Page 106 of In This Together

Sofia moved to the window and stared outside. ‘Andrea was wrong to mess with my life with Jay. Yet I have Sanfia. And Jay has done what I probably could never have asked him to do – he’s left. In a warped and messed-up way, maybe things have worked out for the best.

‘But I still have the problem of having to buy Jay out of the label,’ Sofia said. ‘I can’t afford to do that.’

‘Have you considered asking Rosalie?’ Hannah suggested.

Sofia gave her a look of incredulity. ‘In Rosalie’s mind, I must be tied to Andi in this whole thing. She’ll probably never speak to either Andi or me again, let alone offer to lend me money or buy into the label.’ She looked back to the outside. ‘I wouldn’t want to abuse her friendship like that, in any case.’

‘All I’ll say is, Rosalie truly doesn’t have a malicious cell in her beautiful, immaculate body. She wouldn’t hold something that Andrea’s done against you, Soph.’

Hannah retook her seat. ‘Well, now you know the truth, how do you feel?’

Sofia shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m mad at Andi but I’m pleased I understand now what she’d been thinking. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter now. She’s my sister and she’s hurting.’

An hour later, Hannah and Sofia crept quietly into Andrea’s room, where she was asleep, fragile and pale. As Hannah took a seat at one side of the bed, Sofia leaned her head next to Andrea’s on her pillow as she sat in the chair by the other side of her sister’s hospital bed, both of them watching Andrea sleep.

Andrea had made a huge mistake getting involved with Hunter, but maybe it would have never happened if she hadn’t felt like she had to leave Sanfia Records and let Sofia run the business with Jay. Her goodness had been misplaced when it came to her actions with Sofia and Jay, meddling in their lives. But her good intentions were there. Hannah was sure that, deep down, Sofia knew those good intentions had always been there.

‘I don’t hate you, Andi,’ Sofia whispered. ‘I could never hate you. I love you with all my heart and it’s breaking for you right now.’

Andrea’s hand rose and she brought it to rest on Sofia’s cheek, her eyes still closed. ‘I love you,’ she whispered, turning to kiss Sofia’s brow.

28

ROSALIE

Rosalie was reviewing her investment report over coffee when her intercom buzzed. She wasn’t expecting anyone and was surprised to look in the viewfinder and see Andrea downstairs. She buzzed her in and went to find a clean mug from the kitchen to pour coffee for her.

Yesterday, she had been visited by Hannah and Sofia. They had each come under the guise of apologising to Rosalie. Hannah apologised for the way she broke the news of Andrea’s affair with Hunter. Sofia apologised for, essentially, being Andrea’s sister and thereby determining that implicitly, she had wronged Rosalie.

In truth, Rosalie hadn’t needed their apologies; she was simply grateful that they obviously missed her too. She told them as much and over two pots of English tea, the women resolved to always be open and honest with each other and not to let things come between their friendship.

Rosalie had told them about her wardrobe and life cleanse, how she was looking into turning her passion for interiors into a business and how she and Seth were intending to date. Sofia filled her in on Jay leaving and how, even though she was hurting, she knew it was going to be the right thing for them both in the long run. Hannah told her how she was looking for a new job, one that might be more flexible, and how she’d opened up to Rod after all their years together, about how she needed his support.

In all, Rosalie couldn’t have been happier for her friends and to have them back in her life. But, she explained, things couldn’t go back to how they were because they would never be three best friends and a little sister again.

After that, Hannah and Sofia had explained a few things to Rosalie. Now, as she filled a mug full of coffee for Andrea, she wondered if Andrea had come of her own accord, or whether she had been sent by Hannah and Sofia.

She’d left the door ajar but Andrea tapped gently and called her name before coming inside.

‘I’m in the lounge,’ Rosalie called from her seat in the window. She had opted to sit, unsure how she should greet her old friend.

Despite it being a work day, Andrea wasn’t dressed in her usual corporate attire. She wore jeans and a T-shirt, with flat-soled sandals. Her hair was roughly tied up and she looked pale, tired and… sad.

She hovered on the threshold between the lounge and the hallway, holding her handbag in front of her with both hands as she looked at Rosalie.

‘Hi,’ she said, not bold and confident like Andrea usually was but uncertain.

Rosalie had wanted to be stern and guarded but seeing Andrea this way was not what she wanted at all.

She thought about the baby Andrea had been carrying just days before and the tragedy of having lost it. She’d cried when Hannah and Sofia had told her about it, even though she was still furious with Andrea. Because she loved her. Though she wished she didn’t because she would be able to move on much easier if she didn’t, the fact was, Andrea was one of Rosalie’s best friends. Not of the Clarissa, Kaitlin or Madeleine ilk but of the real kind.

‘I poured you coffee,’ Rosalie said.

Andrea took the invitation and came to sit in the high-back chair opposite Rosalie, each of them looking out of the window at the view across Central Park.

‘Rosalie, I know there’s nothing I can say or do to ever make up for what I did. It was shameful and disgusting and I will forever be sorry for all the hurt I caused, to everyone, but mostly to you.’

Rosalie looked at her now and saw a stream of water running down Andrea’s cheek. Andrea who never cried or got emotional about anything. Stoic Andrea.

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