Page 49 of When We Were Friends
‘Many times, over the years, I’ve wanted to call one of you for a chat,’ whispered Emily, tears in her eyes. ‘It wouldn’t have solved my problems but would have made me feel better. Stronger. More ready for the fight.’
‘When there’s been good news too,’ said Tiff and the others nodded. ‘Mum and Dad took me out for dinner when I landed my first Netflix role, and I spent the evening imagining the celebrations us four would have had.’
Morgan would have been so excited, asking everything about how a show was made, the technical details from the set. Olly would have been interested in that too. She reckoned Paige would have asked about the behaviour of her acting colleagues, and if everyone was as shallow as made out in gossip magazines. Emily would have simply listened, letting Tiff talk to her heart’s content about her achievement.
‘I’ve missed you three just being there,’ said Morgan. ‘I haven’t ever been married, I’ve not made close friends, I’ve got my parents but I have to protect them from things. And Olly… there are no barriers with him, or weren’t when he was younger. I’m working on getting back to where we used to be. It’s important because he and I always showed ourselves to each other in the raw, and… that’s what us four used to do.’
‘What about everything with Hugo?’ asked Paige in an uncomfortable tone.
Slowly, Tiff reached out both of her hands, one to Emily, one to Paige. Emily reached for Morgan’s. Morgan reached for Paige’s. They sat in a circle with their fingers intertwined like they used to.
‘We never should have let a boy get between us,’ said Tiff. ‘My gift, as we called it…’ Tiff smiled at the others. Morgan understood. The idea of The Secret Gift Society sounded almost arrogant, all these years later. ‘My gift for empathy,’ Tiff continued, ‘honed in on Hugo, instead of you three.’
‘Same here with my kindness,’ said Emily.
‘My intuition failed big time,’ said Paige.
‘Logic should have told me that you lot would never give up our friendship just for hearts and flowers,’ said Morgan. ‘But now we understand why he succeeded in splitting us apart. What happened with him… it doesn’t diminish the friendship we had.’ She side-hugged Paige. The four of them got up, arms around each other. Morgan wiped her face with the back of her hand. ‘Jesus, I never cry,’ she said. Not often, anyway, only for big things like childbirth, when Olly’s been ill, when the UK’s lost the Eurovision song contest again.
‘Are we going to Mlle Vachon’s birthday party next Monday?’ asked Tiff. ‘It… would be good to see her again.’
‘Yes, I mean… it would be rude not to go, right?’ said Emily.
Morgan could have jumped in the pool to celebrate.
Paige’s arms dropped and she stepped back from the circle. ‘But… what about the things about our lives now, that we should tell each other?’
‘We’ll all have things to say about our grown-up lives that we aren’t proud of,’ said Tiff.
‘It wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t,’ said Emily.
‘But let’s just enjoy this moment,’ said Morgan.
The rest of the night – or rather early morning – they chatted, laughed, drank too much coffee.
‘We’ve got so much catching up to do,’ said Morgan, back on the sofa. ‘Favourite takeout? Mine’s pizza – because it’s Olly’s.’
‘Not Chinese,’ said Paige, ‘because Felix and I get competitive over who can use chopsticks best.’ She gave a small smile.
‘At the moment, any and all,’ said Emily.
‘Fish and chips, but I rarely allow myself that,’ said Tiff. ‘How about favourite movie ever? I’ll start.Shallow Hal. I really like the message. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – or it should be.’
‘Yes Manwith Jim Carrey,’ said Emily. ‘I love the idea of life not being planned out, just saying yes to everything and seeing where it takes you.’
‘Perhaps that’s what you need to do, Emily?’ said Paige. ‘Your life has been so structured, I imagine, following protocols, administering and monitoring to a schedule… perhaps, now, you simply need to go with the flow and not overthink what you do next – accept the first opportunity.’
Emily sat up straighter.
‘Interstellar. Olly and I can stay up all night talking about it,’ said Morgan. ‘As he gets older, our passionate discussions about physics and maths are like when us four would lose our sense of time when discussing a new case.’
‘For me…’ said Paige, ‘nothing has ever beatenFinding Nemo. I’ve watched it so many times over the years. It’s a comfort thing. I like the idea of never giving up. You have to keep going, however tough things get.’ She paused and then lifted her arms. The others knew exactly what she was going to do and in unison the four of them performed breaststroke in the air, smiles on their faces as wide as Dory’s.
‘All of us loved that movie,’ said Tiff, everyone’s arms now back by their sides. ‘I really related to the sharks fighting their fish-eating addiction.’
‘It reminded me of us,’ said Morgan. ‘Each of us different but working together as a team.’
‘I related to Dory,’ said Emily. ‘Flawed but accepted for who she was.’
