all morning. The weather outside had changed and it was now raining, so I was pleased I didn’t have to go to the shops and buy myself a sandwich. Pulling Mum’s Tupperware container from my bag, I opened up my Facebook account, wondering if Alex had put anything on his page about us breaking up. There was nothing on his profile, but I had one new friend request. Wondering who it might be, I clicked and there, waiting for me, was Daniel’s smiling face. I felt a rush of joy and smiled into my hand.
Clicking the confirm friend button, I had a quick look at his profile page. It was really about his work. Daniel Moore, Tree Surgeon was written on the banner along with a picture of him smiling in a white hard hat. Scrolling down, I read some of his posts about his work before clicking on his photos.
There were pictures of him in a checked shirt with rolled-up sleeves, hard hat and ear protectors. One of him in a T-shirt that revealed impressive biceps. Pictures of him high up in a tree wielding a chainsaw, a harness around his body. It didn’t look very safe, but my stomach fizzed with excitement. I gazed at it for a while, wondering where the boy from college had gone.
I clicked about among his photos, then nearly choked on my mum’s mini pork pie when I saw he had a folder of old college photos of him messing around with his mates. My mouth fell open as I stared at him in wonder. He looked so young and thin and… well, a bit spotty. But, for some reason, I still swooned a bit. It was the long blond hair that did it, the full lips in that insouciant smile, perfect white teeth and the long, long eyelashes. He was there with the school band, his guitar resting on his knee.
Hold on a minute. I remembered watching this photo being taken. I’d been on my way to history when I’d seen him sitting on the low wall of the fountain in the sun-drenched courtyard, his band mates arranged around him while someone else took a photograph for the student magazine. I remember stopping and staring. There were other people staring too, so I wasn’t alone, but if I squinted and looked into the back of this photograph… yep, there was me. Completely dressed in black and lurking in the shadows, but unmistakably me. Clutching a folder to my chest, bag over my shoulder, face half hidden by my long black hair. I winced. Jesus. He even had photographic evidence of me stalking him. That wasn’t cool.
There were some comments underneath from the other band members. Luke had been the lead singer and everyone had a crush on him. He always had the same girlfriend though: Catherine, a blonde-haired, sweet-faced girl with endless legs, who went a bit feral if she caught anyone so much as glancing in her boyfriend’s direction. Girls found it hilarious at the time, but I felt sorry for her. She must have been so churned up with jealousy. No wonder she was so thin; she probably couldn’t eat for stress.
I wondered if they’d got married. Or if he’d ended up with someone else. I thought about searching for him in Daniel’s friends list, but the office was filling up with people back from their lunch hour. I caught sight of Hilary’s curls and closed down the page.
‘You all right, love?’ she said, peering over the partition and checking out my lunchbox.
‘Yes, thanks,’ I said, forcing a smile.
‘You’re a bit quiet today. How did the moving out go? You’re not still there, are you?’
‘No, I’m back with my parents now. In my old room, just like the old days.’
‘Oh well, there’s worse that could happen.’
I nodded. ‘It’s nice actually. Mum made me my lunch this morning.’
‘Fabulous. You’ve done the right thing. Will there be much to sort out with the flat lease?’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t think so. It’s rented in Alex’s name. He lived there before I moved in with him. I just paid half of everything, so I suppose I just stop doing that.’
‘You could save up for your own place. There’s no point relying on men to make you happy.’
‘You’re happily married though, aren’t you?’
She nodded. ‘I hear so many stories though. My daughter got involved with a right rat of a man. Serial adulterer. She had no idea. He broke her heart, poor thing. Destroyed her confidence.’
‘Oh no! That’s a terrible thing to happen. You must have been furious.’
‘Yes. She was in a right state, but she’s feeling better now, bless her.’
‘Oh good.’
‘Well, I’m glad you seem to be coping so well with this. You can go home early this afternoon, if you like. Just finish that list I gave you this morning and you’re free to go.’
‘Oh wonderful! Thank you.’
Hilary winked and sat back down, and I went back to looking at the pictures of Daniel.
As promised, Hilary sent me home early that afternoon, and I arrived back in my mum and dad’s warm house at half past four. They looked mildly concerned to see me back so early, in case I’d packed in my job as well as my boyfriend. I could see the relief on their faces when they learned that wasn’t the case.
I plumped myself down on the sofa with the cat and chatted to my dad, who was watching a recording of Gardener’s World. Mum went into the kitchen to start making tea. The sound of pots and pans clanking was a vivid reminder of my childhood, along with the steamed-up windows as the pan of potatoes boiled away. It made me miss my brother, Andrew. We’d argued constantly when we were growing up, but it seemed wrong to be here without him now. I wondered what he was doing.
‘Where’s Andrew at the moment?’
My dad’s bushy eyebrows shot up and he pursed his lips. ‘In Perth, I think. Why? Are you thinking of joining him?’
‘No, I’ve got work.’
‘Maybe you could go over for a holiday? God knows, we’d like some feedback about how he’s getting on.’
Mum came into the lounge. ‘Ooh yes, you should. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone new and exotic while you’re out there. Show that bloody Alex the world doesn’t start and end with him.’ She paused and peered at me, as if trying to work out if she had gone too far in slagging off my ex-boyfriend. I kept my face neutral and nodded slightly. ‘Cup of tea, love?’
‘I’ll make it, Mum. I feel bad letting you do everything.’
‘No no no! You’ve been at work all day. You sit there, my lovely. I’ll make the tea.’
My dad looked across and winked. ‘You know she can’t stand anyone else in her kitchen.’
It was true. Even while we were growing up and she was complaining we never did anything around the house, she still clucked and fussed each time we tried to do anything in her kitchen. She complained we dripped stuff on the floor and put things back in the wrong place.
‘How was work today?’
‘It was all right. I was busy and my boss let me go early so it went quite quickly.’
Mum came in with a mug of tea for me and sat down next to my dad.
‘Don’t I get one?’ he complained.
‘You’ve not long since had one!’
‘I could go another one! Bleeding hell, Rosa. I’m parched.’
‘Oh, all right, you daft old sod. I’ll get it now.’ She went off, muttering to herself.
‘Your hair looks nice, Mum,’ I called to her. ‘Have you been to the hairdresser’s?’
‘Yes, do you like it?’ Mum looked delighted, patting her short dark hair.
‘I do, very sleek.’ Mum nodded and gave my dad a pointed look. He looked grumpily at the TV and Mum went off to get his tea.
‘Oi you,’ he grumbled at me, ‘you’re getting me in trouble now.’
I laughed and he gave