‘Liquorice and bacon. OK’—she waved her hands—‘we have to stop now. I’m starting to feel sick.’
‘We’ll go back to being friends.’
‘You know what? I’m feeling so much better already.’ She pulled a face. ‘Will your mum be upset?’
‘Well, yes, but she’ll get over it.’
‘Wait till she meets Roo.’
Todd raked his fingers through his hair. ‘I swear to God, I had no idea that was going to happen. I’ve gone over and over it in my head and there was no hint of it before.’
‘I know. Isn’t it incredible how it can happen like that? I didn’t think you even liked her that much.’
‘That’s just it.’ He gestured in disbelief. ‘I really didn’t like her. Because she was sleeping with a married man. But then on Tuesday… I don’t know… she was just being so hard on herself and somehow everything changed. These feelings came up out of nowhere. And it was the same for her too. We both just knew it. I didn’t want her to say anything, because I couldn’t bear the thought of you getting hurt.’
‘You’re so sweet! Thank goodness Roo told me. We could have carried on being all wrong for each other for months.’ Ellie fanned herself with relief. ‘In fact, you need to get yourself over there now.’
Todd hesitated. ‘She said we couldn’t see each other.’
‘Oh, that was then. She’ll be over it by now. Come on, I’ll come with you so she knows it’s OK.’
He looked uncomfortable. ‘Couldn’t you call her and say it? Then I’ll go over on my own.’
‘No way! I want to see this thing with my own eyes. All this amazing chemistry that’s sprung up. Don’t spoil my fun,’ Ellie begged. ‘This is going to be so romantic. I can’t wait!’
***
‘No.’
Ellie tried again. ‘Roo, come on, just open the door.’
From the upstairs window, Roo shook her head. ‘I will not.’ Her hair was standing on end; she resembled an electrocuted white cat and there were smudges on her face. She was focusing all her attention on Ellie, refusing to even glance at Todd. ‘He isn’t coming in.’
‘But everything’s OK. If you want to make me happy, you’ll get together.’
‘Not going to happen. In fact, I’m quite hurt that you think you can get me to give in. This isn’t a whim, you know. It’s a whole new me. With morals. And scruples.’
‘And a messy T-shirt,’ said Ellie, because there were gray smudges across her front as well. ‘What have you been doing up there?’
‘Clearing out. Decluttering. Detoxing my life. Actually, has he got his car here?’
‘I can hear you,’ Todd pointed out. ‘And yes, I do have my car.’
‘Right. Wait there.’ Roo disappeared from view.
‘See?’ Ellie said encouragingly. ‘I told you it’d be OK. She’s on her way down.’
‘No I’m not.’ Roo’s head popped out again. ‘Stand back, my aim isn’t that great.’
‘What are you going to do?’ said Ellie. ‘Shoot us?’
Ffflump. Ffflump. Fffflumppp. Three fully loaded bin bags landed on the pavement. One of them, not properly tied, had a pair of leopard-print jeans poking out of the top. ‘If you want to make yourself useful,’ Roo called down, ‘drop these off at the charity shop.’
Ellie bent down and checked the label on the jeans. ‘What’s going on? These are your favorites!’ Plus they were Vivienne Westwood.
‘I know. Now they can be someone else’s favorites.’
Her beloved purple suede jacket, the black lacy top with the red velvet trim, the white skirt, the silver leather belt… scrabbling through the contents of the bag, Ellie said, ‘Oh, Roo, this is everything you love best. You can’t do this.’
Ffflump, ffffflump-flump. Ellie darted out of the way as the next lot of bags came sailing through the air. It was like being dive-bombed by giant seagulls.
‘I can,’ Roo retaliated. ‘I have to.’
‘Oh my God,’ Todd muttered. ‘Two days ago I fell in love with the girl of my dreams. Tonight I find out she’s insane.’
‘You fell in love with her?’ Ellie turned and gaped as Todd realized what he’d just blurted out.
His ears went bright red and he began to furiously backpedal. ‘Look, I didn’t mean that, I meant fell for, don’t read things into—’
‘Your subconscious said it. That means your brain knows how you feel.’ She clutched his arm. ‘Don’t be embarrassed, just go with it.’
‘Like I said, that was before I found out about the insanity.’