Now and Then Friends by Kate Hewitt Read Free Book Online

uncertain thanks and followed Rachel back to their table, wishing with every step that she was back at Four Gables,safe and alone. Navigating all these old, half-forgotten relationships was way too fraught.
    â€œOh, good, you two have met,” Lucy said as Claire and Rachel sat down at the table. Rachel reached for the wine.
    â€œActually, Claire and I go way back,” she said as she poured herself a full glass. “To primary school. But apparently it’s a blur to Claire.” Rachel spoke lightly, smiling, but Claire still felt rebuked.
    â€œOh, it’s a blur to me too,” Lucy said. “Thankfully.”
    â€œDoes anyone have a good time in primary school?” Abby asked. “I was terrified of my Year Two teacher, Miss Marsden. Did you have her, Claire? Rachel?”
    â€œNo. She was after our time,” Rachel answered. “Mrs. Lennox was our Year Two teacher.”
    Mrs. Lennox. Claire had a sudden memory of a tall woman with a bosom like the prow of a battleship and a thunderous voice to match. “I was terrified of Mrs. Lennox,” she told Abby. “She was always so impatient.”
    â€œYes, she was, although to be fair, you were a bit slow.” Rachel still spoke lightly, smiling even. “Do you remember? I used to help you unbutton your coat.”
    It was the first time Rachel had made a reference to their childhood friendship, and it made Claire feel an uncomfortable welter of guilt and sorrow. “I remember,” she said, and Lucy began to hand out the pencils and slips of paper.
    She was hopeless at the quiz. Claire had known she would be. She had absolutely no head for trivia, and she’d been fairly useless at school. Maybe it had been starting late, or having trouble hearing the teachers, or the simple fact that she wasn’t a brain box like her brother.
    Lucy tried to involve her in the first few questions, but after Claire had apologetically shaken her head several times, having no clue as to any of the answers, she gave up. Claire sat back and sipped her water, wondering when she would be able to call it a night without offending anyone.
    Rachel already seemed offended. Actually, Rachel had seemed irritated by her presence from the moment she’d seen her coming out of the bathroom yesterday. Claire glanced sideways at her; Rachel was hunched over her piece of paper, scribbling. She obviously knew the answers to the quiz, but then, she’d always been clever.
    Rob Telford, who was directing the quiz, asked another question. “What countries border Spain?”
    â€œFrance, of course,” Rachel said quickly.
    â€œAny others?”
    â€œPortugal,” Claire blurted, pleased she actually knew something. “Portugal borders Spain to the west.”
    â€œOf course.” Rachel wrote it down. “Claire used to live in Portugal,” she told the others, and Lucy and Abby swiveled to face her with expressions of polite interest.
    â€œThat must have been brilliant,” Lucy said. “Far better weather than here.”
    â€œIt was hot,” Claire answered, and wondered if she was the only one who thought she sounded so inane.
    Rob Telford called for a five-minute break, and it seemed like a good time to make her departure. “Look, I’m really sorry,” she said. “But I’m still tired from . . . everything, and I ought to get to bed.”
    Rachel pushed back from the table, tilting her head up to gaze at Claire. “Busy day tomorrow?”
    â€œAre you working locally?” Lucy asked.
    â€œNo, no . . . just . . .” What was she doing tomorrow? Wandering around the house or the village, trying to fill up all her empty hours. “Actually, I’m looking for a job,” Claire said. “So if you know of anything going . . .”
    â€œThe real estate market isn’t too big here,” Rachel said. “Not like in