Page 39 of The Best Friend
She hugs me, her tears smudging against my jacket. ‘It’s funny, but you’re the only person I feel truly comfortable with. You know that, right?’
I do now. I give her a squeeze and pull away from her embrace. ‘Would you like me to pick Tyler up from school this afternoon?’
‘Would you? I don’t think I could face everyone today. I just want to hide away.’
‘Yes, of course. I’ll drop him back straight after. Unless he wants a sleepover at ours?’
‘No, no, that’s okay. I’d rather have him here with me.’
‘Sure,’ I say.
‘Also,’ she says. ‘When you drop him back, would you, maybe want to go for a run with me? Running helps me calm down and relax, but I hate doing it alone. Mike… he always used to come with…’ Darcy breaks down again and I take her hand.
‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘I can’t run. It’s my knee… How about I ask Jared if he’ll go with you? He runs most evenings, anyway.’ I regret the offer as soon as it’s out of my mouth. I know Darcy’s going through an awful time, but I don’t like the idea of her and Jared out together, even though I trust him implicitly. We’ve never had a jealous type of relationship. We’ve been together too long, and we still have that spark. Still, the idea of the two of them as running partners…
‘That would be amazing,’ Darcy says. ‘If you’re sure he wouldn’t mind?’
‘No, Jared won’t mind. If he’s not too busy, I’ll get him to text you later.’ Bad though it is, I already know I won’t tell him about it. I would worry too much. I would see things where there was nothing to see. I’ve already shown how bad my judgement is where Darcy’s involved. I won’t put myself in that situation again.
‘You’re an absolute angel,’ she says, dabbing at her tears with the tissue I gave her. ‘I don’t feel quite as awful now. Now I know I have you and Jared on my side.’
As soon as he’s through the front door, I can tell Jared’s in a good mood. The way he holds himself, the fire in his eyes. I tramp down the stairs with a basket of laundry in my arms, trying to blow a stray strand of hair out of my eyes.
‘Here, let me.’ Jared takes the basket out of my arms and kisses me. I follow him through to the kitchen, where he puts the basket down by the washing machine.
‘Where’s Joe?’ he asks.
‘Zonked. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.’
‘I’ll go up and give him a kiss goodnight in a minute.’
‘You look chirpy,’ I say.
He puts his record bag on the table and slides out a sheaf of papers. ‘Tada!’
‘The contract?’ I say.
‘Yup.’
‘Congratulations,’ I say with a smile. I half-wondered if he’d manage to get it, what with Mike and Darcy splitting up.
‘Thanks,’ he says, grinning back.
‘I saw Beth today,’ I say, opening the washing machine door and shoving in the dirty laundry. ‘She said she’d look over the contract for you.’
‘Great, I’ll drop it over to her tomorrow.’
‘Did you see Mike today?’ I ask.
‘No, apparently he was busy. I picked up the contract from his solicitor.’ Jared grabs a pizza crust from Joe’s discarded dinner plate and folds the whole thing into his mouth. ‘God, starving. Shall we get a takeaway tonight? Chinese?’
‘Takeaway sounds good,’ I say. ‘So, you didn’t see Mike at all, today?’
‘No, I just said so. Why?’
I tell Jared about Mike and Darcy. About how upset Darcy was earlier.
Jared’s face falls. ‘God, that’s awful. I wonder why he left her. They seemed happy, don’t you think?’
