The Best of Friends by Alex Day (accelerated reader books .txt) 📕

before his finals and my third-year exams of my four-year course, she came to stay.

Josephine.

Uninvited – by me, at least – but she was never the kind of girl who would let manners get in the way of anything she did. She didn’t know the meaning of the word. She invaded my home and immediately I knew it was the beginning of the end. When I came back from uni early one day to find them having sex in my bed, between my treasured antique linen sheets that I’d purchased in the flea market on that ill-fated visit to Marseille, I both couldn’t believe it and knew I’d been expecting it. I felt violated, as if I’d been physically assaulted. Even thinking about it now, after all these years, makes my stomach turn over in fear and pain.

It induced a kind of madness in me, a madness that haunts me to this day. As my plan for revenge fomented in my mind, it grew and burgeoned until I no longer controlled it and it burst forth, taking everyone by surprise – including myself.

If only it hadn’t led to me taking the catastrophic actions that had robbed me of getting my degree, of forging my own career, then maybe things would be different now. But I was young, and foolish, and as the judge said, I suffered for it. It doesn’t seem fair that I should have to bear the consequences for the rest of my life.

Everything I did was the result of betrayal.

‘I know what it’s like to be unsure of someone,’ I mutter quietly. Don’t mention Charlie, my rational self is hissing at me. Nobody knows, and it needs to stay where it is – consigned to history. Stick to Justin. He is much safer territory.

‘When Justin’s business was going down the pan and everything was falling apart, if I’m honest with myself I knew things weren’t right. But I pushed those doubts away because I didn’t want to deal with them, to find they were true. In retrospect, that was such a stupid thing to do because if I’d known, if I’d faced up to it and confronted Justin, I – we – might have been able to mitigate it, prevent the worst of the fallout. And then it wouldn’t have been such a terrible jolt when it all came crashing down.’

Dan shakes his head again, at my catastrophe rather than a potential one of his own this time. ‘I’m sorry you had to go through so much.’

He reaches his hand across the table and clasps mine in a grip that is strong and cool and reassuring. I feel immediately self-conscious. I look around me; a sudden influx of customers has filled the room and they’re all glancing across at me, waiting for me to arrive by their sides and take their orders like a little elf wielding magic. God, it would be nice not to have to do this job. For a brief moment, I’m filled with real envy of Charlotte: of her lifestyle, of long holidays in sunny places and a bank balance that never has numbers in red.

But I need to get back to work.

I turn to go but Dan is still holding my hand. His fingers tease along mine as I release my hand.

‘Susannah,’ he says.

I halt and turn back toward him.

‘That match we’ve booked Friday evening, are you free for dinner after? I’d like to thank you for being such a good listener. And … perhaps we can have a bit more of a think about Charlotte, about what might be wrong.’

I’m completely taken aback, but at the same time honoured to be asked, to be confided in, and I beam back at him like an awkward teenager. An evening out! An evening of not eating a lonely slice of cheese on toast in a cold, empty house.

‘The Thai place along the high street is really not bad at all, if you like that sort of thing,’ he suggests.

‘I love it!’ I reply. ‘That would be fantastic, thank you.’

Chapter 23

Susannah

I’m on my way out to meet Dan for our match when my laptop starts buzzing on the kitchen table. It’s a Skype call from Charlotte so of course I put down my racket and my bag and connect; I’m desperate to hear all her news, how she’s getting on, and what she and the boys have been up to. As soon as her image comes onto the screen I see the difference in her. The fact that she looks fantastic is nothing new – she always does – but there’s something more to her radiance today. Her tan sets off her brown eyes and her brunette hair is even more glossy and glistening than usual. But more than both those things is that she looks relaxed in a way I’ve never seen in her before, as if a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. I’ve heard it said that Corsica is a magical place and now I see its sorcery for myself.

I don’t have time to ponder this further, however, as straightaway Charlotte is asking me about Naomi. I reassure her that her nemesis is no better or worse than usual.

‘She’s been keeping Dan fed, that’s all I’m aware of,’ I report. ‘The other day it was some noodle dish she insisted on giving him in a plastic container to take home so that “he doesn’t waste away”, in her words.’

‘Oh!’ A cloud of worry passes across Charlotte’s hitherto untroubled countenance. ‘Dan loves his food, especially anything Far Eastern. Or curry, as long as it’s super-hot. I don’t ever make him that sort of stuff. I’m more classic French or Italian.’ She pauses, grimacing thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps I should?’

‘Maybe,’ I shrug. ‘I wouldn’t get too worked up about it. I mean, he said it was delicious but whatever they say about the way to a man’s heart being through his stomach, I’m not sure that Tupperware meals are that romantic. Although