Chapter 5
Liz stared from the plane window. The landscape glimmered with rivers, lakes, and fjords. Thrusting mountains rose from the earth, the tallest crowned white with snow. There were so few towns or buildings or roads, just earth and water and sky.
A flutter of fear brushed her chest: they were going to be hiking out there.
“Another?” Helena asked from the aisle seat, holding up a mini bottle of wine.
Liz shook her head. “I’ll be driving soon.” Once they landed in Bergen, a long drive north awaited them. She’d booked them into a lodge in the foothills of the Svelle mountain range, where they’d spend their first night before setting out the following morning.
Maggie, who was wedged between them, a book facedown on her tray table, asked, “How many hours a day do you think we’ll walk?”
“Seven, maybe eight,” Liz answered. Seeing Maggie’s expression, she added, “You’ll be fine. All the training will pay off.”
Maggie picked up her plastic wineglass and took a drink.
“How are you feeling about being disconnected from the office?” Liz asked Helena.
Helena turned over her phone and looked at the screen. “I feel like my phone and I could use some distance.”
Helena owned an events company and ran huge corporate days for clients like BMW and Hilton. She was sharply organized, brilliant at negotiating, and charged a premium for it—but it meant her clients expected her to be accessible at all hours.
“You’ve been working so hard,” Liz said. “You deserve a holiday.”
“Now that we’re on the plane,” Helena said, “I think we can stop pretending this is a holiday.”
Liz grinned. “You agreed to it!”
“It’s our annual trip. You could’ve suggested shark diving in South Africa, and I’d have been there. Always going to show up.”
Liz felt a warm burst of love for Helena.
Helena poured the remains of the wine into her plastic glass and said, “Good to catch up with Patrick last month.”
“He talked about that steak place for days.”
“He’s my favorite vegetarian,” Helena said with a smile. “He seemed well. Great that he’s getting commissions from the Clifton shop.”
“It is.” Patrick serviced and repaired grandfather clocks, and if he had a delivery in Bristol, he’d sometimes meet Helena for dinner or a drink.
“You guys good?”
Her alert signals went up. Had Patrick said something? She was sure he wouldn’t.
Sharing any complaint about their marriage felt disloyal.
Patrick was Helena, Maggie, and Joni’s friend, too.
He’d been two years above them at school—best friends with Liz’s older brother—so they’d known him as the teenager who skated to class, smoked in the woods, and wore the same Nirvana Unplugged T-shirt for two straight years.
Liz had had a crush on him since she was thirteen, finally kissing him at their leavers’ ball, while Helena, Maggie, and Joni cheered from the wings of the dance floor.
Liz had never kissed anyone else since. It had once been a point of pride—but more recently, it had begun to trouble her.
She’d never moved away from her hometown, either.
Never had any job but medicine. Never dated anyone but Patrick.
The others had all done so much with their lives.
Maggie had been a waitress, a flower arranger, a reflexologist, and now made bespoke name prints using pressed flowers.
Helena had moved from the council-owned flat where she’d grown up, working her way up the career ladder, and now ran her own business and owned three properties.
Joni’s music had taken her all over the world, touring in major cities and recording albums in some of the most famous studios.
What had Liz done? Moved two streets down from the house where she grew up. Married her childhood sweetheart. Worked in the clinic where she used to be a patient.
“Y’okay?” Helena asked.
Liz blinked. She realized she’d been wringing her hands. She separated them, flattening her palms against her thighs.
Maggie and Helena were watching her with puzzled expressions.
“I’m fine,” she said. “We’re fine. Patrick’s great.”
Maybe she was having a midlife crisis. That could be it. Some people embarked on an affair or bought a sports car—while she bullied her friends into going wild camping in the wilderness.
She glanced out of the window. God, she hated flying. Too much sitting still. She’d be fine once they were hiking. That’s what she needed. To get out on the trail. Walk.