Chapter 9
‘Go away!’ I sniffed from under the covers.
‘We’re coming in whether you like it or not.
’ Jo’s voice was getting closer and I could hear that she and Emma had found their way into my bedroom.
I thought I’d locked the front door when I got back the night before, but clearly I’d forgotten in my woe-is-me trance that I’d returned from the airport in.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to drive.
Most of the journey back to Sandpiper Shore was a blur.
At one point, I was sat at some traffic lights in a complete daze with tears streaming down my cheeks until someone honked their horn and startled me back to reality.
I had rammed the car into first gear and accelerated quickly, embarrassed at the state I was in.
‘What time did you get back yesterday?’ Emma asked.
‘Don’t know,’ I mumbled back. I vaguely remembered that when I came back I found a bottle of wine at the back of the fridge and drank the lot, then also recalled that I had woken feeling decidedly dodgy and thrown up in the night too. That’d teach me to drink on an empty stomach.
‘We’ve brought you something to eat,’ Jo said, kindly. ‘I bet you’ve not had anything, have you?’
‘Not hungry.’ My words were muffled by the duvet.
I felt the weight of a person sitting on the side of my bed.
‘Are you going to come out from under there at any point soon?’
‘No.’
After a brief hesitation, I felt a hand on my arm, rubbing me gently. It wasn’t until I heard Jo’s voice that I realised it was her.
‘You have to come out, because I’m not sure which part of your body I’m actually touching and don’t want to be accused of being inappropriate.’
Emma snorted out loud. ‘Sorry. But you have to admit that was funny, Chelle.’
‘Yeah, hilarious,’ I sneered. I knew I was being a total bitch but couldn’t help myself. ‘I just want to be on my own. Please.’
‘Tough because we’re not going anywhere.’
I felt the swift tug of the duvet as it was wrenched away from me, exposing me in Demetri’s oversized sick-stained T-shirt. The girls grabbed a hand each and pulled me, first to the edge of the bed and then to my feet and made me stand in front of the mirror.
‘Look at yourself.’
I slowly raised my eyes from the floor towards my reflection. I couldn’t believe the state of what stared back.
‘Christ! Is that me?’
I wiped under my mascara-smeared, red-raw panda-eyes and patted down my hair which was sticking out in many different directions.
Jo spoke next. ‘I know you’re sad but you can’t stay like this forever. We’ve brought over two bottles of Pinot Grigio, some cheesy Doritos and the DVD of Bridget Jones’s Diary.’ I dry-heaved at the thought of wine right then. I was never drinking again.
She continued. ‘And we’re going to allow you to cry as much as you want at it. However, you’re going to do it with us and not alone.’
Emma started rummaging through my underwear drawer. ‘But not until you have a shower and change.’
No way was I going to change out of this T-shirt.
‘But this smells of Demetri.’
I teared up, even though I thought I couldn’t possibly have any tears left in my body.
‘Darling, I hate to tell you this but unless Demetri smells of wine and sick, it doesn’t.’
I could hear the shower running in the en suite.
‘Now get your arse in that shower, put this fresh pair of jim-jams on when you come out and we’ll be waiting for you in the lounge.
’ Emma leant across and kissed my cheek.
‘And for goodness’ sake, brush your teeth too.
You’ve got Shrek breath. Now go.’ She spun me around towards the direction of the bathroom and slapped me on the behind. ‘Go!’
* * *
Half an hour later, I plonked myself on the sofa between Jo and Emma and grabbed a handful of Doritos from the bowl which was on the adjacent coffee table.
‘Better?’ Jo asked.
‘A bit,’ I mumbled.
‘So, film first, or do you want to tell us how it went?’
I pressed my eyes together hard to blink away tears that threatened to fall and thought back to the previous day.
I could feel myself becoming overwhelmed with sadness again.
I remembered how battered and bruised my heart felt on the drive home.
When I got back, to an empty home, it felt like there was already a Demetri-shaped hole in my life.
A short sharp cough catapulted me back to the present and when I opened my eyes, Jo and Emma were both staring at me. I swallowed, my throat feeling scratchy and my heart aching, and even I could feel the vacant expression which must have showed on my face.
Jo asked me again, ‘Film or chat?’
‘Film please.’