Page 94 of One Night With You

‘Oh, Candice,’ I say. ‘Of course I miss you. I hate that this is what it took for us to get to see each other properly. There’s so much I’ve wanted to tell you about.’

‘Me too,’ she says. ‘And I know things change. We’re growing up. We’ve got dreams. Well, at least you have. I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life, but I can’t envy you for your ambition. Ambition isn’t bad. You moving to do this master’s wasn’t bad. I was just being a big baby. I was having a tantrum and I didn’t use my words to tell you. And that was shitty, and I’m sorry.’

‘It’s okay,’ I tell her. ‘I know it’s been hard. But are you okay? Like actually okay? Jackson said …’

‘That I’ve been drinking a lot and shagging Jacques? Yeah. I have. I broke rule number one.’

‘Was it worth it?’ I ask, trying not to sound judgemental.

‘No,’ she admits. ‘Hence why it’s time to move out and move on. Jackson hasn’t been home much, but when he has, he’s been kind. I think he’s been waiting it out. Waiting for me to get it all out of my system.’

‘A true friend,’ I say. ‘Knowing you’ll come back to him.’

‘Am I forgiven?’ she asks, sadly.

‘You don’t even need to ask,’ I say. ‘I mean, am I forgiven? Can we just go back to normal?’

‘I want that,’ she says. ‘Whatever normal is.’

A man with a face like Nic’s approaches us then, striding across the café to where we’re sat.

‘Hey, sorry, hi. You’re Jackson’s housemates, aren’t you? I’m Ollie? Nic’s brother? I was at a birthday party for one of you last year. I play dodgeball with Jackson.’

‘Yeah, I remember,’ says Candice. ‘Life and soul,’ she adds.

‘I didn’t know about his accident. He only texted today. Do you know where I have to go? I didn’t know.’

‘Nobody at dodgeball knew,’ Candice says. ‘We didn’t know what to say, so we just had Nic message the WhatsApp group to say he’d had a small accident.’

‘Why didn’t Nic tell me?’ Ollie says. He seems frantic, dazed. I had no idea he and Jackson were friends either.

‘He’s been holding everything together for us,’ I offer. ‘I’m sure he didn’t mean to omit any information.’

‘He should have told me,’ Ollie says. ‘I should have known.’

‘Okay,’ Candice says. ‘Well, the nurse is in there now but it’s third floor, take a right out of the lift. The nurses’ station is right there.’

‘Thanks,’ he says.

He leaves without saying goodbye.

‘That was weird,’ I say. ‘I didn’t know Jackson was even friends with Nic’s brother.’

‘He’s always weaving tangled webs,’ Candice says. ‘We’ll get the gossip later.’

‘Yeah,’ I say, watching him walk away, wondering what that was all about.

40

Nic

Lights twinkle on the inky snake of water looping around the development, the night-time sky punctuated by the lights of people arriving home after work. I stand and look out over the manicured lawns surrounding the smaller of the three apartment blocks, and the walk the length of the place back to the sliding doors of the kitchen.

‘You could put a swing set there, a little slide, maybe,’ Ollie notes, coming up behind me. ‘It’s fake grass, so at least you won’t have to mow it. You’re not exactly the “get the mower out” sort, are you?’

I screw up my face. ‘Is anybody a get-the-mower-out sort?’ I say. ‘Shut up.’

‘Steve is,’ he replies, and I see what he means. Get-the-mower-out sorts are the dads who can’t make a lasagne but disappear for all of a Saturday afternoon to sort out some old tree branches nobody cares about at the back of the garage.

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