Friends Like Us by Siân O'Gorman Read Free Book Online Page B

would notice them,’ I suppose, ‘you being green-fingered and all,’ said Steph.
    â€˜What would Rob say if he knew you were being sent flowers?’ teased Melissa.
    â€˜I don’t think he would care,’ said Eilis ‘Anyway there was nothing romantic about it. He was just saying sorry.’
    â€˜Why had he shouted at you?’
    â€˜His mother hadn’t been seen. Lovely woman, she was.’ That evening on the ward, she had seen his mother as soon as she could, gave her every test going and asked one of the nurses to make her and the man a cup of tea. They both looked as though they needed one. ‘It was a suspected stroke,’ she continued, ‘but in the end it wasn’t. High blood pressure, dizziness, hadn’t been taking her tablets. She’s just old, you know. And he’s worried… about losing her. Anyway… that’s enough about work.’ She changed the subject swiftly, deflecting all the attention away from her. ‘How’s Rachel, Steph?’
    â€˜A genius,’ smiled Steph. ‘Must take after her father. But she’s good at everything… just a few teenager things going on. She’s sixteen now.’
    Melissa watched her two old friends. Two women she had known for a lifetime. She had missed them. Their lives were much more settled and grown up than hers. There was Eilis, still with Rob. A great guy. One of the best. He had swooped in just when Eilis could have crumbled after her mother died. And there was Steph, mother to Rachel, and still with Rick. He wasn’t exactly lovely or easy, that was obvious, but they had made a home together. It always made Melissa slightly wistful – she had never found anyone crazy enough to want her back.
    â€˜Didn’t you say you were back from Paris, Mel?’ Steph asked, interrupting her thoughts. ‘The day of the crash. I never even asked who you were with.’
    Bloody Paris. Why had she said anything? ‘Oh no one, not really. Just a guy… Alistair. It’s nothing.’ She waved it away, hoping there wouldn’t be any follow-up questions. ‘Anyway, it’s Paris,’ said Melissa, shrugging Gallicly and smiling enigmatically, as though she was the one to have finished with him, or that he was just some fling that she could take up or down whenever it suited her. ‘It does all the work for you.’
    â€˜Well, you in Paris,’ said Steph, ‘and I’m off to Rome next month.’
    â€˜I’m not going anywhere until the summer,’ said Eilis. ‘Greece. I wish we were going right now. Bit of heat on my bones, ouzo in my veins.’ She turned to Steph. ‘Who are you going to Rome with? Just you and Rick?’
    â€˜Him and some of the gang. A rugby weekend. You know Miriam and Hugh… from next door? And some of their friends. It’s going to be fun. And you know how much I love Rome. All that art, the churches. I can dust off my art history.’ Except, she thought, I might as well have not bothered doing a degree. I can’t remember the last time I went to a gallery. She vowed to sneak off, leave the rugby crowd behind, and get to the Pantheon, her favourite Roman church.
    â€˜Yes, yes, of course. That does sound nice…’ said Eilis. ‘That’ll be lovely. Remember that summer in Rome, swanning about.’
    â€˜That was for the love of art,’ said Steph laughing. ‘And this is a love of rugby.’
    â€˜Oh dear,’ said Melissa, pretending to be shocked. ‘I didn’t realize you had turned into one of those.’
    â€˜I’m not really,’ said Steph, conspiratorially. ‘I just have to pretend.’
    â€˜Marital harmony,’ said Melissa. ‘You probably have to pretend all sorts of things.’ She laughed but she caught Steph’s eye and saw again that look of something she couldn’t quite figure out.
    They have no idea how much I