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“A lunatic, but you should milk it. Closest I’ve had to a massage from an ex is a pat on the shoulder on their way out.”
“Yeah, well. Maybe that’s easier.” Paige looked down at the phone, her thumb brushing the edge of the screen. “For the first time in a long while, I feel like I’ve got a lot to lose. And it’s not just about me anymore. What’s the alternative, though?”
The question sat there, and neither of them reached for it.
Paige sank into the oversized cushions, waiting for an answer Lauren didn’t think she had. She’d come here to fall apart and let Paige put her back together, not the other way around. But Paige looked scared. Not theatrical, dramatic, throw-a-cushion-at-your-head scared. Properly scared.
Lauren reached for steadiness and surprised herself by finding some.
“We’re both going to be okay,” she said. “If all else fails, we’ve got each other. You still own the bungalow. You can come back whenever you like.” She nudged Paige’s knee. “But I don’t think you’ll need to.”
“I’m allowed to come back to my own house?” Paige shoved Lauren’s leg with more force, but the tension in her jaw finally eased. “Thanks. Very generous.”
“That’s the kind of landlord I am. Benevolent.”
“You’re not my landlord.”
“I have the council tax bill now. I’m basically landed gentry.”
Paige laughed, and the sound made the room feel lighter.
“You’re right. It’ll be okay. My hormones are all over the place. Maybe a temporary hobby is in order.”
“Like I said, you can always help me out. Lord knows I need it.”
“Does that mean the meeting didn’t go well?”
Lauren stroked Reggie’s ears. “Remember on Saturday night I spun out because I bumped into that girl I used to play with at City?”
“Carly?”
“That’s her. Turns out she’s the new gym owner.”
Paige’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Not only that, but our old manager works there too. I emailed to set up a meeting, and she didn’t mention who she was, or who Carly was, so I had no idea until I walked into the office this afternoon. But what was I meant to do? It’s not Carly’s fault. I felt sorry for her, to be honest, because Beth clearly set us both up, and—”
“Hang on.” Paige held up her hands. “I know you regret a lot from that first time at City, but why is Carly such a problem?”
Lauren stopped stroking Reggie and looked down at her hands. This was the ugly part. The part she usually glossed over.
“We bullied her,” she said. It didn’t sound any better out loud. “Hidden kit, jokes about how she’d never hack the army, leaving her out of every pub night. There was a group of us partying, getting drunk, and making it tough for the rest of the team, but it went beyond that with Carly. Everyone thought she was a goody-two-shoes, and it didn’t help that Beth was her half-sister. She saw everything and did nothing.”
Paige grimaced. “Poor girl.”
“Yeah.” Lauren swallowed. There was one more thing, from the end of that season, but she’d spent fifteen years not looking at it directly, and she wasn’t about to start now. “I know. If I could go back and change it, I would. Seeing her again really threw me.” She hesitated. “I ended up crying my eyes out in the car on Saturday. I think I had a panic attack.”
“No wonder you came over.”
“I shouldn’t have, though.” Lauren looked at Paige’s dressing gown, the abandoned mop, the phone still open on the massage voucher. “I keep saying I need to sort things out for myself. You can’t keep babysitting me now that you have a real baby to worry about. But at the first sign of trouble, my instinct is to run to you.”
Paige smiled, looking far more relaxed than she had when she’d opened the door.
“Everyone needs support. It doesn’t mean you’re failing as an adult.” She gestured to herself. “This, however…”
“Yeah, you’re screwed.”
They laughed again, the sound easy and light. Lauren watched Paige settle back, the manic cleaning energy gone from her shoulders.
