What the hell is going on?
Chapter Two
THEN
I can barely get the front door open. I’m so excited to get inside and tell Daisy the news. She won’t believe it. I can barely believe it.
Finally, my key slots into the lock. I turn it and push open the door to the apartment I’ve shared with my best friend for the past three-and-a-half years.
‘Hello!’ I call out, heaving my small case up and over the threshold before wheeling it across the hall and dumping it in my bedroom. I rub my hands together to warm them. It’s dark and sleety out there. Most rainy Sunday nights would have me returning from London in a gloomy mood. Sad at the end of a weekend spent with my handsome boyfriend. Not tonight though. ‘Daisy! You home?’
‘In the lounge,’ she calls back.
I head along the hall, unable to control the massive smile that’s already making my cheeks hurt.
‘Hey, good weekend?’ she asks, glancing up from her phone. She’s reclining on the sofa, feet up, her blonde hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun. ‘Shall we have a cuppa?’ she asks, stifling a yawn.
‘No, I’m opening a bottle,’ I reply.
‘On a school night?’ She frowns and then laughs. ‘Oh, go on then.’
I grin and race off to the kitchen where I lift out a bottle of white that’s been chilling in the fridge since Friday. I pluck two glasses from the cupboard and head back to the lounge. ‘Surprised this is still unopened, to be honest,’ I say, waving the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.
‘I’ve been over at Martin’s most of the weekend helping him with his coursework.’ She rolls her eyes. Last year, her financial consultant boyfriend of three years decided to retrain as a paramedic and Daisy has found his new student status a little challenging. She holds out her hand for a glass, so I pour hers first. ‘I can’t believe we’ve got another three years of this,’ she says. ‘And once he’s qualified it’s all going to be shift work, so we’ll hardly get to see one another.’
‘You do shift work too,’ I reply.
‘Exactly.’ She takes a swig of wine. ‘It’ll be a miracle if we meet up more than twice a week. And he’s not going to want us to buy a place together until he’s finished training, so we’ll be in limbo. Meanwhile house prices keep going up ...’ She throws her hands in the air, sloshing wine over herself. ‘Shit, sorry. Don’t mean to moan.’ She rubs her sweatshirt ineffectually. ‘Well, I do mean to moan, but, you know.’
With Daisy in this kind of mood, I’m not sure I want to tell her my news any more. It would feel like rubbing salt in the wound. I wonder if she’ll be pleased for me.
‘Oh my actual God, what’s that on your finger?’ Daisy’s eyes widen as she points to my ring. She puts her wine glass down, gets to her feet and grabs my hand, staring hard at the beautiful emerald-cut diamond set into its platinum band. ‘Is that what I think it is?’
I nod, hoping she’ll be happy for me and Seth.
‘He proposed?’
‘Last night,’ I reply, reliving the moment again in my head, unable to stop the smile returning.
‘I can’t believe it!’ she cries. ‘Congratulations, Alice. You have to tell me everything!’
She sits back down and I plop next to her, relieved that she’s excited for me. I take a sip of the chilled wine, savouring the sharp, fruity taste on my tongue. I wonder if I’ve ever felt this happy before.
‘So?’ Daisy prompts.
I settle back into the sofa. ‘Okay, so, yesterday Seth told me he’d arranged a fun evening out, which was great because I feel like we’ve been getting quite boring lately – staying in and watching TV, or going to the local pub. Nothing like our first couple of months together where we went out for dinner and theatre trips and mini breaks.’
‘I’d kill for a mini break,’ Daisy says, topping up her wine.
‘Anyway, a posh car comes to pick us up late afternoon and drives us to this beautiful five-star hotel. We get in the elevator and go right to the top. So I think, cool, we’re going for drinks and dinner with a view.’
Daisy’s nodding along, eyes wide.
‘But then we—’
‘Wait!’ Daisy cries. ‘We need Loz here for this.’
‘Oh. Okay.’ I’m a little disappointed that I don’t get to finish telling her what happened. But I guess she’s right that I should tell Laurence too. The three of us have been best friends since school and we’ve always shared all our ups and downs with one another. His flat is only on the other side of our small market town, so he can be here in ten minutes.
