CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The following day, running short of milk because our usual delivery was late, I made an emergency dash to the nearest supermarket with Rhona.
She’d suggested I could do with a marketing slogan for the glamping site and on the way to the shop, we’d been trying to think up some clever, memorable phrases. We’d ended up snorting with laughter at most of our feeble efforts.
‘ Go wild or go home! ’ announced Rhona, as we loaded up a trolley and went through the check-out.
I grinned at her. ‘Sounds a bit too bossy.’
‘Okay, then.’ Her brow furrowed as she thought. ‘I know! Rain or shine, it’s glamping time!’
I chuckled. ‘Slightly better. But I don’t think we’ll ever succeed as copy writers for an advertising company. What about Glampers do it outdoors!’
We were emerging from the supermarket, still joking about that one, when Rhona suddenly stopped laughing.
I turned to her, thinking she’d come up with the glamping slogan to end all glamping slogans. But her face had gone chalk white and she was staring out over the car park.
‘What’s wrong?’
She gave her head the slightest shake and looked down. Then, arranging her face into a smile, she looked up. But she wasn’t looking at me.
Bewildered, I followed her gaze.
A glamorous couple were walking towards us, and it was clear from the woman’s high, arched brows that she was very surprised to see Rhona.
‘Well, hello!’ she trilled, breaking away from the much older man she was with, and embracing Rhona with a ‘mwah’ kiss on both cheeks. ‘Fancy meeting you here. Don’t tell me you’ve come back home after making your fortune in London!’
Rhona cleared her throat. ‘I’ve moved back here, yes.’
‘Well, let me look at you!’ She grasped Rhona’s arms and drew away a little. ‘Gosh, you haven’t changed a bit, have you? Still the same hairstyle you had at school! And still no desire to explore the benefits of good make-up?’ She nodded sagely, although I was sensing a wealth of sarcasm. ‘Good for you. Keeping it natural. Very brave of you, Rhona.’
‘Claire.’ Rhona’s smile remained stiffly in place. ‘How nice to see you after all this time.’ It was clear she had no intention of returning the greeting with the same enthusiasm.
On closer inspection, the woman called Claire had clearly had her brows tattooed in place. The surprised look was a permanent feature, apparently. She was dressed expensively in white designer trainers and dark blue jeans, with a beautifully-cut navy jacket over a plain white top. The studs in her ears were undoubtedly diamonds and I reckoned that her top alone probably cost more than my whole wardrobe put together.
‘So this is Gerard.’ She turned to the man she was with, who was also dressed to look casual in jeans, polo shirt and a ‘distressed’ black leather jacket. He’d dyed his hair dark brown but it seemed at odds with his ‘lived-in’ face. He gave a bland smile and tightened his hand around Claire’s waist. ‘Gerard’s treating me to some lovely new teeth, aren’t you, sweetie?’
Gerard nodded brusquely, clearly wanting to be on his way.
‘We have an appointment to meet my dental implant specialist,’ she added.
Rhona nodded. ‘Nice.’
‘I could give you his name if you like, although he might be slightly out of your price range.’
‘I’m happy with my teeth as they are, thanks, Claire,’ said Rhona, recovering a little of her composure. ‘So... I thought you moved to Somerset?’
‘We did. But I didn’t like it so a year or so later we moved back here.’
‘Right. Well, nice to see you.’ She was about to walk away. But Claire grabbed her arm.
‘Hey, what’s the matter? Aren’t you going to tell me what you’ve been up to these past twenty years?’
Rhona adjusted her position slightly, deliberately removing her arm from the other woman’s grip. ‘There’s nothing much to tell,’ she said.
‘Really? Well, I have to say we thought it was very odd that you just vanished off the face of the earth like that. All very mysterious.’
‘I didn’t “vanish”. I went to live in London with my aunt. Now, if you don’t mind, we’re in a bit of a hurry.’
I looked at Rhona curiously. This was more proof that she definitely wasn’t new to the area. But she clearly didn’t want to talk about this time in her past...
‘Well, I have to say I’m hurt .’ Pouting, Claire cosied up to Gerard. ‘Is this any way to greet a friend you haven’t seen in two decades? Your oldest friend, in fact?’
A bitter smile crossed Rhona’s face. ‘You are no friend of mine, Claire. Goodbye.’ And she walked off at speed.
As I followed her along the high street, trying to keep up, I glanced back at the incongruous-looking pair who were on their way to buy Claire a new smile. I found myself sneakily wondering if Gerard’s wallet was his chief attraction.
‘She was... strange,’ I ventured when I caught up with Rhona.
‘Claire? Yes, she changed. She was once my best friend, would you believe?’ She shook her head, still looking shaken by the encounter.
We hurried on in silence.
‘I really think she ought to sue her eyebrow tattooist,’ I murmured after a while.
Rhona glanced at me in surprise.
Then we both burst out laughing . . .