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“Hi,” I said, rubbing my eyes.
“Good afternoon. Can I get you anything?”
I shook my head. “It's okay, I can manage.”
She sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea, reading one of those women's magazines full of quizzes and depressing real life stories. I felt like I’d been teleported back to my teenage years.
As I put the kettle on and popped some bread into the toaster Mum said, “How are you?”
“I'm okay,” I answered, turning to her. “A little tired.”
She looked at me closely, in the way mothers do when they’re trying to decide if their child is telling the truth.
“Leah,” she began, “you still haven't told us why you left America. If you want to talk-”
“I don't,” I interrupted. “Really, I'm fine. I'll just need a bit of time to settle in.”
“But something did happen?”
“Mum, I really don't want to talk about it. At least not yet. I want to put it out of my mind for a while.”
Turning away from her so I could make my breakfast, I realised that moving back with my parents was going to be every bit as hard as I'd thought.
Once breakfast was over and I’d showered and dressed, I called Freya, as promised. Hearing her voice brightened my mood and I had an inkling I’d need to call her a lot over the coming weeks in order to retain my sanity. I really hoped it was just the enormous change of scenery that was making me so miserable, and that it would all settle down soon, but at that moment, I couldn't imagine not feeling the emptiness inside me.
Freya and I chatted for half an hour, by which time some of my grogginess had lifted, so I decided I should start unpacking some of the boxes that were taking up valuable floor space.
That really was the final admission that I was staying.
With a sigh, I lifted the first box on to the bed and began emptying its contents. It was full of clothes. Clothes I would probably never even wear again. Exact
ly where in Cornwall would I go to wear the black lacy corset Bree had persuaded me to buy, or the outrageous short pleated skirt Freya thought would look cute on me? Sure, there were clubs in Cornwall, but I didn't have anyone to go out with anymore.
Never mind. At least you'll be the trendiest person in town.
That wasn't saying much though. There were still people sporting mullets and wearing shell suits in Zellor.
I hadn't realised how many clothes I owned. It didn't seem as many when I’d packed but as I hung them up in my wardrobe I ran out of hangers.
“Unbelievable.”
I dumped a pile of t-shirts back into the box they came out of, making a note to myself to buy some more clothes hangers when I went into town.
The next box I came across was the one I was least looking forward to opening. When I’d been packing, I'd been too angry and frustrated to appreciate its contents, throwing it all in, hating every item that had a memory attached to it.
I had to face it sometime.
It was the box where I’d packed everything that was special to me. Inside were masses of photos I'd taken in places I'd visited with work, of my friends, of nights out. I flipped through one of the albums, needing to see Freya, Will and Bree. In some small way it made them seem closer.
It wasn't only the four of us though. There were many photos that had been taken the first time we'd gone clubbing, the infamous night when I made my debut as a pole dancer and had my first kiss with Miguel. There were several photos of him, a couple of the two of us together and numerous pictures of soccer players freaking out on the dance floor.
There didn't appear to be a single photo of Radleigh though. If I hadn't been so suddenly desperate to get a look at him, I'd have laughed at the stupidity of it all. How much had I despised him back then that I didn't even have one picture of him? I even had a photo of Taylor. But not one tiny glimpse of Radleigh.
I knew there was a simple way to fix that. Josh and Christina. When we went to the aquarium, a lot of photos had been taken that I hadn't seen yet. Not only that, Jamie's bedroom was full of Westberg merchandise so if I ever got completely overcome with the need to look at him, I could always go there.
Groaning at my own lameness, I slumped on to my bed, the memory of him still too painful to dwell on.
The one thing Josh knew I’d missed about England was a traditional English breakfast, so he suggested taking me out for my long awaited greasy fry-up the next morning. I intended to spend the whole day with him, Christina and Grace, even if it was just hanging out at their house. I was dying to see Jamie, and I couldn't stand another second cooped up in my room to avoid my mother's worried looks.
