Page 99 of In This Together

‘So, had he discharged himself?’

Sofia sipped her wine and nodded. ‘A week early.’ She shook her head. ‘I told him he should have finished the programme. What was the point in taking 80 per cent of the steps he needed to take? But, of course, he told me he wasfine.Clean.’ She shrugged. ‘He’ll never change, I see that now.

‘It was all so… off, you know? It felt, for the first time, like I was in a room with a total stranger and I could see it from someone else’s perspective. As if I weren’t me. Like I was you or Andrea, or Dad. I could see Jay for what he was and what he would never be.

‘So, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised when he said he wanted a divorce and he wanted me to buy him out of Sanfia. Cheeky fuck. He only ever had a share in the label because of me. He was so flippant. He just said, “I want a divorce, Soph. And I want out of the label, too.”’

Sofia rubbed her face with her hands. ‘I was shocked. I mean, I thought if anyone was having doubts, it was, rightly, me. When Jay left for rehab he said he wanted to get clean and make a go of things, so it didn’t fit.’

She took a large drink from her wine glass then stared into the chilled liquid, nursing the glass between her hands.

‘Then he said, “There’s something else I need to tell you.”’

Sofia looked up to Hannah, who felt like she was being scrutinised, and she asked herself silently whether she already knew what was coming. And as Hannah took a sip of her own wine, she had a feeling she did have a good idea.

‘Andi went to see Jay at the clinic,’ Sofia said.

And Hannah didn’t want any more lies between her and the people she cared about, so she confessed. ‘I knew that much.’

Sofia nodded, more, it seemed, in acknowledgement than anger. ‘Well, Jay said she wanted to buy his share of Sanfia. Or rather she wanted XM Music Group and the Stellar label to buy his share of Sanfia.’

Hannah watched as Sofia’s eyes filled with unshed tears. ‘He said she tried to poach the label from me, Han. Since Seth is doing so well, she wants to take Sanfia back.’ A tear broke free of Sofia’s eye and she quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand. ‘How could she do that to me? Isn’t it enough that she left, that I’ve had to mortgage my home to keep Sanfia afloat? That I work round the clock just…trying?

‘So, Jay said he was telling me so that I could stop it from happening. He said if I buy him out quickly, he won’t give up his share to Andrea.’ Sofia scoffed, then sobbed briefly, shaking her head to stop the onslaught of emotion. ‘I told him I don’t have the money and, do you know what he said? He said I would have to sell the apartment.’

‘Oh, Soph, come here,’ Hannah said, moving to Sofia’s side and draping an arm around her shoulders.

When Sofia composed herself, Hannah moved back to her own sofa, her heart breaking for her friend.

‘I just can’t believe it,’ Sofia said. She took another large mouthful of wine. ‘The two people in the world who are supposed to love me the most and they’ve betrayed me. Then again, I really wasn’t anticipating what came next either.God,what a day it was.’

‘So Rosalie flipped out big style, huh? It’s hardly surprising.’ Hannah shook her head. ‘I don’t know if Rosalie and Andi will come through this. I hope so but I’m just not sure.’

‘And if they don’t, it’s all on Andi,’ Sofia added.

Though Hannah was loath to ever not defend Andrea, she couldn’t deny that the fault was not with Rosalie. ‘Why was Ros at the studio anyway?’

‘Well, I’m not sure if she came to the studio to work – she’s been coming along to get experience for when her dad?—’

‘Oh, yeah, I know about that.’ Hannah rolled her eyes. Another of Rosalie’s fads.

‘So maybe she was coming along for that reason and saw Andi there then flipped. But she was so angry, I think maybe she came to confront me.’

‘That wouldn’t be like Rosalie,’ Hannah mused.

‘I guess people do strange things when they find out their best friend has been screwing their dad.’

‘Good point,’ Hannah conceded.

‘I’d been arguing with Jay and I told him to get out. Then when I was alone, all I could think about was how much I hated Andrea for what she did. I don’t know, I guess I just saw red. I was storming out of the studio to go to confront Andi. As I walked out, Andi was there talking to Seth and I figured she was trying to poach him from me. It all just hit me like a freight train. I lost it. Started screaming at Andi. Seth, or Billy maybe, held me back because, honestly, Han, I think I could have murdered her in that moment. Then we hear these heels come tapping on the pavement and Rosalie is there.’

‘Oh God.’

‘Yup. She starts screaming at me, saying that I must have known about the affair and didn’t tell her. Then she’s screaming at Andi.’ Sofia drained the wine in her glass. ‘What a mess, huh?’

‘What a mess,’ Hannah repeated. The women fell into silence, contemplating just how huge a mess everything really was.

‘Thank you for helping me pack up Jay’s things, Hannah,’ Sofia said, eventually breaking the silence. ‘Clearing out Jay’s stuff at least feels like the first step towards the new normal – no husband, no sister, clinging on to Rosalie’s friendship by a strained thread.’ She looked around the apartment, retro bold colours, shelves of vinyls decorating the walls, a vintage record player a feature on a seventies-style sideboard. ‘It looks bare in here. Like those first days after you take the Christmas decorations down.’

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