Liam waved his hand. ‘No, it’s nothing like that. I opened some of her post, by mistake, and there was an invite to a university reunion. I know how she can be about anything to do with the place.’
‘Another one?’ Sophie checked her watch. The Kraken was arriving in T minus ten.
‘Here it is.’ He seemed somewhat reluctant to hand it over.
‘Is this you playing games?’ Sophie narrowed her eyes and Liam pulled his head back slightly.
‘Honestly, Sophe, I wouldn’t intentionally upset Anna. I’d like to think maybe one day we could get back together so I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise that.’
Sophie was running out of time. ‘Apart from your little confession the other night.’
Liam looked uncomfortable and stared at Sophie’s midriff. ‘When’s the baby due?’
So many reasons why she’d never really liked him. ‘Five weeks ago. You take care now, Liam. Bye.’ And she shooed him out of her house.
It was Saturday night and Anna opened her door to Sophie wearing Dave’s large winter coat but with her pyjama bottoms clearly visible underneath. ‘I’ve escaped for an hour,’ she said, pulling a can of gin and tonic from the pocket of Dave’s coat and opening a cupboard to get out a glass. ‘Now I know you’ve told me some of the New York stuff but I need more details. Did Hudson try and get some booty?’
Anna was shocked. ‘No! Sophie, you’re outrageous. And your mock American accent is equally appalling!’
‘Don’t protest too much. You know you want to.’
‘I do not. We’re just friends and—’
She waved away Anna’s protests. ‘And now you’ve missed your chance for wild unencumbered animal sex with him because he’s staying put in America.’ Sophie sighed.
‘I know,’ said Anna, feeling downhearted. ‘I’m really going to miss him.’ The truth was she was already missing him.
‘I’m going to miss that tight backside of his and that smile. Oh my, that smile. I can feel my knicker elastic loosening at the very thought of it.’ Sophie stared into space.
‘You’re wearing pyjamas.’
‘Pyjamas have elastic too,’ said Sophie. ‘Come on, one hour of girly chat and then you need your beauty sleep and lots of it. You look like Dot Cotton after an all-nighter.’
‘Thanks, pal.’
‘Oh and Liam keeps dropping round. He brought you another uni invite.’ Sophie pulled it from her pocket and handed it over.
Anna was about to put it straight in the recycling but something stopped her. ‘Another one?’
‘Yup,’ said Sophie, sipping her drink and closing her eyes as she swallowed. ‘I love being able to drink again.’
Anna studied the invitation. ‘This is different to the other one. Different venue, different date.’ It also looked more official than the previous one. Something didn’t add up.
Anna didn’t get a good night’s sleep. Having shown Sophie all her photos and gone through the New York trip again, she was thinking about Hudson. When she closed her eyes he was all she could see. She was groggy with tiredness and although she knew it probably wasn’t wise she snatched up her mobile and called his number. She ran her fingers through her bed hair and tucked the wayward bits behind her ear, which was a waste of time because she wasn’t FaceTiming him.
‘Hey, Anna. You okay?’ There was concern in his voice.
‘Can’t sleep. Thought I’d call the only other person who I know is awake.’
She sensed his smile down the line. ‘You want me to sing you a lullaby? I warn you I sound a lot like Kermit the Frog when I sing.’
She giggled. ‘No, I don’t really know why I called.’
‘You don’t have to have a reason. It’s good to hear your voice.’
She was cradling the phone against her face. ‘I miss you.’ There she’d said it.
There was a muffled noise on the line. ‘Sorry, Anna, what was that?’
Anna could hear someone else’s voice in the background. She’d assumed he would be on his own. She checked the clock – three twenty-seven. It was almost eleven thirty at night in New York. ‘You’re busy, aren’t you. I should have checked …’
‘No, it’s fine, it’s Emily we’re—’ Anna didn’t wait to hear any more. She ended the call and switched off the phone. She wished she’d never called. She put the phone on her bedside cabinet, nudged Maurice over slightly, hunkered down under the covers and tried to ignore the tears that came.
Sophie loved Mondays. This was a whole new experience for her but since she and Dave had employed a cleaner it was now her favourite day. All she had to do was get herself and the three children out of the house for a few hours and when she returned it was like a fairy godmother had waved her wand and miraculously everything was clean and tidy again. The challenge was getting three young children fed and clothed and out the door in time to deposit Arlo at school before the teacher was shaking her head and locking the gate. But unlike before it was a challenge Sophie relished because there was the big prize of the nice clean house at the end and now she’d found a playgroup for the other two with bearable other mums and tolerable coffee it made for a good start to the week.
‘The baby ate my homework!’ yelled Arlo, his face turning a violent shade of red as he clenched his fists. If he’d been a cartoon he would have jetted off like a rocket.
‘Which one?’ Sophie squinted at Reuben who, at barely six weeks old, wasn’t capable of much, other than crying, burping, farting and pooping.
‘Petal. She ate my homework.’
Sophie was relieved. Petal’s digestive system was already well tested having eaten worms and dirt in the garden, sand, a raw potato and a variety of other odd but fairly harmless items. ‘If you will leave it lying within her reach then she will eat it. It’s how little ones learn.’ Almost as an afterthought Sophie added, ‘What has she eaten exactly?’
‘My pirate’s head!’ Arlo thrust what was left of the Play-Doh model masterpiece under Sophie’s nose. It wasn’t recognisable as anything vaguely human anyway so the loss of its head had minor impact.
‘Now he’s a headless pirate,’ she said, whilst trying to shoo him towards the hall. Arlo seemed to consider this, giving Sophie time to scoop Petal from the high chair, remove the piece of blue Play-Doh she was still chewing and deftly deposit her in the double buggy in front of a sleeping Reuben.
‘Cool. Willoughby Newell won’t have thought of that.’
‘Right. Let’s go!’ said Sophie, triumphantly exiting the house on time.
Sophie dropped Arlo at school with moments to spare. She grinned inanely at the teacher heading towards the gate and took pride in the woman’s surprised expression when Petal beamed a blue toothy smile. It was a twenty-minute walk to the playgroup, which was enough time to call Anna and have a quick post-weekend chat, assuming Anna wasn’t ensconced in meetings.
Anna answered on the third ring. ‘I’ve messed up, Sophie,’ she said, her voice monotone.
‘Karl will cover for you. He plays the chauvinist that well you can almost forget there’s a decent bloke inside.’
‘No, not at work. With Hudson.’
Sophie didn’t like the sadness in Anna’s words. ‘What have you done?’
She heard Anna’s sigh. ‘I called him in the middle of the night and told him I missed him.’
‘Ah. And what did he say?’
‘He was busy with his ex-fiancée, stepmother Emily woman. I hung up. He’s left a couple of messages but I can’t call him back. I’m too embarrassed. Karl has fielded a call for me already today.’
‘What now?’
‘They’re confirming the job appointments next week but it’s a formality. Hudson will lead the New York team and I’ll lead the UK project.’
‘There, what’s wrong with that?’ said Sophie, gripping the buggy with one hand and manoeuvring it quickly out of the way of someone careering towards her on a bike. ‘Get off the pavement!’ she yelled. ‘Sorry, suicide cyclist
.’
‘I’ll still have to speak to him. The projects are running side by side; we need everything to be joined up.’
‘When you said you missed him. Was it like you miss Love Island when it finishes or more like someone has removed a vital organ?’ Sophie adroitly caught Petal’s shoe as she kicked and flung it high above her head whooping with delight.
‘I feel like …’ Anna paused. ‘I feel like I’ve lost something important.’
‘Ah, like when you can’t find your purse?’
‘Sort of, but worse, because I know with Hudson he won’t turn up rammed down the back of the sofa.’
‘You never know. We once had a sofa bed that was very good at swallowing people whole.’
Anna gave a tinny laugh.
‘It sounds like you’ve made your choice and so has he. Maybe it’s time to move on. You’ve got lovely Connor.’ There was silence from the other end of the line.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The rest of the week went by in a blur for Anna. Work was manic and she was helping her mother get ready for the big anniversary party but truth was she was keeping herself ultra busy in an attempt to stop thinking about a certain American. She still wasn’t convinced her dad was well enough for something as tiring as a party but they were both adamant everything was going ahead. Anna had decided to stop asking and get stuck in to helping them, which was how she found herself in the local pub’s back room tying knots in balloons.
‘Penny for them?’ asked Terry.
‘Nothing really. I think Mum’s overdone the sausage rolls.’ Her lips made a line.
Her father’s look told her he didn’t believe her. ‘You can never have enough sausage rolls. You shouldn’t be worrying about us. You know we’re both fully recovered.’ Anna glanced at the crutches. ‘I’m ninety-nine per cent there. These will soon be on the fire.’
Anna paused with a balloon end wrapped around her finger. ‘You and Mum. How did you know? I mean really know you were always going to be happy?’
Her mother appeared at her shoulder with a tray of cling-film-covered crisps. ‘He liked Bruce Springsteen and Marmite. Perfect match.’ She disappeared again in a flurry of pinny and cling film.
Anna turned to her father and he lowered his balloon pump. ‘I’d been out with other girls. Quite a few actually but when I started seeing your mum …’ He let out a slow breath and his lip curled up. ‘She went straight to the top of my to do list.’
‘Dad!’ She was hoping for a serious answer. Anna let the balloon go and it whizzed off around the room, making a farting sound.
‘Not like that.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘I mean she was the most important thing. Whatever plans I thought I had or whatever I wanted to do with my life I knew she would always be the person I wanted to share them with and if I couldn’t share them with her then what was the point?’
‘Isn’t that more like a best friend than a wife?’
‘I fancied her too,’ he added quickly. ‘She had this low-cut top and when she leaned—’
‘La, la, la. Not listening,’ said Anna, thrusting her fingers in her ears.
‘You and your Connor still going strong?’
‘He’s coming later.’
‘Wasn’t what I asked.’ Her father fixed her with a stare.
‘It’s fine. Really.’ She patted his arm and hoped he’d leave the interrogation for another time.
By seven o’clock Anna had changed into a simple knee-length black dress. Elderly relatives were arriving as if on a conveyer belt, or perhaps they’d been bussed in, but they were all there bang on the dot of seven. Anna settled them away from the speakers and went to deposit coats on the rail by the toilets.
‘Hello,’ said Sophie, pulling Anna into a hug. ‘You look fab-u-lous!’
‘You look … happy.’ It was obvious Sophie had already been drinking.
‘The Kraken collected the kids at four so we’ve had a bit of a grown-up afternoon.’ She added an elaborate wink for good measure.
‘Lucky you.’ By the way Sophie was swaying she’d be asleep by eight o’clock.
Lots more people arrived and Anna left her mum and dad to it. She got a Coke from the bar and pulled up a chair next to Sophie. Dave was whispering something in Sophie’s ear and she cackled with laughter before spotting Anna and sitting up straight like a child caught giggling in class. Anna loved seeing the two of them like this. Well, maybe not quite this drunk but it was great to see them happy together. She looked up to see Liam and his parents standing behind Connor who was handing her dad a card and a bottle. Terry turned and waved her over. She hadn’t realised Liam was going to be there but supposed it was inevitable: her parents were friends with his parents. After all, they’d once planned a wedding together, so it was only logical they had been invited.
‘You okay?’ asked Sophie.
‘I think this is going to be an awkward evening. Wish me luck.’
She met Connor near the bar and gave him a perfunctory kiss on the cheek. ‘You look smart,’ she said.
‘You look gorgeous.’
‘Thanks. And thanks for getting my parents a gift. That was thoughtful.’
‘It’s not much really.’
‘Hi, Anna,’ said Liam, slipping into the space between her and Connor. He kissed her cheek confidently. ‘You look amazing.’
‘Err. Liam, this is Connor.’ Where to begin?
‘Hi,’ said Liam, shaking Connor’s hand. He turned back to Anna. ‘No Hudson tonight?’ This was going to be a painfully long evening.
Anna and Connor joined Sophie and Dave and thankfully for a while Dave led the conversation with the day’s football highlights.
‘I’ll get us some more drinks,’ said Connor, casting his eyes down when he reached Anna.
When he’d disappeared, Anna flopped against the table. ‘This is a nightmare.’
‘What?’ said Dave, confusion creasing his forehead as he gave a giant yawn and set Sophie off too.
Sophie gave him a friendly pat. ‘Go back to sleep.’
‘You heard from Hudson?’ asked Sophie.
‘Only work emails. Why?’ Anna was watching Sophie’s expression closely.
‘No reason,’ she said, with a shrug. ‘Ooh, I love this one. Let’s dance,’ said Sophie, pulling Anna to her feet when Bruno Mars started to blare out of the speakers and she let Dave slump onto her seat for a snooze.
Anna watched Connor return to the table with the drinks. He angled his chair towards the dance floor. Sophie was shouting the words out with a slight delay and her dancing was vigorous to say the least but Anna was starting to enjoy herself. At least while she was dancing she didn’t have to speak to Connor or Liam. And right there, as if in slow motion, she had an epiphany. She didn’t want to be in a relationship with either of them. And more importantly, she didn’t need to be in a relationship with either of them. She was doing fine on her own. In fact, she was happy. Right then, dancing with her best friend at her parents’ anniversary party, she felt together and content. She wouldn’t be quite so calm when she had to clearly tell both Connor and Liam that they would not be featuring in her future but that could wait until tomorrow.
She looked away. Her mum and dad were sitting at the edge of the dance floor, her dad’s leg up on a spare chair and her mum’s arm lovingly draped across his shoulders. Terry raised his glass to her, took a sip and gave her the thumbs up. Anna gave a little wave. It was odd being the only sober person sometimes; it was like you were the one who was acting strangely and everyone else was the norm. At least she’d have a clear head tomorrow, unlike most of the others in the room.
‘Here you go,’ said Connor, pushing a shot across the table to Sophie when she and Anna returned from the dance floor.
‘Ooh, thanks.’
‘Here’s yours,’ said Connor, not making eye contact as he passed the glass of Coke to Anna. ‘Down in one?’
Sophie looked at Anna and banged her glass on the table. Anna chuckled. ‘M
ine’s Coke.’ But Sophie had already knocked hers back. Anna was thirsty and took a long drink from hers. At the last swallow it tasted slightly odd and she gave the glass an accusatory look.
Connor spotted the gesture. ‘It’s supermarket brand. I think they’ve run out of the proper stuff.’
Anna nodded her understanding. Sophie was trying to manoeuvre Dave into an upright position. ‘I think it’s time we went home.’
‘I’ll call you a cab,’ said Connor, pulling out his phone. Within ten minutes Sophie and Dave had said their goodbyes multiple times and left. Anna and Connor returned to their table. She was thankful for the intrusion of some old friends of her parents joining them for twenty minutes even if their sole purpose had been to brag about how well their children had done and the last three cruises they’d been on.
While they were talking Anna began feeling odd. Her vision was all swimmy. She looked around the table, trying hard to focus on Connor who was nodding along to the conversation. Anna blinked and sipped a bit more of her drink.
‘It’s been lovely to see you. You must tell us all about your New York trip sometime,’ said a woman Anna vaguely recognised, who then moved on to the next table.
‘Bye,’ said Anna, but her lips weren’t moving right.
‘You okay?’ Connor loomed in front of her looking concerned.
‘I need …’ Something made her lie. ‘I need the loo.’ She got up, held on to the chair to steady herself and went to the bar.
‘Anna, can we have a chat?’ asked Liam, popping up as if out of nowhere. Anna shook her head and pushed him slowly away. She couldn’t deal with him right now. Liam huffed. ‘I’ll be outside if you change your mind.’ He downed his drink and left.
She managed to order a pint of water but she was aware something was wrong. She downed the water and steadied herself. She needed to sit down, her head was pounding and her legs had turned to jelly. Either she was having some sort of stroke or her drink had been spiked.
Anna wasn’t sure how she got in the back of the taxi but the sight of Connor talking to her parents and hugging them goodbye set off a panic inside her. She tried to lift her hand to the window but her dad just waved at her and gave a knowing smile. She went to speak, to shout, but she couldn’t. She could only make a slight groan of a noise and could barely keep her eyes open. Connor bounced into the car, gave the driver the address and calmly propped her up against him, waving to her parents as they drove off.
Rooting for You! Page 7