“Well we can’t have you uncomfortable, can we?” The assistant gave me an almighty big smile and proceeded to tour us around the store which I was starting to think was some sort of purgatory.
Forty-five minutes I’d never get back later and I’d ordered exactly what we’d sat on first, for delivery on Sunday – which we’d only wrangled because Zoey sweet talked the store manager with a couple of autographs for his wife and sister, although I suspected they were both for him.
Walking out of the store felt like I’d just been released from a torture chamber.
Zoey looked at me and started laughing. “You hated every moment of that, didn’t you?”
“It wasn’t a highlight of the year. I like what we’ve picked though.” Really, she’d picked it because I’d started reading football news on my phone after the fourth sofa.
“So job done. You owe me lunch.” She got into the car. “After that, I should make you take me somewhere posh and expensive.”
“You can if you want, but I know you want to go to Amelie’s.” I started the engine and reversed out of the space, pretty sure someone had just taken a photo.
It’d always been like this when I left Puffin Bay with Zoey, people recognising us, a few photos being taken. It had never bothered me, annoying Zoey more and making her apologise, which was irritating.
“I need more sugar.” She settled back in the seat. “And we know Amelie’s always got the sugar. That was what your dad said once.”
I shot her a click glare. “Please don’t say things like that.”
“You should be proud they’re still madly in love. I saw him last night trying to feel her up behind the bar when he thought no one was watching.”
“Please stop this. I love them both but I don’t need to know how they love each other.” I was going to need to boil my eyeballs after this.
“Well, I’m spending this evening with her and the other women of Puffin Bay, so I imagine I’ll have lots of gossip to share.” She was far too triumphant.
I put a pin in her bubble. “You can’t tell me what’s said at book club. What’s said there stays there. You’ll be chased out of town if you repeat what anyone says tonight.” This was a rule that’d been put in place when Iris and Freya, wives of the Holland twins, Gulliver and Rowan, decided to wind up their husbands by describing how their dicks compared. The fallout had been legendary, especially when it came out that the whole thing had been fabricated.
“Oh, I didn’t know that.”
I knew she was upset from the tone of her voice, and that there were only five words in her response.
“They tell you the rules when you sign in as a member. I think there’s some hazing that follows, but no one’s ever confirmed what that is.”
“I know you’re joking now.” She stayed quiet.
I waited, slowing my speed as it looked like one of the farmers was herding his sheep across the road.
“I miss having friends I can share secrets with.”
There it was. I got it, I had for years. Zoey felt like she should be showing she was grateful of the lifestyle she had. The invitations to exclusive parties and events, money, fame, adoration from millions of fans, freebies and access to designers – she arguably had it all. Apart from friends she thought were genuine and people who cared for her and not just the money and recognition she could bring.
“You share your secrets with me.” I pretended to be offended. “Aren’t I your friend?”
“My best friend. But if I try to tell you about my periods you’ll make this crazy noise to drown me out and squeeze your eyes shut, and I’m really not comfortable telling you about dick sizes and comparing notes about, you know, let’s leave it there. Unless there’s something you want to say about dick sizes that will enhance my life.”
I grinned. She’d walked straight into this one. “My dick size definitely enhanced your life.”
“Enough, Caleb! We promised never to talk about that.” She sat bolt upright-.
We had promised that and we’d stuck to it for a long, long time, another life ago, which made the whole thing feel like a dream.
“No, you can absolutely tell me what’s said at book club tonight. And there will be a lot of gossip.” I accelerated now we were past the sheep.
“I thought I had to promise not to say anything?”
“You do, but no one keeps to that promise. The women swear their husbands to secrecy, and they all talk about it the next night. It’s the cycle of secrets.” It was totally true as well. The last time it’d ended up with Thane discussing prostate issues with my dad, which wouldn’t have been discussed in a million years had Fleur and Amelie not shared secrets. It had its good points.
“So you want me to tell you everything?”
