heart, she dropped her bags and walked straight into Andee’s embrace. God it was good to see her, better even than she’d expected.
‘You look amazing,’ they said in unison, and laughed and tried again, ‘It’s so good to see you.’
Reminded of how they’d often said the same things at the same time, they hugged again, delighting in the enjoyment of years melting away to free up the many memories along with the easy rapport that had brought them together in the first place.
‘I can’t tell you how happy I was when you said you were coming,’ Andee told her, grabbing the larger of Joely’s two bags. She was taller than Joely by a good two inches and everything about her was as effortless and captivating as it was calming. ‘You should be bottled and sold,’ Joely used to tell her back in the day when Andee had been a detective constable with the Met and Joely was making a name for herself as a crime reporter on a respectable paper. Police and print media didn’t usually work well together, and nor had Joely and Andee at the beginning, but it was during a harrowing search for a missing toddler that they’d found their instincts chiming in a way that not only led them into confiding in each other, but had resulted in the arrest of the abductor. Afterwards, they’d become friends, often meeting for drinks at the end of hard days, and frequently passing one another information to help solve a case for Andee and provide an exclusive for Joely.
‘The car’s out the back,’ Andee told her, pointing the way, ‘so not far. Are you OK? Did the journey seem endless?’
With an arched eyebrow, Joely said, ‘I managed to entertain myself and luckily they have lock-down on trains now, so no chance of hurling myself out of the window.’
Andee slanted her a look.
Joely slanted one back. ‘Joking,’ she assured her, and was abruptly almost blown off her feet by a savage gust as she stepped out of the station.
‘So do I get to meet Graeme while I’m here?’ she shouted through the hair plastered to her mouth, referring to Andee’s live-in partner.
‘Later,’ Andee shouted back, catching her scarf as it tried transforming itself into a noose. ‘He’s looking forward to meeting you, having heard so much about you.’
Grimacing, Joely decided not to ask for any detail on that in case it covered her personal chaos, and after hefting her small bag into the boot of Andee’s car she practically hurled herself into the safety and calm of the passenger seat. ‘Nice weather you’re having,’ she commented as Andee got in next to her.
Andee laughed and started the engine. ‘We ordered it in specially,’ she replied, ‘it was either that or a marching band.’
Loving how similar their humour was, Joely fastened her seat belt and settled into the luxurious leather surroundings as Andee drove them out of the car park.
‘I can’t believe this is your first time in Kesterly,’ Andee declared, ‘I know I’ve invited you …’
‘And I’ve always intended to come,’ Joely broke in hastily, ‘but you know what life’s like, it gets in the way and before you know it we’re in our forties, our marriages have broken up and our children have left home. Or have yours done the boomerang thing?’
Andee slowed to a stop at a traffic light and waved to someone she knew. ‘Luke’s in Africa saving endangered species,’ she answered, referring to her son, ‘and Alayna’s landed a job with the Royal Court in London, although it’s getting off to a tricky start. Can you believe they’re twenty-four and twenty-two already?’
Marvelling at how fast time had flown them through the years, Joely said, ‘That’s what you get for having them so young.’ She recalled the teenagers she used to know, great kids, easy-going, uncomplicated, loving towards their mother – or certainly they had been then. ‘It’s good to hear they’re doing so well,’ she said, meaning it. She hadn’t forgotten how hard it had been for them, Andee too, when their father had taken off to go and pursue the call of a midlife crisis. It was the abandonment that had persuaded Andee to leave London and join Kesterly CID so her parents, and Martin’s, who all lived locally, could help out with the children.
‘So no longer a detective?’ she commented, turning to watch a homeless woman trying to keep hold of her junk-filled pram.
Andee inched the car forward and let out a groan as