Page 9 of Five Things I Love About You

‘God knows. But if it is I’m royally screwed.’

‘Christ.’

‘I know.’

We sit in silence for a few more minutes, both of us no doubt building up to going back inside to face the music. Katy moves first, stubbing the cigarette out under her feet then bending down to pick it up and hiding it in her fist.

‘I guess we’ll find out soon enough.’ Then she surprises me by reaching in and giving me a quick hug, before disappearing through the side gate. I finish my soup alone.

* * *

The rest of the day passes in a blur. Rumours are flying round the staffroom so I steer well clear, keen to get home, open a bottle of wine and sink into a hot bubble bath. One of the joys of the kids having moved out is that I can do whatever I want whenever I want without having to explain myself so, although I miss them like a limb, and the house is, in reality, far too big and quiet for me, I try to remind myself to make the most of the freedom.

But when I pull up outside my house, Kirstie jumps out of her car a few doors away and jogs towards me.

‘You’ve forgotten, haven’t you?’ she says, as I’m locking up my bike.

I look up as I unclip my bike helmet. I can’t imagine what my hair looks like. ‘Forgotten what?’

She lets out a long sigh. ‘Our training session.’

‘Bollocks, sorry.’

She checks her watch. ‘No worries, there’s still loads of time.’

My heart sinks. I’m so tired all I really want to do tonight is relax. But now I remember I’d promised Kirstie I’d go for a training run with her, and I hate letting her down.

‘Give me five minutes,’ I say, letting us both in. She heads to the kitchen while I run around my bedroom like a lunatic throwing on my running gear and looking for a suitable hairband.

‘Ready,’ I announce, four and a half minutes later, standing in the kitchen door. Kirstie drains a glass of water and slams it on the counter. ‘Great, let’s go.’

She marches past me toward the front door and I fill a water bottle and follow her, wishing I could think of a reason not to go. But when Kirstie decides she wants to do something it’s impossible to say no. She starts jogging the moment she gets outside, and I have to hurry to catch her up. My breath feels ragged in my chest and I focus on levelling it out, taking in long lungfuls as I warm up and my legs get into their stride. We’re running towards Alexandra Park where I know Kirstie will choose the first hill she can find – not difficult round here – so I’m mentally preparing myself for it when she says, ‘I need to tell you something.’

I glance over at her, and she looks serious.

‘What?’

She’s a better runner than me and her natural pace is much faster than mine, so she’s finding this easy as we pound towards the entrance to the park. I dodge a dog shit that’s been left to fester and wait for her to answer.

‘I saw Darren with another woman.’

I don’t know what to say, so I say nothing. I know Kirstie would never tell me this unless she was one hundred per cent certain of what she saw.

She slows a little, and I do the same. ‘Aren’t you going to say anything?’

I shrug – a tricky move when you’re running. ‘I’m not sure what to say.’

To my surprise she stops dead. Her breathing is already steady, but my chest is still heaving so she speaks first.

‘I didn’t want to be the one to tell you, but I know how strongly you feel about people who cheat, after your parents…’ She trails off. ‘Anyway, I just had to.’ She wraps me in an unexpected hug and I feel her pulse beating against my cheek. I pull away and look at her.

‘Thank you, Kirst.’ I take a swig of water from my bottle. It dribbles down my cheek and I swipe it away, then turn to start running again. But before I can get anywhere she grabs my arm and yanks me back.

‘Ow!’

‘Sorry.’ She lets go. ‘Aren’t you going to say anything else? Don’t you want to talk about it, or ask me anything?’ Her eyes are wide with concern.

‘Honestly? Not really.’

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