in curls. Vicky and I stood side by side in front of the mirror as we both applied our makeup, and she was waffling on about just how much fun it was going to be.
I made sure my cigarettes were buried deep in my handbag while she was grabbing her two bottles of wine, and then we set off, piling into the taxi and heading across town to Nicola’s.
I expected quite a gathering in her living room, because that’s how Nicola works. She loves crowds, and laughter and stupid party games after too many wines.
But not me, especially not that night.
I was anything but excited as I stepped on through her front door, knowing full well how she would likely get preachy after a couple of glasses and I’d be sitting sober at the sidelines taking it all.
That’s what I figured was coming, and I was fine with that. I could handle that.
What I wasn’t expecting was for Nicola to have stocked up on Maya Brooks-now-Pierce’s best friend club. There they were, sitting around the coffee table along with the regular crew. Dawn Richards, and Yasmin Boyle and Hannah Ames.
Great.
Just fucking great.
My level of cringe just reached a new high. Awkward didn’t even begin to cut it.
Hannah shot me an evil stare as soon as I stepped on through, and Dawn sneered as I took a seat opposite. Thanks, Nicola. Great show.
Not only had Dawn and Hannah clearly organised the evening around their kids and work shifts and everything else just to be there, but I hadn’t seen Yasmin Boyle in years, so Nicola must have gone to some seriously exceptional lengths to bring her into the crowd. She’d moved up to Newcastle years ago, and rarely came back around these parts. Not that I’d ever heard of.
Even better. Thanks.
Vicky smirked from my side, and I realised then that she’d been in on it. Another winner.
The cigarettes were already screaming from my handbag, but I kept my seat as Nicola handed me a juice from the kitchen. She clinked her glass to mine and looked triumphant, and sure, I could get her sense of victory. If that seemed like a way to drag me out of my madness, then I had no doubt she’d have jumped in on the strategy at any cost.
But getting Dawn Richards along? Surely that was stooping to a whole new low.
She was Maya’s wing woman. People had said over the years that they were constantly whispering in each other’s ears like the Bitches of Eastwick. I was just lucky Nicola hadn’t opted to invite Maya along herself in person.
It was only Yasmin Boyle who looked awkward amongst the scowls. She was already deep into her bottle of sparkling, and we shared a whoa, great glance as Amy Miller started up another one of her looming wedding conversations.
I was grateful for the distraction. I’d talk about bridesmaid dresses for the next twenty-four hours straight if it meant even two minutes clear of the Maya posse.
But we didn’t talk about bridesmaid dresses for all that long. Even Amy Miller stopped talking weddings once the wine got truly flowing. I sank into the sofa and kept quiet, smiling as blandly as possible while Maya’s bunch kept up their scowls.
And then they started talking.
Dawn was the one to bring it up, telling the room just how much Maya had been struggling in recent months.
“It’s so hard on her,” she said. “I mean, Lucas usually bails when things get a bit tough, but this time he’s really being a dick about it.”
I wanted to say so much, but I didn’t dare, just kept quiet and sipped on juice while the rest of the girls tuned in to the gossip.
“She’s waiting for him to go back, of course,” Dawn continued. “I mean, she has Millie there crying for family life back together, and Maya’s trying, but this time Lucas just doesn’t seem to want to sort things out. Not yet, anyway.”
“But he will,” Hannah chipped in. “I mean, of course he will. He has Millie to get back to, and they’ll sort it out. They always do. Just so long as nothing else gets in the way.”
Oh yeah. The tension was savage, and I hated it.
I hated how every pair of eyes in the room were fixed on me, and I carried on sipping my drink, craving a cigarette and cursing Nicola’s fantastic wisdom in all of this.
“He needs to get his act together,” Dawn went on. “Sure, Maya left. But