That's What Friends Are For

by Marcie Steele

  ‘It’s just a bit of harmless flirting, mate.’ Ryan glanced over at Jess who had gone back to her stall. She was pretending not to look at him but every now and then he caught her eye momentarily.

  ‘Just as long as it stays that way.’

  Ryan saluted, stamping his feet together like a soldier on parade. ‘I give you my word, partner. I’ll behave myself.’

  Matt shook his head in despair. He knew he was taking the mickey. Although Ryan was his best mate, sometimes he wished he wasn’t. From their schooldays, he’d been one for the women, sometimes not content with just one at a time. Now he was older and married, things hadn’t changed much. He wished he’d grow up and act his age.

  When half past five came and she’d locked up the stall, Sam decided she would go to Louise’s after all.

  ‘Impeccable timing, as ever,’ said Louise as she let Sam in. ‘We’re just dishing out the food. Come on through to the kitchen.’

  Sam shimmied out of her coat and threw it over the banister before following the sound of laughter. Matt was having his usual banter with Charley and Sophie as he spooned rice on to several plates.

  ‘You cheated!’ Sam cried, pointing at the takeaway cartons strewn over the table.

  ‘You didn’t think we were really going to eat a curry Matt had made, did you?’ Louise joked.

  ‘Hey!’ Matt slapped Louise’s bottom as she sidled past him. ‘I’ll have you know I am a man of many talents. It’s just that cooking isn’t one of them.’

  ‘I’ve not seen many of your talents!’ Louise laughed. ‘Someone’s been winding you up.’

  Matt feigned a hurt expression, his bottom lip protruding like a scolded child.

  Charley gave him an impromptu hug. ‘You’re lovely, though,’ she smiled up at him. ‘I want to marry someone like you when I grow up.’

  Matt hugged her back, raising his eyebrows at Louise. ‘See, someone loves me.’

  Sam was surprised when Louise came over to hug Matt too.

  ‘I love you, you great big idiot,’ she said, but she wouldn’t look at him.

  ‘Stop it,’ said Sam. ‘Or me and Sophie will join in. Group hug!’

  ‘Hugs are only for my special ladies,’ Matt explained. Then he pushed them both away gently. ‘Food! Come on, I’m starving.’

  After the meal, Sam insisted on doing the dishes and shooed them all into the living room. She hadn’t even finished running the hot water before a word came to mind.

  Adultery.

  She had as much as committed adultery last night. It brought tears to her eyes. Reece had always been there for her and she’d let him down. When her dad died, it had been Reece who had held her together through it all while she’d been afraid for her future. She remembered how well he’d got on with her dad. Often, she’d left the two of them watching football or some violent action film while she and Louise went out shopping. Often, she’d come home to see them fast asleep in the living room after it had finished, no matter what time of day or night.

  Even before Martin died, Reece had been part of the furniture. He’d been there to step in and become her family when she was left with no one, and for that she would always be grateful. No one except Reece really knew how close she and her dad had been. When Martin died, it was as if Sam had had her heart ripped out and he’d taken it with him. She couldn’t ever explain how she felt to anyone else, not even Louise. Losing her mum at such a young age had made her more dependent on her dad. They’d been a team. Even when he’d moved Shelly Williams in for six months until their relationship had burnt to a frazzle, she’d still been close to him.

  For years, Sam had thought Reece was her soulmate. After they married, their relationship went from strength to strength for the first few years but then they’d started to take each other for granted. And when they found it impossible to conceive a child, they’d drifted apart a little. Sam had fought hard to find the closeness they once shared. But when Reece had decided to work away for the best part of each week, well, that had been the final nail in the coffin.

  After she’d left the kitchen spotless, Sam made her excuses and left. She had only been home from Louise’s for a few minutes when the doorbell rang. She went to open the door to find Reece standing on the step.

  ‘Hi, what are you doing back so soon? Are you okay?’

  Reece looked a little nervous as he stayed outside in the porch. ‘I’m not entirely sure,’ he said.

  ‘But I thought you were supposed to be in Germany.’ Sam closed the door behind him when he finally came inside. The phone calls and texts she’d received from him had made her think that too. ‘And why didn’t you just come in? Have you lost your keys?’

  ‘I’ve come to hand them back to you.’

  ‘What?’

  Sam followed him through to the living room, staying in the doorway as he perched on the edge of the settee.

  ‘I can’t do this any more,’ he said.

  ‘Do what?’ For a selfish moment, she thought Reece had found out about her and Dan. He could have, couldn’t he? Her heart started to beat fast in her chest.

  ‘You and me,’ he continued, looking distraught. ‘The marriage thing. It’s not working.’

  ‘But it was your idea to go away for a few weeks. I thought you were happy to leave me behind.’

  ‘Really?’ He looked up at her with a pained expression.

  ‘Well, you haven’t exactly rushed home lately. You’ve stayed away more than you’ve been here. I thought you needed a complete break from me.’

  ‘No! What I wanted was for you to fight, argue, scream and shout, beg me not to go to Germany. But you didn’t.’

  Sam almost laughed at the irony. It was exactly how she had felt about Reece. She wanted him to fight for her.

  ‘We’ve practically lived apart for the past few years.’ She sat down beside him on the settee. ‘I thought you didn’t want to be with me any more.’

  ‘Then why didn’t you say that you wanted me to stay?’

  Sam paused to collect her thoughts. ‘Do you mean that this was some kind of test?’

  Reece nodded, looking sad. ‘I’m not going to Germany. I just thought I’d see if you cared enough to stop me.’

  ‘That’s really sneaky.’ Sam gasped at the unfairness of the situation. Why would he do that to her? More to the point, it showed that both of them were lying to each other about various things. They couldn’t even communicate properly anymore. How the hell had it come to this?

  ‘Is it?’ Reece ran a hand through his hair. ‘It told me what I needed to know.’

  ‘No, it didn’t!’

  ‘Then tell me that you want me to come back home on a permanent basis and I will.’

  ‘You mean back to working in Hedworth?’

  Reece nodded. ‘There are a few apartment blocks being built. I’ve been offered a twelve month contract.’

  Sam gnawed at her bottom lip. What a mess. Reece must feel like he didn’t belong here anymore. She cursed herself inwardly. Had she been inattentive to him when he came home at the weekends? Not making him feel welcome so that he’d gone to seek solace elsewhere, treating his work colleagues as his family and following them around the country?

  Reece stood up, and for a second she thought he might leave.

  ‘I’ll make coffee,’ he spoke softly. ‘Would you like some?’

  Sam nodded slightly. She watched him walk through to the kitchen and then flopped back onto the settee. If her mind had been in turmoil about kissing Dan Wilshaw earlier, it was in a complete state now.

  Reece had tricked her? Really? Had he been so miserable that he’d felt the need to test her? Maybe it was sneaky but if it was the only way he could get her to admit her feelings for him, then that was wrong.

  She had to tell him how she felt about them being stuck in a rut, see if the situation could be sorted. Perhaps if they got back onto some sort of even keel, things could turn around.

  The doorbell rang again.

&nbs
p; ‘I’ll get it,’ Reece shouted through.

  Sam hardly ever had visitors, unless it was Louise – and she knew it wouldn’t be her as she had just left her. All of a sudden, she sat up. No, it couldn’t be…

  She heard the door open – and then everything switched to slow motion.

  ‘Hey, there, gorg –’

  Sam ran through to the hall to see Dan standing on the doorstep, holding a bouquet of the most beautiful flowers in his hand.

  ‘So he’s the reason why you didn’t care if I went to Germany or not?’ Reece seethed.

  ‘No, Reece… I. No.’

  Sam looked from Reece to Dan and back to Reece. She wanted the floor to open up; she would have preferred to be anywhere else than here. As her heart reached out to the man she’d betrayed, she tried to find the right words to explain her actions. She said the best two she could think of.

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘I take it this is a bad time,’ said Dan, with a grimace.

  ‘Piss off before I punch your lights out.’ Reece kicked the door shut in Dan’s face before turning to Sam. ‘You bitch! No wonder you didn’t want to fight for me.’

  ‘It’s not like that!’ Sam cried. ‘I would never do anything to hurt you.’

  ‘And you expect me to believe that?’

  ‘You have to. I never meant for it to happen.’

  Reece’s shoulders rose, as if he was ready to take whatever she said with dignity. ‘Never meant for what to happen?’ he asked.

  Sam faltered. What the hell was she going to say to that? ‘It’s not what you think.’

  ‘You have no idea what I’m thinking. No idea what I’m imagining.’ Reece went to speak again but changed his mind.

  Sam would never know what he was about to say because he opened the door.

  ‘Reece, wait!’ She grabbed his arm. ‘Please don’t go.’

  But Reece pushed her hand away.

  ‘Reece!’ Sam followed him a few steps down the driveway before stopping. She stood in the cold and dark of the night as she watched him disappear. Tears poured down her cheeks. She wished she had the courage to go after him. But it was too late to make amends now, even if that had been remotely possible in the first place.

  Chapter Eight

  ‘Sam’s not coming in today,’ Louise told Nicci the following morning as she pushed up the metal shutters on the stall. ‘I’ve had a text from her to say she’s been throwing up. I hope she’s feeling better later, because she’s coming out with me tonight.’

  Nicci fastened the straps on her overall and began to fill the till with coins. ‘You can’t expect her to go out if she’s ill.’

  ‘But she can’t let me down now.’

  ‘She isn’t letting you down. She’s ill.’

  ‘She isn’t ill. She’s just moping about Dan because she doesn’t know what to do.’

  ‘How do you know that?’ Nicci frowned. ‘Did she say something to you last night?’

  ‘No, but he hasn’t been around, has he?’

  ‘So you can’t just jump to that conclusion!’

  ‘Well, I—’

  ‘Just text her to see if she’s okay.’

  Louise nodded but didn’t reach for her phone. ‘I’ll do it later, when I get a minute.’

  Nicci reached for hers instead. ‘She might need you to fetch something for her. She doesn’t have anyone else to run around for her like we do.’

  ‘I know that.’

  ‘Well, the least you can do is ring to see if she needs anything.’ Nicci tutted. ‘You’re so selfish at times!’

  ‘I will ring her!’ Louise snapped, thankful for once that the front doors had opened and the Saturday morning rush to the stall had started. She wasn’t feeling too well herself, if truth be known, after too much wine the night before. After Sam left, and the girls had gone up to Charley’s room, she and Matt had shared a bottle of red. When he’d fallen asleep on the sofa around ten o’clock, she’d opened another bottle, only now regretting it.

  Louise rang Sam and when she didn’t reply, sent her a text message asking if she needed anything. When a message came back after ten minutes to say she was fine and would call her later, she sighed, hoping she wasn’t going to let her down at the last minute.

  As the morning wore on, regardless of her message, Louise’s thoughts turned to the night out and what she’d wear. When she went out with Sam, she tended to dress more conservatively now. On one occasion, she’d worn a really short skirt, low cut top and the highest strappy sandals she could find while Sam had worn jeans and a simple white top. Sam looked like she was going out for a meal rather than a good drink and dance session and it made Louise feel rather tarty.

  But no matter what, she always had a laugh with Sam and she was desperate for a good night out with her again. It had been an age since the last time, just the two of them. Even so, Sam probably wouldn’t go to a club if she was well and that frustrated her. Louise wanted to stay out as late as possible. She was so bored with her days that she wanted her nights to be lively, exciting; as well as give her the opportunity to meet someone nice. Of course she could get casual sex from Rob Masters but what she wanted was a man to call her own, to meet someone that she had actual feelings for. Someone who would treat her like a real lady, who she could treat nicely back, and who wanted her for her mind as well as her body. Someone to help keep Charley in order now she’d morphed into a stroppy teenager.

  Louise wanted someone to love her too. Sam had that. Why couldn’t she?

  It was lunchtime and Sam still hadn’t changed out of her pyjamas. Her hair flicked up in places that it shouldn’t and as she’d downed most of a bottle of red before collapsing on the sofa late last night, what was left of yesterday’s make-up was still caked underneath her eyes.

  What a disaster last night had been. The look on Reece’s face kept flashing in front of her eyes. She could almost put words to it. Hurt and humiliation, mistrust and rejection. She knew if she ever had the chance to explain, he’d never believe she and Dan weren’t an item – although Dan had certainly got under her skin in the few hours she’d shared with him.

  If only he hadn’t turned up unannounced. She could have talked things through with Reece and decided where they were going first. Then she could have dealt with Dan, either telling him not to pursue things, or giving him the go ahead. Or indeed, waiting because she was so unsure about either.

  She cursed out loud. How could she feel sorry for herself? She’d let Dan smooth talk her and had turned into a tart without a second thought for her marriage. Okay, she could blame some of it on loneliness but that didn’t mean she should have acted inappropriately with another man to make herself feel better. What she’d done was unthinkable and no matter how much she cried, it wouldn’t change the past. She’d let Reece down. Their marriage was over, even if she didn’t want it to be.

  And Dan, what was she going to do about him after sending him away? At least he’d taken his flowers with him so that she hadn’t got a constant reminder of how everything had gone wrong in a matter of minutes.

  The tears started again. What was she going to do? She needed to talk to Reece, explain what had really happened. She reached for her phone and dialled his number, but there was no reply.

  ‘It’s ringing but she’s still not answering,’ Louise told Nicci two hours later. Her fingers and thumbs flicked over the keypad of her phone. ‘I’ll text her, see if she’ll call me later.’

  ‘I wouldn’t hold out much hope of her going out then,’ Nicci warned as she weighed out two kilos of potatoes for an elderly gentleman and popped them into the carrier bag he was holding out. ‘You’ll have to rethink your plans.’

  ‘I’m not going out on my own again.’ Louise sighed. ‘It’s like being Belinda no-mates. And even I know I need to keep myself away from Rob Masters this week. It’s just not healthy.’

  ‘And you don’t exactly set a good example for Charley now, do you?’

  Louise looked o
n in horror. ‘Charley doesn’t know about him! I’d die with embarrassment if she did.’

  Nicci placed half a white cabbage on top of the potatoes in the carrier bag. ‘You’d be surprised how much Charley does know. She’s not a child any more.’

  ‘I know, but even so …’

  ‘You need to be careful that she doesn’t get the idea that it’s okay going around doing that, because it isn’t. Especially at her age. That’s £1.72, Mr Austin. Ta very much.’

  ‘You make it sound much worse than it is!’ Louise protested, but her younger sister just shook her head.

  While she served the next customer, Louise mulled over what Nicci had said. Was she a bad influence on her daughter? Would Charley grow up to think that love was hard to find and that it was okay to have casual drunken sex nearly every weekend on a night out? If she did, then yes, it would be her fault.

  She stared ahead, noticing that Jess was chatting to Ryan, over on his stall again, whispering together like a pair of kids. Matt was showing a customer a few phone covers, but looked like he was trying to listen in on their conversation too; Louise saw him glancing over whilst trying to keep his customer interested in a sale. Even when he’d popped one of the covers in a bag and rung it up on the till, Ryan and Jess were still talking.

  ‘Matt!’ Louise shouted over. ‘You going out tonight?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he shouted back. ‘I told you I’m meeting a few mates in ‘The Duck’. Do you want to come along too?’

  Louise kept her sigh to herself. Even though she’d asked him once already, she’d hoped that he’d change his mind and be around to keep an eye on Charley while she went out with Sam. Although Charley was nearly sixteen, Louise hated the thought of her being alone until the early hours of the morning, and she couldn’t sleep over at Sophie’s every weekend. Her night out definitely looked doomed now.

  ‘I think I’ll stay in and grab another takeaway,’ she shouted back.

  ‘I can share it with you, if you like?’