‘Yes, you do,’ Carrie persisted. ‘Like where he grew up, why he doesn’t see his parents, who his friends are? Don’t you think it’s weird that you haven’t met any of his friends?’
‘Not really. He’s not been in Manchester that long.’
‘But long enough to have a house. Have you been there yet?’
‘Yes, I have actually. He took me last week and it’s amazing. At least, it’s going to be. It’s Grade II listed so everything’s taking a bit longer than usual. He’s waiting for new windows at the moment. They’re having to be individually made and are hugely expensive.’
Carrie was silent for a few seconds. Jules bit her lip. She shouldn’t have said that. She and Carrie may have only shared a home for a few months, but they’d hit it off straight away and Jules knew that the next question was inevitable.
‘You haven’t lent him any more money, have you, Jules?’
There was a lump in her chest. Why did Carrie make her feel like this? It was her money. She was free to do what she liked with it.
‘Just a bit. To tide him over.’
At the end of the line Carrie couldn’t suppress her groan.
‘It’s fine. Honestly. He’s going to pay me back as soon as he can. It’s a cash flow problem. That’s all. Loads of businesses have those. It’s not unusual.’
‘And the rent on your place to cover the mortgage? Is he contributing to that? Because he wasn’t planning to move in permanently, was he? Not at the beginning.’ She paused. ‘Or perhaps he was.’
It took all of Jules’s self-control to ignore that last comment.
‘Of course he wasn’t. You know it was only meant to be temporary. I didn’t realise that you wouldn’t be coming back.’
She sounded peeved. She couldn’t help herself. Carrie was quiet at the end of the line.
‘He’s paying for some food and a bit of other stuff.’
‘But not rent?’
‘I can manage for now,’ she said snappily.
‘Are you doing loads of overtime?’
‘Only the odd shift here and there.’
Another silence. Even without FaceTime Carrie could probably tell how dog-tired she was. She’d always said that you could tell a lot about people from their voice on the telephone.
‘I’m really worried about you, Jules. I wish I was closer.’
Jules felt a lump in her throat.
I wish you were closer, too, she thought, but managed to stop herself from saying it. One hint of worry or weakness and Carrie would drop everything and head back to the mainland. That was the sort of person she was.
‘I’m fine. We’re fine,’ Jules said brightly. ‘I worry about you, too, you know. In a new place, starting up a new business, in a new relationship as well. How is gorgeous Guy the gardener?’
‘Still gorgeous! I can’t believe we’ve only known each other for a few months or that I came here back in the spring in such a state and something so wonderful was waiting for me. It just feels so… right. When you know, you know, don’t you?’
Carrie was silent and Jules knew exactly what she was thinking – that Jules ‘knew’ with almost every person she went out with that he was ‘the one’ until suddenly he wasn’t.
She took a deep breath.
‘Look, I know that I’ve got a chequered romantic history, that normally I’d be thinking of ditching him by now, but I’ve finally realised that no one is going to match up to my dad. He was a saint to put up with my mum…’
‘Your mum is sweet,’ Carrie said. ‘She just wants to protect you.’
‘Suffocate me, more like,’ Jules replied.
