‘Yes, you really were quite the pair.’ Angela sighed affectionately, yanking the photograph from Eleanor’s hands and placing it to the side. ‘We had to move heaven and earth to keep you apart back in those days.’
Fin felt his face flush but Angela continued oblivious. ‘Oooh, what do we have here?’ She unfolded a crumpled piece of paper and laid it flat on the table. Fin’s stomach jolted at the sight of the handwriting. How could he ever forget his childish scrawl? He didn’t dare look at Eleanor; it was enough that the entire room seemed to extinguish itself of sound.
‘Eleanor and Fin’s Friendship Rules,’ Freya read out loud, and Fin prayed the ground would swallow him up.
‘Number one,’ Angela continued gleefully. ‘Best friends don’t lie to each other. Ever. Not even little white lies. Oh, how funny, Eleanor, you’ve added “this applies mainly to you, Finley Taylor” and underlined it three times.’ She chuckled to herself. ‘You always were a bossy child. Headstrong, your father liked to say. More like bullish, in my opinion!’
‘OK, we get the gist,’ Eleanor cut in, her face starting to shine red.
‘Number two,’ Freya carried on, ignoring the deadly stare her sister was shooting her. Fin remained silent. ‘Best friends don’t go to sleep mad at each other. Fights must be forgiven before bedtime (see exceptions to this rule overleaf).’
‘I think we may have missed a trick here; we should have been lawyers, judging by this!’ Fin joked, helplessly trying to find a thread of lightness amongst the web of tension.
‘Are we done?’ Eleanor grimaced.
‘Hell no, look at this thing at the bottom!’ Freya pointed out. ‘It’s some sort of contract.’
‘What does it say here …’ Angela scowled, reading the messy attempt at writing, sprawled haphazardly across the page. ‘I, Eleanor Ruth Levy, and I, Finley James Taylor, hereby declare that if such a time occurs at the ripe old age of thirty-five that both members of this agreement find themselves single then it shall be mandatory for the individual parties to wed each other.’ Angela laughed, reaching for Fin’s cheeks and squeezing them hard. ‘Oh my! Shall I get my hat?’
‘Unfortunately for you I’m still thirty-four,’ Eleanor said sarcastically, snatching the piece of paper and throwing it back in the box.
‘That may be, my darling, but thirty-five is not far off. And I don’t see much of an effort being made to change your single status, so maybe a back-up isn’t a bad idea.’
Fin could feel Eleanor’s anger from across the table; it was radiating off her in thick undulating waves. He grabbed inside the box to try and find anything to divert the conversation.
‘Not this again,please,’ Eleanor growled.
‘Ohh, someone is a bit tetchy, aren’t they?’ Freya teased. ‘You wouldn’t want to marry her anyway, Fin, she’s so grumpy these days.’
Fin’s body temperature began to rise rapidly. Why was he so hopeless in these situations?
‘Well, for all we know, Fin could be in a happy relationship with the woman of his dreams.’ Angela winked.
‘Of course!’ Eleanor cried, not giving Fin even a second to speak. ‘It’s probably just poor old spinster Eleanor who’s the only one single and alone.’ She began vigorously repacking the box. ‘Now, can wepleaseeat?’
‘I’m alone too,’ he shouted, the words bursting out of him uncontrollably.
Nobody spoke, and with every passing second of silence Fin could feel his cheeks burning brighter.
‘I just meant that I’m not with anyone either.’ He hung his head and began to fiddle nervously with the edge of the tablecloth. ‘You’re not the only single person here.’
‘Well, I’m sure you will be snapped up in a heartbeat. With a face like yours? The ladies of London better watch out!’ Angela cried.
‘Mum, stop embarrassing everyone,’ Eleanor pleaded. ‘Can we eat already?’
The joy in Angela’s eyes receded a little. ‘I really don’t know where you get your impatience from, darling. It definitely isn’t from me or your father.’ She tutted, turning towards the oven with a wave of silk. ‘Clear the table for me then, will you, and I’ll serve up.’
Eleanor
If Eleanor had thought the weekend was hard, she knew that Monday morning was only going to be tougher. She’d ignored all of Sal’s texts and calls demanding updates about how her date with Ben went. She’d also left the message from Ben himself unanswered. The message that she’d received last night. The message asking for a second date …
‘Aha, so shelives, does she?’ Sal barked across the office floor. Eleanor dropped her head even lower behind her monitor.
‘I know you’re there, Eleanor,’ Sal continued to shout, as she made her way towards her. Eleanor groaned and laid her head on the desk, catching the very disapproving eye of Doreen across the way.
Suddenly a loud thump landed next to Eleanor’s ear. She looked up tentatively and saw a large coffee cup with her name written on it.
‘You’re mad but you still buy me coffee?’ She smiled sheepishly.
