If I get heatstroke and dehydration, I’ll have a couple of hours to get to hospital before it becomes life-threatening…
Send.
And hopefully one of your neighbours will spot me and call for help before it’s too late.
Send.
The door opened behind her and before she even turned around, she knew who it was.
‘In the name of God, you should take up emotional blackmail as a full-time occupation.’
‘It might come to that if I don’t get a decent gig soon,’ Ginny replied, standing up, turning around and… Oh. It was Stevie. But it wasn’t gorgeous, vibrant, carefree, woman-in-control Stevie. This was a different version altogether. She was still wearing her hospital scrubs – a pale blue tunic with darker navy trousers – and her blonde hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck. That was all perfectly normal, but it was her face that made Ginny’s heart sink. This was pale, tired, drawn, definitely been crying Stevie.
‘Oh, hon, I don’t know what’s wrong, but if you tell me who upset you, I’ll hunt them down.’
Ginny wrapped her arms around her friend and held her for a moment.
‘You’d better come in before the neighbours start speculating and wondering why I’m hugging people on the doorstep.’
‘I’ll tell them it’s a sympathy hug because you look like crap. I’m shallow that way,’ Ginny said, feeling a twinge of relief that her natural habit of using terrible humour in bad situations had given Stevie’s lips just a hint of a smile.
However, as Stevie headed into the open-plan cosy living room and cream wood kitchen, Ginny saw that she was walking as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. More confirmation that whatever had happened was clearly not good. Ginny knew she had many skills – she could name Bernstein hits in four notes and there wasn’t a line from a romcom that she couldn’t deliver with pitch-perfect emotional weight – but handling tense situations was definitely not in her wheelhouse.
‘Okay, I can’t stand it,’ she blurted, as she reached one of the benches at the dark maple kitchen table. ‘Has someone died? Only, I need notice to be strong and stoic for you, otherwise I’ll be crap and just fall apart.’
Stevie had detoured to the back wall of the kitchen, where she flicked on the kettle, then took two mugs from one of the cupboards and popped a teabag in each of them. ‘No one has died.’
‘Okay. Pretty much anything else I can handle.’ Ginny exhaled, relieved. She knew Stevie had no family – her father had never been in her life, and her mum had passed away the previous year, but with Stevie’s job at the hospital, she often saw horrific things. Although, Ginny couldn’t imagine that anything at work would have influenced her decision to end her relationship with Ollie.
Stevie leaned against the worktop as she waited for the kettle to boil. ‘Did Ollie ask you to come?’
‘Not exactly. He told me about the call and then I bolted here under my own steam. He was really torn up, Stevie.’
Ginny watched Stevie’s eyes well up when she heard that. Bugger. She hadn’t come here to upset her. Panic mode set in.
‘Oh no. Oh no. Please don’t cry. I’m clearly making a terrible job of trying to make sure you’re okay. This is why I’m not a therapist.’
Stevie used the heel of her hand to wipe away her tears, and Ginny jumped up to wrap her arms around her for the second time.
‘I’m sorry. Look, I only came to check on you. And at the end of the day, I’m a girl’s girl, so I’m always going to take your side. It’s just… well, I know how you feel about him, so something really awful must have happened for you to do this.’
Ginny took a step back, so they were eye to eye. ‘Oh bollocks, that’s it. Did he do something terrible? No way. I’ll kill him. Moira will kill him. Or maybe you just think he did something bad, but he didn’t really. You know, loads of celebrities have mad stalkers that make claims about them. You can’t believe rumours.’ Ginny was aware she was conducting this conversation completely on her own – worse, she was actually arguing with herself.
Stevie put her hands up. ‘No, he didn’t do anything, Ginny, I promise.’
Relief. He was one of her favourite people and she didn’t want to have to kill him with her thumbs for being a tosser to her friend. Plus, she wouldn’t last a minute in jail. She was far too high maintenance and she couldn’t miss an episode of Bridgerton.
‘Is that the problem, though – that he hasn’t done anything? Did he miss something important? Does he not do enough to make you feel appreciated? Sorry, that’s probably pure projection, because Caden hasn’t booked a table in a restaurant for us in five years. And don’t even get me started on the sandwich maker he bought me for Christmas last year.’
Ginny sat back down, to give Stevie space as she poured the boiling water into the mugs. She stirred them, then brought them over to the table.
‘No, it’s just… it’s complicated. It’s lots of things.’
‘But is it something that can’t be fixed?’
‘I don’t know.’ Stevie’s eyes were watering again. ‘You know, when I was growing up, it was just me and my mum and she wasn’t great on emotions. She was so busy worrying about me that it was almost like she couldn’t just be happy. Couldn’t just enjoy life. Ollie’s world is a big one. Huge. And you know, I love him, but it’s just so… loud. He’s pulled in so many different directions. And maybe I just want a quieter life than that. I don’t want to be waiting for the next disaster, or the next drama, or the next dodgy AI video that convinces half of social media that he’s snogging the face off Kim Kardashian.’
‘Yeah, that one did look pretty realistic. I went straight online and ordered a new bodysuit from that shapewear range she does. My arse will never look like that though.’ She reminded herself to focus. ‘Sorry, I know that’s not the point. But look, none of that stuff is Ollie’s fault – it just all comes with the job.’
