Liv grabbed a slice of toast and munched on it in her horizontal position. Then she started to choke and had to sit up. It would be just her luck to die from choking on toast. It wasn’t exactly a life-flashing-before-her moment but if she were to die, what had she achieved in her twenty-five years?Bugger all. She finished her toast, had a swig of tea, lay back down again and snuggled under the covers. She was feeling sorry for herself and bed was the best place to do that. Even losers deserved a day off.
A couple of hours later she was scrolling through her phone having rebooted the app and searched the database for Fraser. Still no sign of him. It turned out her low point had a few more levels down than she’d realised.
‘Are you not up yet?’ Charlotte’s less understanding face poked around the door.
‘I said I’m not getting up today. I’m busy wallowing.’
Charlotte came in and put her hands on her hips – never a good thing. ‘Now listen to me. This man is not worth it. Dwelling on what’s happened will only make you feel worse. You need to seize the day.’
Liv would have quite liked to have seized Charlotte by the ponytail and slung her into next week. ‘I appreciate the pep talk. I do. But I’m going to get over Frasermyway.’
Charlotte pulled a number of different facial expressions. None of them boded well. ‘Get over him? You’ve not even met him. What is there to get over?’
‘Wemetonline,’ said Liv trying not to sound niggled. ‘I thought we had potential. We were a good match because we liked the same things. He was always there with a text when I needed him. And I liked him.’
‘But you know nothing about him, apart from the fact that heallegedlylikes Mariah Carey.’ Charlotte rolled her eyes – she wasn’t a fan. ‘And he says he’s a chef in Scotland. It’s probably all lies. Did he even say where in Scotland he lived? It’s a whole other country.’
‘Yes,’ said Liv. ‘He lives on the banks of Loch Lochy.’
Charlotte belly laughed. ‘Loch Lochy? And you didn’t think that was a made-up place?’
‘Not until now.’ Liv was feeling like a proper fool.
‘Chalk it up to experience and move on. Hey?’ Charlotte had that ‘I’m so clever’ big sister look about her – it was very annoying.
‘You can’t just delete someone from your mind like an unwanted computer file. Relationships don’t work like that.’
‘Apparently you can because that’s exactly what he’s done to you,’ said Charlotte. ‘And it was hardly a relationship. You probably couldn’t pick him out of a line-up. And if you’d been in touch with him anymore that may have been the next place you’d have seen him. He’s most likely a con man.’
Liv could feel that familiar sense of going into battle that she only ever felt with Charlotte. Was it a stubborn sibling thing? She wasn’t sure but it was a definite sensation reserved only for her sister.
‘Online relationships are still relationships you know. We had feelings for each other. I know it was early days but there was definitely something. We had a connection.’ Charlotte gave a derisory snort and Liv was further riled. ‘He was kind and thoughtful and I’m going to miss him.’
‘Sure. It was definitely kind and thoughtful of him to ghost you like that.’
‘Before that part he was really nice to me. Not that you would understand because you’re too busy for a boyfriend. You barely noticed when Ricky buggered off to Ibiza.’
Charlotte gasped. ‘That’s unfair, Liv. I love my job. And I couldn’t give a shit about Ricky.’
‘He owns a bar in Cyprus now,’ shot in Liv.
Charlotte’s expression changed to interested.
‘Does he? When did…’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t care about Ricky. But Idocare about you. We don’t need men in our lives. Look at Mum. She’s happier now than she’s ever been.’
It was true their mother did seem to be happy being single but it had taken countless tears and a lot of useless men for her to finally embrace it. ‘But Mum’s in her fifties. I don’t think I’m ready to be permanently single.’
‘Take my advice. Forget about Fraser and focus your energy on something else.’
Liv puffed out a breath as she lay in her bed. ‘What energy? I don’t have any.’
‘That’s a hangover. Get some juice and a vitamin C tablet down you and you’ll be right as rain.’
‘Why are there so many men with arsehole tendencies in this world? Why can’t someone gather them all up and send them off somewhere like an island?’ said Liv.
‘Maybe they did. We are on an island after all. Perhaps someone needs to invent a dating version of TripAdvisor so you can leave one-star reviews to warn the next woman. Anyway, worse things happen in Wetherspoons.’
‘Why are you always so bloody jolly?’ asked Liv. ‘It’s zapping the last of the energy I actually had. Look I’m going back to sleep. That’s your fault.’
