and you pulled the plug—nothing pathetic about that. If anything, you’re…indomitable.”

“Indomitable? Where did you pick that up? Playing Scrabble with Harry’s parents?”

“No, Simon’s word-of-the-day calendar at Christmas.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t abominable like the snowman in the Rudolph Christmas special?”

“The what?”

“The Abominable…the Bumble?”

Lucy flashed a blank stare.

“Never mind. It’s an American thing. So, if I’m indomitable, why do I feel like I’ve flung myself from the Shard? I’m in freefall, about to splat across the pavement.” Alex popped open the tin. “Look.” The blue, green, and pink rectangle was filled to its rim with cookie birds and hearts, hand-iced in all colours of the rainbow. “Mark ordered them from that Biscuiteers café.”

“They’re so detailed and pretty but…why?”

“He had them couriered to the hotel for our anniversary…” She held a pink and white bird. “I’ve always wanted to visit that shop.”