Page 61 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

‘Exactly,’ agreed Harriet. ‘So he was just in a bad mood?’

‘Worse,’ Libby told them. ‘He got steaming drunk and then just left me there. Alone! At the prom!’

There was a short, shocked silence.

‘Why didn’t you come and find me?’ asked Flora, looking upset.

‘I didn’t want to ruin your night as well,’ Libby told her. ‘So I danced my high heels off, snogged the captain of the football team and then threw up in a bush on the way home.’ She grinned at her friends. ‘Epic.’

Harriet was still looking confused. ‘But how can it be epic if you said he’d ruined it for you?’

‘He did ruin it for me!’ replied Libby, hotly. ‘Because he shouldn’t have left me. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. It was supposed to be the start of something…’ Her voice trailed off and she looked down to stroke Paddington the dog, who was lying under the kitchen table as usual. Anything to avoid the eye contact from her friends after she had said too much. In reply, Paddington thumped his furry tail on the floor in delight.

‘It’s us,’ she heard Harriet murmur. ‘You should have said something.’

‘I agree,’ added Flora. ‘We were, are, your best friends. You’re supposed to tell us everything.’

Libby took a deep breath as she straightened up. ‘Well, I didn’t see him for a couple of days after the prom because I was in a strop with him, quite rightly so in my opinion. And then Mum began to get ill and other things were more important.’ She paused before carrying on. ‘He came for the funeral.’ She recalled a hug from him but nothing more. ‘Then he disappeared off to college, barely came home in the holidays either, so that was the end of a beautiful friendship.’

Katy looked at her. ‘So you were close one day and not the next? Didn’t you want to know what happened?’ she asked. ‘Why he was so upset that evening?’

‘No.’ Libby shrugged her shoulders. ‘Anyway, I know what happened. He’s the same idiot he always has been.’

It was the first lie that she had told her friends since starting the story. Her biggest fear was that he just didn’t care for her the way she’d always cared for him. That she’d misread his feelings and it had been all regret on his part for even asking her to go with him. That perhaps he had wanted to take someone else.

‘Maybe you could ask him?’ asked Flora.

‘Or not,’ Libby told her. ‘It’s ancient history, isn’t it? Bloomin’ prom. Those things are so lame anyway.’

Flora smiled to herself. ‘Yeah, that’s why you got all dolled up in that gorgeous dress.’

‘Oooh!’ Katy’s eyes gleamed. ‘Colour?’

‘Dark blue,’ Harriet told her. ‘Like a midnight blue. And it sparkled under certain lights. I was with her when she bought it.’

‘She looked amazing,’ added Flora, nodding.

‘Says the prom queen,’ said Libby, giving her a nudge with her elbow.

Katy looked at Flora delighted. ‘You were the prom queen?’

‘Her dress was red,’ said Harriet, misty-eyed in memory. ‘She was so beautiful.’

‘She still is,’ said Nico, coming into the kitchen.

Flora blushed and the conversation moved on.

While her friends chatted with Nico about the progress of cleaning and painting the school, Libby waited for the inevitable regret about finally telling her friends about what had happened at the prom, after all these years. But the regret never came. Only the warmth and support that true friends could bring.

And perhaps they were right. Perhaps one day she would find out what had actually happened that evening to make Ethan so upset as to break up their close friendship. Then maybe they could begin to heal the past and move on at last.

37

After picking up Bob and Philip, Ethan drove to the hospital to visit Eddie.

‘How is your home looking today?’ asked Philip.

‘Better thanks,’ replied Ethan. ‘Ryan, Joe and Nico are giving the whole place a second coat of paint and then I think it’ll just be a matter of airing it out, although the smell has almost gone now.’