‘Oh dear. That was a friend-zone goodbye,’ said Dixie when Nora reached the end of her story.
‘I know, right?’ Nora didn’t feel any better having her thoughts confirmed by Dixie but it was lovely to hear her voice. ‘And he said “Take care”. I say that to my nanna after a visit to Bosnia because I fear she might have a fall or choke on a Werther’s Original or something before the next time I see her because I don’t see her very often.’
‘Ouch. That doesn’t imply he wants to rip your clothes off or settle into a long-term relationship,’ said Dixie.
‘Exactly my thoughts.’ Nora bit into a large lump of cheddar and shut the fridge door with her bum.
‘What now?’ asked Dixie.
Nora walked through to the living room and flopped on to the sofa, making one of Oliver’s eyes swivel in her direction to watch her thoughtfully chew her cheese. ‘I think I’ll wait for him to make the next move.’
‘Good idea,’ said Dixie firmly.
‘Unless he doesn’t call me, then I’ll probably message him in like a week or so.’
‘Oh, absolutely you should,’ said Dixie. ‘I’ve sort of done the same thing. I hadn’t heard from the grumpy-message person so I’ve left a note under the wiper.’
Nora needed a moment to process what Dixie had said so she munched on a bit more cheddar. ‘Isn’t it a good thing that they’ve stopped leaving angry notes on Elsie?’
‘It definitely is. Although, when I didn’t hear from them it was a bit like they’d ghosted me, plus I felt everything was up in the air and I wanted clarification or closure or both.’
‘And leaving a note for someone who wants to evict you will do that, will it?’ asked Nora.
‘If there’s no reply then I think I can safely assume they have given up or died or something else equally final. If there is a response then I’ll know where I stand.’ The sound of Dixie sighing came down the line.
‘Are you OK?’
There was a small pause before Dixie replied. ‘I had a tiff with Ned. It was something and nothing but I can’t resolve it because I have no way of getting in touch with him.’
‘You know that you don’t need Ned, don’t you?’ asked Nora.
It took a while for Dixie to reply. ‘I know. It’s lonely, just me, Elsie and Arnold. And Arnold’s busy most of the time.’
Nora wondered at what point she should start to worry about her friend’s mental health if she considereda clapped-out campervan and a bolshie squirrel her closest companions. ‘If you want to do this campervan adventure then you need to properly go for it. Get the renovations completed, get someone out to fix Elsie and move on. But if you’re done with it all, that’s OK too and you can come home. You’ve proved you can cope without your parents so that box has been ticked. You can stay with me until your tenant moves out.’
‘You are completely right,’ said Dixie with gusto.
‘About which one?’ asked Nora, waving a piece of cheese in the air and making Oliver’s eye swivel wildly.
‘About giving it a proper go. I’ll crack on first thing tomorrow with the renovations. That’s what I set out to do and I’m going to finish it… assuming it’s not too hard because the door panels are not easy to get off and I’ve only ever made curtains once before and that was for my doll’s house.’
‘You definitely want to stay?’ Nora felt she needed to check.
‘Absolutely. For the time being anyway.’
‘OK, if you’re sure,’ said Nora and she popped the last piece of cheese in her mouth.
26
Nora went round to Jay’s and was surprised to be met at the door by two Jays. The real one and a life-size cardboard cut-out.
‘I know that review said your acting was wooden but I think they’ll notice if you have this as a stand-in,’ she quipped as she took in the life-size replica.
‘Haha. It’s a present from my stalker.’
‘Shit. No way. You’ve got a stalker?’
‘It would appear that I have.’
