Page 97 of Love Letters on Hazel Lane

There’d been no messages from him for weeks now. Jo had stopped going to Scrabble club, initially because she was worried that Zoey might be there, then later because once you stopped doing something for a week or two, it was difficult to walk back in. She and Razz hadn’t had any contact since… Jo wasn’t quite sure when. He had stopped texting her. She’d assumed he’d been busy with Zoey and she’d been preoccupied with all the stuff going on at work and her self-esteem project.

She scrolled through her phone, looking back through her messages. The last message they’d exchanged had been from him: No idea, he had written. She hadn’t replied. He hadn’t stopped messaging her, she realised. She had stopped messaging him.

Leona had interrupted her, she remembered. Had dumped a load of work on her when she’d been about to text Razz back. And then Si had tipped up that same evening, and that had totally derailed her.

Poor Razz. He must think she’d ghosted him.

She would get back in touch. Offer an apology. Hold out an olive branch. Explain what had been going on with her and see if their friendship couldn’t be rekindled.

But before she talked to Razz, she decided, she would talk to Kate. Find out what was actually happening between him and Zoey. If they were together, she would warn him that Zoey was cheating on him.

And if they weren’t?

Well, she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

Jo rattled off a quick text to Kate suggesting they meet for a drink, but hesitated before sending it. It was Friday evening, prime dating night. There was no way her friend would be free.

But on the other hand, there was no harm in asking. She clicked ‘send’.

The reply came back surprisingly quickly.

Yes, I’m free this evening. Matthew’s visiting his mum for the weekend.

Great. Can you meet me in the pub at half nine?

Sure. See you then.

*

Kate was late.

Jo bought herself a Pinot Grigio, found a table, took out her phone and clicked on WordPals. She hadn’t played much on the app recently; it wasn’t the same somehow. She didn’t feel the same excitement that she felt when playing Scrabble against living, breathing opponents.

Well, okay. So her opponents were living and breathing. They just weren’t living and breathing in the same room as she was.

She’d nearly finished the game – she was losing horribly as she couldn’t focus – when Kate arrived. She typed her final word as Kate bought herself a drink.

‘So, what’s so urgent?’

‘I saw your friend Zoey with a man.’

‘And?’

‘What about Razz?’

‘Razz? Your Razz? What about him?’

‘He isn’t my Razz, Kate. He’s with Zoey. I mean, I saw them flirting at the Scrabble speed-dating. And then she ticked his box and he ticked hers, so they obviously liked each other. And then, well, he’s been quiet recently so I assumed they were dating.’

‘Zoey? Date Razz? You’ve got to be kidding.’

‘Why not? He’s lovely. I saw them together. She was flirting. And she did tick his box, Kate. I went through all the forms.’

‘Okay, here’s how it was. Neither of us fancied playing Scrabble all evening but I wanted to come along to support you. We thought it would be more fun if we had a drink or two beforehand. Actually it was more like three… or four. By the time we turned up, Zoey had her beer goggles on. And she has a thing about doctors. She flirted with him a bit. She wasn’t expecting that they’d be a match.’

‘So she turned him down? Poor Razz.’

Much as Jo didn’t want him dating Zoey, she didn’t want him feeling rejected either.