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‘Well, you can make up for it by sending him a congratulatory gift when he starts his new job,’ Hannah suggested. ‘And then—’
The ringing of my phone interrupted her. ‘Do you want to take that?’
I very nearly said no, but something warned me not to.
I said very little on the call. I watched as Hannah began picking up the discarded clothes from my bedroom floor and bundling them into the laundry basket. By the time she was done, I was off the phone. I’m not sure I’d said anything other than a series of yeses throughout the conversation, but I suspect she’d already guessed what I was about to tell her. I imagine it was written all over my face.
‘That was the HR department ofGlow,’ I said. Even to my own ears my voice sounded incredulous. ‘They said the other candidate has unexpectedly withdrawn their application.’ I paused for a moment, still trying to absorb the news. ‘I’ve got the feature writer job.’
SUNDAY: DAY ONE
8
‘You’re up early.’
I gave a start as I entered the kitchen. It wasn’t as though I’d forgotten Hannah had stayed the night; it was more the shock of seeing her once again in her old seat at the kitchen table. It felt like a weird science-fiction story, where I’d somehow slipped into a wormhole and ended up seven years in the past.
She’d already made a pot of coffee, and now she got to her feet, reaching for my favourite mug.
‘I could say the same to you.’
Hannah’s laugh sounded carefree, and for a moment I envied her that. ‘Oh, lie-ins are a thing of the past when you’ve got a lively three-year-old. You just wait until you—’ She broke off, a look of horror on her face. The moment hung in the air like something toxic. ‘Gemma, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—’
‘Don’t give it a second thought,’ I said, taking the coffee she was holding out as though it was an apology.
Hannah was still biting her lip as she picked up a cloth and began wiping down my already clean kitchen surfaces. ‘Did you manage to get any sleep?’ she asked when she’d run out of worktop to punish.
I breathed in, considered lying, and then thought better of it. She’d have seen straight through it anyway. ‘A few snatched minutes here and there.’
Hannah tutted her disapproval and pulled out a chair, plonking herself back down at the table opposite me. She reached out both hands and clasped mine, as though we were about to conduct a seance. Ah, there was a means of communicating with Finn that I’d not yet contemplated. Because I’d certainly exhausted every other method. I’d stopped leaving messages on his phone because there were only so many ways you could rephrase ‘Where the hell are you?’ without getting repetitious.
‘So, whatdidyou do if you didn’t get any sleep?’
I glanced over my shoulder into the lounge, where I’d dropped my laptop on to the settee. ‘I spent some time looking into things.’
Hannah’s neatly plucked eyebrows rose, waiting for more.
‘For example, I now know the correct procedure for filing a missing person’s report. I know how many unexplained disappearances there were in the UK last year, and how many of those are believed to be down to alien abduction.’
Hannah gave a snort that threatened to spray coffee all over the kitchen worktops she’d just cleaned.
‘Yes, well, that one was around 3 a.m., and I was getting a little punchy.’
‘It sounds like you had a busy night.’
‘Well, it wasn’t exactly how I’dplannedto spend my wedding night…’ I winced, realising it was much too soon for even a feeble attempt at levity. The very worst moment of the previous night had been when I’d watched the clock tick beyond midnight and realised my wedding day was now officially behind me.
I drew in a steadying breath before continuing. ‘I also researched how many grooms fail to turn up on their wedding day.’ I reached for my coffee mug, dismayed to see the slight tremor of my hand. ‘It’s surprisingly few. It would seem I’m a member of a very elite club – one that I never wanted to join.’
Hannah was shaking her head sorrowfully. ‘I truly don’t know what to say, Gemma. I have no words.’ And for Hannah that was quite the admission.
‘You don’t have to say a single thing. Just being here last night was enough.’
It wasn’t that I’d been short of offers of company to help me get through the worst night of my life. Dad had been particularly insistent on staying, until I’d reminded him that he needed to get back for Chester, his geriatric cat. Even my elderly Aunt Helen had offered to ‘babysit’ me – those had been her exact words. She’d been easier to politely turn down than Dad, especially as the last time she’d been called on to perform that particular duty had been about twenty-five years ago. But Hannah had proved to be a much tougher nut to crack.
‘Milly needs you,’ I’d reminded her, trying to dissuade her from staying, although admittedly with less conviction than I probably should have shown.
‘William is perfectly capable of looking after her for one night.’ She’d paused as though weighing up whether she should say her next words. Apparently, they were deemed essential. ‘You need me more.’
