Page 77 of One Golden Summer
Dad looked down, then cracked a smile. “It fits! I knew I had a daughter for a reason!” He gave her a wink and filled it in.
Even saying the word caused Kirsty’s heart to deflate. She recalled the morning on Ginger’s deck with the silver suit. Meeting Saffron in the harbour market. Both times, Saffron had been on her knees playing with Rufus the dog. Would she be back to do that anytime soon?
Kirsty glanced up at the TV, which was on mute. It was on a channel she didn’t recognise. Her parents were normally on the first five stations, not known to stray off the well-trodden path. She picked up the remote and was just about to turn over, when an image of Saffron and Echo flashed up on the screen.
If Kirsty’s heart had deflated at the thought of Rufus, it shrivelled up into a kernel and almost stopped beating at that. She located the mute button and stabbed it.
“The two were dining at Haze, very much on show for all the waiting paparazzi,”said the channel announcer.
Kirsty’s heart rallied as the camera zoomed in on Saffron. She was so incredibly beautiful. Also, incredibly styled in a black tux and crisp white shirt that Kirsty had seen her wearing before in photos online. But where was Pearl? Where was the meeting room? If Kirsty didn’t know better, this looked very much like a date.
Was her date with Echo going to end with the same dessert Saffron had given Kirsty?
Kirsty put her drink down, her hands automatically going to her face to cover her eyes. Her heart, recovered from its temporary slump, was now booming in her chest for all the wrong reasons.
Every muscle in Kirsty’s body tightened. Her hairs stood on end. She struggled to control her breathing.
Saffron was in a posh restaurant with her ex, and the way Echo was gripping Saffron’s arm and staring at her left little space to jump to anything but the obvious conclusion. Echo’s grip was possessive.
Saffron was letting her do it.
Perhaps Saffron had missed her doing it.
Had Kirsty been played by a movie star? Had all Saffron’s words meant nothing? Had she been acting all along?
Please say it wasn’t true.
However, the announcer was oblivious to her internal strife. As was her dad, still frowning at his crossword.
“We all know that Girl Racer 2 has broken all box office records for a female-led action movie, especially one with two out lesbian leads. Could it be that the on-off couple are back on in real life, too? If that’s the case, it’s going to make the shooting of Girl Racer 3, due to start next month according to my sources, even hotter than the last. It’s also going to tip fans of the franchise over the edge! We’ll bring you all the latest news on the film and the romance as we get it. Now, back to the rest of our Hollywood round-up.”
Kirsty jumped up from the sofa, then switched off the TV.
Her dad looked up. “You okay? That was a very sudden movement.”
“I have to go.” She couldn’t get through a dinner with her parents without cracking and she didn’t want them to see she’d failed again. It was becoming more and more apparent by the minute that she had. Why did she keep failing at romance? What was wrong with her? She had the perfect role models with the perfect marriage, but she couldn’t emulate it, no matter how hard she tried. All Kirsty wanted was normal. It turned out, that was the hardest thing to find.
How could she have been so stupid to think Saffron would choose her over Echo Black? Even those words skating across her mind made her shake her head and let out a despairing snort.
She was Kirsty from Sandy Cove. Not Echo from LA. She’d never stood a chance.
“Go? But we’re having paella. It’s your favourite.”
“I know. It’s just, something’s come up. I’ll tell you more another time.”
He stared at her, then nodded. If there was one thing she’d always been grateful for, it was her dad always knew when to stay silent. It was a talent her mum had never cultivated. She leaned down and kissed his cheek.
“Can you tell Mum?” She would never take Kirsty fleeing without an explanation.
He nodded. “I’ll take care of it. Go do what you have to do.”
She squeezed his hand and walked out of the house.
Once in the fresh air, she almost crumpled. She’d kept it together in the house because she’d had to. But now, replaying that image of Echo holding onto Saffron’s arm and staring at her with her movie-star smile, she paused. She had a sensation like the soft tissue in her chest and throat had hardened, making it difficult to breathe. Kirsty stopped walking and leaned over, a hand to her heart. The pain was so visceral, it was pulsing. She never wanted to feel it again.
She hobbled along her parents’ road, running parallel with the beachfront and the High Street. She cut down an alleyway with some graffiti of a heart exploding and stopped to soak it in. The wall was a graphic representation of what was happening inside her body. She’d walked past it a million times before, and yet it’d never hit home like tonight. It was as if Saffron had reached in and scrunched Kirsty’s heart into a ball, then ripped it out and thrown it away.
Like it was disposable.
