Short silence.
‘The weather was nice.’
‘How many people came?’
‘Me. Flint. Gill.’
‘Is that all?’
‘Uh-huh. We were pretty shocked. We thought you and your mum were going to come. We thought there’d be more people from home. You know, from Devon. Relatives. Family friends. I’d have invited other people but I didn’t know who else there was. I thought your mum was going to handle it all …’
‘I wanted to come. Mum couldn’t – but I wanted to …’
‘So – why didn’t you?’
Brief silence.
‘Too scared, I guess.’
‘Scared? Ofwhat?’
‘Scared of being alone, scared of London, scared of death, scared of Bee’s friends, scared of the train journey. You know – justscared.’
‘You silly arse.’
Wry laughter. ‘I wish I’d come now. Now that I know it’s not scary. I really, really wish I’d come. Only three people. That’s so …awful.’
Another brief silence.
‘And what about London? Bee’s London friends? What about all those people in her address book?’
Sound of Lol sighing.
‘Look. Ana. Your sister. She was my best friend, right. Truly, the best friend I had in the world. I’d have done anything for her and she’d have done anything for me. But – and please don’t take this the wrong way – she could be a bit of a cow.’
Flint nodded and smiled to himself in the front seat.
‘Particularly in the early days, when she was much younger. She’d walk over people, use people. She were so bloody ambitious. And she pissed a lot of people off. I didn’t want to start going through her address book and hearing people telling me they didn’t want to come to Bee’s funeral because they didn’t like her, because she’d hurt them. D’you understand?’
Flint nodded his agreement and swept the pavement with his eyes. Summer – he loved it. Girls. Flesh. Everywhere.
‘So, how come she never fell out with you?’
‘I knew how to handle her. That was the thing with Bee. She was this really special person and most people just handled her all wrong. Made excuses for her. Made a fuss. Treated her like a fucking princess. When all she wanted was an equal. A pal. Someone to have a laugh with. And, most importantly, someone she could trust. It was an education seeing what happened to Bee when her single came out and she was famous overnight, it really was. The way all these wasps came out of nowhere. Bzzbzzbzz. Bluebottles. Stinking great flies. It’s fucking nauseating the way these people come climbing out of the woodwork when they get a sniff of money. They crawl out and they treat you like the centre of the fucking universe, like their life’s purpose is your happiness, your comfort, your every whim and desire. And then when she stopped making money they wouldn’t even give her 50p for her bus fare. D’you know what I mean?’
‘But she can’t have fallen out with everyone, surely?’
Lol sighed. ‘I don’t know, Ana, all right. All I know is that since her father died I only ever saw her on my own or with Flint. She never talked about anyone else. She didn’t trust anyone else. And now – well – it looks like she didn’t trust me, either.’
‘So – are you telling me that the reason no one came to Bee’s funeral was because no one liked her?’
‘That’s the long and short of it.’
Short pause.
Whisper from Ana. ‘That’s so terrible … imagine being alive for thirty-six years and only having three friends …’
A particularly ripe blonde caught Flint’s eye, then. Tall,athletic-looking, tanned, tight cotton sundress, tennis shoes – posh. Ponies. Public school. Lovely. Flint had a particular thing about posh girls. And they seemed to have a particular thing about him. She saw Flint staring at her and flushed slightly. Flint laughed under his breath as he pulled away from the traffic lights.
