“You need to be careful else I might never move out.”
Any comment I had to make was stopped as a faint banging noise that I hadn’t really registered became more prominent.
“Just a sec!” Ava shouted.
I pulled a pillow over my head, my ears ringing. “That was loud.”
She laughed. “I’m a Callaghan – actually, it’s more of a Green thing. Mum has got a loud enough shout to wake up the dead.”
“Have you been napping?” Payton’s voice boomed up the stairs.
Ava looked at me cautiously. “Let’s not have this as the way she finds out.”
“I’ll get dressed and head off home. My car needs unpacking with all your stuff.” We had managed to get a decent amount of her belongings in there.
Ava nodded and gave me a quick kiss, pulling on underwear and a robe. “Totally,” she shouted down. “You were late so I made the most of it.”
She tripped over a suitcase and tried to break her fall by grasping hold of me, resulting in an ironing board crashing down.
“Ava? Are you okay?” Payton yelled, sounding panicked. I felt guilt too. Payton was one of the last people I wanted to upset but I knew it was inevitable given we’d kept ourselves off the grid.
“I’m fine, Payts, don’t come up. It looks like a bomb’s gone off up here,” Ava said.
“Are you sure you you don’t want any help?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why’s it so untidy?”
Ava headed to the top of the stairs, wearing a robe, her hair piled up on top of her head. “I’m starting to pack.”
“The house isn’t on the market yet,” Payton said, sounding surprised. I started to get dressed knowing that there was a strong possibility that Payts would come up anyway.
“Had an offer that was too good to refuse,” Ava said from downstairs. “Let’s talk in there. What happened with Owen? You’re smiling, so I’m assuming everything was cool.”
I heard them discussing something that had happened with an author Owen knew and heard them laughing. There was a suitcase that was mainly full that I could carry out without too much fuss and it would just about fit in my car. Half way down the stairs I heard them talking still, Payton’s voice clear and precise like usual.
“Where are you staying between houses then?”
“With a friend. Let’s talk birthdays. I was thinking about something at Cases…”
“Which friend?”
“Oh, just someone you don’t know that well…”
“Is it a man?”
“Yeah, but…”
“Are you moving in with someone?”
There was a long pause and I realised I was holding my breath waiting for the answer. “It’s just a friend, Payts, and we need to leave it at that. For now. It’s tricky.”
“You want me to drop it?”
“Please. Everything is more than fine and I’m happy, but I really need you to not say anything about this. Please.” She sounded more desperate that I’d ever heard her.
“Is he treating you well?”
