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‘Oh wow, you really are desperate. How much?’
‘About two grand. So it’s not cheap, obviously. But that’s all inclusive. Flights, food, drinks, coaching, everything.’
‘Do I have to share a room?’ Hannah looked around at the three women, wondering which one she’d rather share with. Trish, probably, because she wouldn’t spend the whole time moaning about her husband. But she also looked like she might have a tendency towards drunk, ugly crying. Tough choice.
‘Absolutely not.’ Jess looked horrified. ‘We all have our own room. God, could you imagine sharing?’ The three women laughed at the unimaginability of sleeping in close proximity to another adult human.
‘Can I think about it?’ Hannah asked, not wanting to look too keen or desperate. ‘I don’t know if I can get time off work at such short notice.’
‘Yeah, of course,’ said Jess, digging her phone out of her bag. ‘Why don’t you give me your email and I’ll send you all the details?’
Hannah’s brother Luke was waiting on the doorstep when she got home, leaning against the door and tapping on his phone, his shaggy curls falling around his face in two curtains. He was eighteen and a final gift from the heavens after many painful years of failed pregnancies, but one year later their parents’ marriage broke up and their dad left the country for good. Hannah had been fifteen, but Luke didn’t even have a memory of him.
‘Where’ve you been?’ He stood up. ‘I’ve been waiting ages.’
‘I went out after training. Sorry, left my phone in my tennis bag.’
‘Are you OK? Where’s Graham? I rang the doorbell but nobody answered, so I rang Mum to ask if you were both away and she did that thing where her voice goes all high-pitched and she starts banging on about the weather.’
Hannah sighed, unlocking the door. ‘Come in,’ she said, kicking off her tennis shoes and dumping her bag at the bottom of the stairs. She headed into the kitchen, a wave of tired sadness washing over her as she took a deep breath and turned back to face Luke. ‘Graham’s gone.’
‘Gone where?’ asked Luke, helping himself to a Coke Zero from the fridge.
‘Gone gone.’ There was no point beating around the bush with Luke; he was eighteen and only dealt in facts and logic. ‘We’ve split up.’
‘Shut up. You haven’t.’
‘We definitely have. Yesterday, actually.’ Had it really been only twenty-four hours since she’d come home to call time on her marriage? It felt like a lifetime.
Luke popped the tab on the can and took a swig, then covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he burped. ‘Wow, that’s huge. What happened?’
Hannah shrugged. ‘Things have been bad for ages. But he’s also been having an affair, so that finished it off.’
Luke looked away shiftily, prompting Hannah to bear down on him with a narrow-eyed glare.
‘Wait, did youknow?’
‘I’ve, like,heard rumours,’ he said, blushing a little. ‘But I didn’t know for sure. I’m really sorry.’
‘What kind of rumours?’
‘Well, just about him and Sonia. I don’t know if . . .’
‘Wait, what?’ Hannah held up her hands. ‘Estate agent Sonia?’ She shook her head, trying to rearrange the puzzle pieces in her head so this all made sense.
‘Yeah,’ said Luke. ‘I heard it had been going on for a while.’
‘Heard it from who?’
Luke shrugged. ‘I don’t know, it’s a small town, Han. I think it was a guy who runs the barbers by the chip shop. Or maybe his brother.’
Hannah shook her head and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. ‘Graham does Sonia’s conveyancing.’
‘Not all he was doing, by the sounds of it,’ said Luke, opening the fridge again in search of food. ‘But you knew, right?’
‘I knew about someone, but it wasn’t Sonia.’
‘Oh wow. Is it Mel?’
