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We were parked on the corner of Ponsonby and Franklin Roads on standby. The traffic streaming past at well over the speed limit. Ted was reading a book. I was staring out the window at a fluffy cat walking along a white picket fence in front of a nice townhouse. The cat paused, licked its butt, and then looked at me.
As if I was the one doing something dirty.
My cell phone rang, interrupting the staring match. I pulled it out and checked the screen. For only a second, disappointment swamped me. But then I pushed it aside and opened the call.
“Faye,” I said, greeting my old friend with the enthusiasm it deserved.
She was crying.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting forward and garnering the attention of Ted. “Take a breath,” I ordered. “I can’t understand you.”
“It’s Jack,” she said through hiccups. “He says he doesn’t want to be with me anymore.”
“Ah, shit, Faye,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
“He doesn’t love me anymore.”
“Faye,” I said quietly.
“I’ve got a shift with him tomorrow,” she wailed. “How could he do that to me? How could he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Fucking Ambulance!” she growled. “Throwing us together and tearing us apart.”
“Mate,” I said, not sure what to add.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t . . . I can’t face him. Face my shift. Can you do it?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Faye, I’m on nightshift tomorrow.”
“Fuck it.” A long stretch of silence, where for the first time in our friendship, I wasn’t sure what to say to my friend.
“I can’t do this anymore,” she said.
“Do what, hon?”
“This! All of it.”
I frowned. “Faye, where are you?”
“At home.”
“Are the kids with you?”
“They’re staying at their friends’ places.” She laughed. It sounded wretched. “I purposely sent them over there, so Jack and I could have a night alone.”
“So, you’re on your own?” I questioned.
“Yeah.” It was a whisper. “I can’t do this anymore, Kylee. I just…”
The phone went dead.
I stared at the blank screen and felt my stomach drop.
Ted pulled out his own cell phone and started dialling.
“Where does she live?” he asked.
“Takanini,” I said, feeling stunned.
Ted sighed, then said to whoever had answered the call, “Can you spare us for an hour?”
I sucked in a breath. And then another and another. Too quickly.
Fucking Ambulance! Throwing us together and tearing us apart.
