Page 37 of When We Were Friends
Morgan and Paige nodded.
‘I don’t think they’d like llama shorts,’ Tiff replied. ‘How’s your dad, Emily?’
Emily waited for Tiff to say more about Joe and raised an eyebrow, but a stern look crossed Tiff’s face and she folded her arms.
‘Okay, okay… well, Dad works in B&Q, loves it. My brother’s an aspiring musician and lives with his bandmates in Stockport.’
Eventually, they walked back to the car park. Tiff held Emily’s arm to keep her balance until they reached the tarmac. Morgan rang for a taxi, Paige holding onto her elbow whilst she took off one shoe to shake out the sand. The two women smiled at each other as Paige wobbled and had to grip on tighter. Since 2004, The Secret Gift Society had been like a maths puzzle with no solution, however many times Morgan had gone back to work out how it could have imploded so badly. But the last few days were filling in gaps and offering hope that, once and for all, the puzzle could be worked out and leave the four of them with satisfactory answers.
Morgan sat in the taxi with Emily and Tiff, feeling almost as happy as she did when she caught Olly whistling or dancing to music.
‘Paige? Coming?’ she called.
Paige was staring out to sea. She flinched, turned around and got into the car.
20
PAIGE
Tic tac toe, tic tac toe, she couldn’t hold it in any more. The longer Paige withheld the truth, the deeper her deception cut, the more the others were going to blow when they found out.
It was so much harder than she’d recalled, to put on a false face, to stay in the background, to watch that she didn’t get caught out.
The time had come to tell the others that Hugo didn’t go by his old name any more.
She knew that for sure. What’s more, she knew exactly where he was now. Because…
Tic. Tac. Toe.
Felix was Hugo.
21
MORGAN
The waiter delivered croissants and coffees in elegant white cups, each with a gold teaspoon and a tiny amaretto biscuit on the saucer.
‘I can’t eat,’ Morgan announced, the buttery smell of the pastries almost making her retch. ‘I could be moments away from meeting Hugo if he still works at Sea Breeze. What if he doesn’t believe Olly is his?’ Her hands shook as she went into her phone’s gallery and pulled up a photo of her son. She’d show him that one. There’d be no denying it.
‘We’re here for you. We’ll make him listen,’ said Emily.
‘From his point of view, you’ve come all the way to France to find him,’ said Tiff. ‘He’s not going to imagine you’re joking.’
The other three tucked in. Paige had spotted the café down a side road, yesterday, just before the taxi driver had turned into the beach car park. Somehow, they’d got out early this morning, after a late night talking about Dailsworth High. How the new head, Jasmine, back in the day, had made other pupils’ lives a misery, too. She’d spread rumours that Imani and Milly were dating. One girl with a facial birthmark avoided her at all costs because Jasmine used to ask if her mum had drunk too much Vimto when she was pregnant. They’d chatted about their collective crush on PE teacher Mr Dane, how annoyed they’d been at themselves, it was such a cliché. They talked fondly of the librarian, Mrs Keen. One day, she’d told the girls never to change, to never lose sight of who they really were, never to bend themselves to fit some ideal. At that point, Tiff had gone very quiet, leading to the conversation petering out. The four of them went on their phones. Morgan had sent Olly the photo of Sylvie and Hugo’s house earlier and he’d responded with a thumbs up and tonnes of questions. She texted everything Delphine had said. He replied with ‘THANKS’ in capital letters, and a shot of Lake Geneva.
They’d decided to beat the Monday morning traffic and have proper, strong coffee before the surf shop opened. With its dim lighting, dark wooden tables and floor, the olive walls, and the tall ceiling and gilt bar, the café was more suited to a Parisian setting.
Paige signalled to the waiter for a glass of water. When it arrived, she slid it over to Morgan. ‘Drink this, you’ve no colour in your cheeks.’ Paige folded her napkin in half, kept going until it was too thick to fold any more. She ran her finger along the edge and then lifted her chin. ‘Reminds me of when I had my appendix out in my late teens. I looked deathly white despite my tinted foundation. Oh, and that swine flu outbreak in… 2009? I ran such a fever, I hallucinated.’ She put down the napkin. ‘How have you lot been health-wise?’
Why was Paige going on about illness? If she was trying to distract her, it wouldn’t work. Not here. Not today. Morgan flicked through more photos of Olly.
‘Can’t complain,’ said Emily. ‘The usual nursing ailments – aching joints, stress. Nothing compared to what patients go in to A&E with.’
‘I had a cervical cancer scare a few years ago, but a biopsy came up negative,’ said Tiff. ‘Oh and… my heart rate rocketed once after taking diet pills. Couldn’t get to A&E quick enough,’ she blurted.
‘Well done for having the sense to get it checked out,’ said Emily.
‘Those things should be better regulated,’ said Morgan.
