I sigh and lean back in my chair. ‘You’re right. I love this house. I could never move. But you know what I mean. It’s not going to be particularly nice, having to face that lot out there every day.’
Fi blows on her tea and takes a sip. ‘So what happens now?’
‘I have to go to court the week after next.’
‘Does that mean you’ll need a lawyer? I could ask Nathan if he knows anyone good. I’m sure he does.’
‘Actually, I quite liked the duty solicitor. They assigned him to me at the police station and he was quite straight talking and easy to get along with.’
‘Yes, but is he any good? What’s his name?’
‘Saul Barker.’
Fiona gets out her phone.
‘What are you doing?’
‘What do you think? I’m googling him.’ She taps and scrolls for a few seconds. ‘Here he is. Ooh, I can see why you want to keep him. He’s gorgeous.’
I shake my head and tut. ‘Not interested.’
Fiona points at me. ‘You’ve gone red. You think he’s hot.’
‘So childish.’ I smile to let her know I’m not too annoyed.
She smiles back. ‘I’m just trying to cheer you up a bit; lighten the mood. But I know it’s not the time. I don’t know what’s wrong with me at the moment. My judgement’s off.’
‘It’s the perfect time. Otherwise I’d just curl up in a heap and cry.’ My voice cracks and I clear my throat to try to disguise it. But I’m too late, because Fiona throws her arms around me and squeezes.
‘It’ll be fine, Kel. I won’t let anything bad happen to my best friend.’
‘Distract me,’ I say, pulling away from her warm hug and patting my cheeks to try to get my emotions under control.
‘With what?’
‘Anything. What’s going on with you at the moment? I’ve been so self-obsessed that I’ve been ignoring all my friends lately. Tia wanted to talk to me about something and I just haven’t had the time. So, is everything good with you and Nathan?’
Fiona shrugs and nods.
‘Is that a yes? Or a not sure?’
‘Things are the same as always.’
‘He must be chuffed with his win yesterday.’
‘Yeah. He really is.’
I get the feeling that Fiona doesn’t want to talk about Nathan. I get that a lot since Michael died. My friends are wary of talking about their partners in case they upset me or something. Just because I lost my husband, doesn’t mean I don’t want to talk about my friends’ relationships. But I won’t push it for now. Hopefully if there was a real problem, Fiona would confide in me. ‘And work?’ I add. ‘How’s Salinger’s?’
She doesn’t answer straight away.
‘Fi?’
‘Are you sure you want to know?’
‘What do you mean? Is there something up?’
‘Don’t worry, it’s fine. I won’t bore you with it now.’
