Chapter One
Rowan
I sprint down the platform at Euston with all the grace of a giraffe on roller skates, ungainly in my borrowed hiking boots and bag, my stomach churning from the excess of wine I downed last night. Strangers leap out of my way, shooting me disapproving looks.
“Terribly sorry!” I shout as I speed past. “I’m late for my train!”
Brilliant, Rowan. I’m sure they’d never have guessed that given that you’re in a bloody train station, running for a bloody train.
Which is closing its doors in – I check my phone – less than two minutes.
Fuck. I put on another burst of speed, breaking apart a couple holding hands and shooting another apology in my wake. Ten metres. Five. I hurl myself through the doors with seconds to spare. My heart beats a million miles a minute. My shoulders ache from the bag straps. My calves are in agony.
This level of fitness does not bode well.
For the hundredth time this morning, I curse past Rowan and her terrible choices.
What seemed like a great idea tucked in the back room of The Lord Grosvenor, me and my best friend Marnie’s favourite pub, after four hours of drinking and precisely no dinner, has become in the cold light of day a monumentally stupid set of decisions.
Decisions that I have – apparently – already booked and paid for.
I walk down the train until I find my reserved seat, dump my bag and collapse, burying my head in my hands.
What am I doing here?
I don’t do spontaneous. I barely even do considered. And now I’m on a train to Scotland with my housemate Erica’s hiking gear, heading towards a walk I’m not remotely prepared for. I don’t know why I’m here. Why, when I woke up this morning, I didn’t roll straight over, thinkfuck it, and fall back to sleep.
My phone buzzes.
MARNIE:Christ. I feel like a dragon ate me for dinner and shat me out.
MARNIE:How are you doing? I’m here if you need anything. Want to come over and watchLegally Blonde?Rot in bed together?
MARNIE:Remember: Ethan’s a fuckwit. DO NOT CALL HIM BACK.
MARNIE:I had this mad dream that you decided you were going to hike to Sophie’s wedding. Crazy, right?
MARNIE:You, the girl who almost had a panic attack when you woke up with a spider on your nose. Lololol.
MARNIE:Let me know aboutLegally Blonde. Brian says he’ll make us hot chocolate! Love youuuuu xxx
Instead of replying, I snap a picture of the bag opposite and send it her.
Less than ten seconds later, the train has left the station, and my phone is ringing.
“Oh my fucking god. It wasn’t a dream?” Marnie’s voice is low and rasping, muffled as if she’s still in bed. Her cool two-bedroom Hackney flat is the stuff of London housing dreams. Her boyfriend, Brian, lucked out big with Bitcoin and bought it before gentrification hit and property prices soared. Marnie insists she isn’t dating him for the flat, but she’s at least as in love with it as she is him. And she’s head over heels for him.
“First off, I did notalmost have a panic attack. I had a very reasonable, not at all inappropriate reaction to an arachnid trying to crawl inside my face. See how much you like it the next time you’re dozing, and you feel a spindly leg creeping up your nasal cavity.” I take a breath. “And no. It wasn’t a dream.”
“You’re really on a train to Scotland?”
“I really am.”
There’s a rustle as Marnie rolls over. Brian murmurs in the background, and she shushes him. “But… hiking, Rowan. You barely even like walking. You once hailed us a cab to go around the corner because it was raining. Your favourite hobby isliterallythe sofa. Last month, you changed your laptop background to a forest because – and I quote – ‘then no one can give me shit about never leaving the city anymore’.”
I wince. “I’m aware I can be a little bit… particular.”
“Particular? At the Christmas party, you were voted least likely to survive in an apocalypse. By the entire Design department!”
