Chapter25
‘Dirty stop-out,’ Skye said when she bumped into Star coming down the stairs from the flat above Passion Flowers. They both then laughed. ‘Have a nice day, Mum,’ the girl went on. ‘It’s good to see you looking so happy – and I truly mean that.’
Star just about managed a quick, ‘Thank you, darling,’ before hastily running up her own stairs, unlocking the front door and rushing to the toilet, where she vomited.
She ran the shower until it was hot, smothered herself with her favourite almond and vanilla body wash, then put her head back in the soothing jet of water, making anmmmsound as she did so. Feeling better, she thought back to what she’d eaten last night. She’d only had one glass of wine with her meal, so it must have been the oysters. She had never been that keen on them, but Conor had insisted on the aphrodisiac starter, not that they needed any kind of encouragement in that department. Wiping her mouth, she went to the kitchen and got herself a glass of water. She felt shattered. All the late nights and lovemaking were beginning to take their toll on her. She had told Conor that, as much as she loved having fun with him, tonight she was staying in, sitting cosily in front of the log burner and re-watchingNormal People.Which, she had told him, was almost like being with him anyway as Paul Mescal, the sexy male lead,reminded her of a younger version of him; plus it was full of raunchy sex scenes.
Throwing on her dressing gown, she made herself a hot water and lemon and was just going through to the bedroom to get dressed and ready to go down to the market, when her phone beeped in two messages.
One was from Conor with an image of the Pussycat Dolls and his words,Bet you wish Paul Mescal washot like me. Star shook her head and smiled. For someone who appeared so big and confident, underneath he had his own deep-rooted insecurities. The other was her mother saying,Can you come?Having received this message on many previous occasions, Star rang her immediately, to hear sobbing. ‘Steren, Steren, can you come?’ She could hear the slur in Estelle Bligh’s voice.
‘Mum, is it urgent? I’ve got to open the shop in a minute.’
‘He’s dead. Dead.’
‘Who is, Mum?’
‘Steren, can you just come, please?’
Star said patiently, ‘Let me ask Kara if Skye can watch my shop for a bit and I’ll whizz over.’
Finishing off her now lukewarm water and lemon, Star quickly checked her emails. On seeing Jack’s email address amongst them, she felt a surge of energy fly from the top of her head to the bottom of her toes. Then realising it was her sent box she was looking at, she blew out a calming breath then stood up ready to leave. Jack Murray had gone. But why, in that case, did she still feel that he was so close to her?
