‘And you don’t believe me,’ Shay shot back. ‘You say you do, but you don’t, not completely. You still think I’m lying to you.’
They stared at each other, and that was the moment it happened. In a split second, everything changed. He’d never looked at her in that way before. She realised she was trembling, shock mingling with rising anger because he was accusing her unfairly, putting the blame on her instead of admitting she was right.
‘I don’t think,’ she said. ‘I know.’
‘Well if you’re so clever, why don’t you tell me what happened?’
‘Honestly? I think you’re denying everything because you know you accidentally left the keys somewhere in the house and your dad got hold of them.’
‘My dad says he didn’t carry out the burglary.’
‘Look, I like your dad, but he’s a criminal.’ The words shot out like bullets. ‘He always says that.’
‘But this time it’s the truth. And I didn’t leave the keys where he could get hold of them either. It wasn’t him and it wasn’t me. But thanks for clearing some things up for me. It’s good to know how you really feel, deep down.’
‘That’s not fair! I’m on your side!’ She could feel herself losing control now; the afternoon sun was burning the back of her neck, perspiration trickling down her spine.
Shay shook his head. ‘Maybe you think you are, but that’s irrelevant. You still think I was involved in some way, and that tells me everything I need to know about us.’ He turned away, one palm raised in protest. ‘That’s it.’
Talk about overdramatic. ‘This is crazy, you’re—’
‘No, it isn’t crazy, I’ve just learned a big lesson and it’s better that it happens now than years down the line. Go home,’ said Shay, ‘go back to your family. We’re done here. We’re just . . . done.’
He was looking at her as if she were a stranger. Didi couldn’t believe it had come to this. Part of her wanted to stay and fight – OK, not fight fight, but carry on the argument until she could finally make him see sense. The other part of her had too much pride to continue arguing when he was the one being so unreasonable, and furthermore, she knew there’d be no changing his mind about anything tonight.
He’d lost his job and was feeling ganged-up on. This was an over-the-top reaction but she supposed he had a right to be upset. The best move now would be to leave him to think things through and let him get the pent-up anger out of his system.
But she was only human, so instead of leaving without saying anything more, Didi turned and called over her shoulder, ‘Fine, give me a call when you’re ready to tell me what’s really been going on.’
Thirteen years on, thinking back to that fateful moment, Didi could still remember every last detail of that afternoon: the dragonflies darting back and forth in front of her as she took the shortcut across the field; the long dry summer grasses whipping against her bare legs; the way her T-shirt clung damply to her torso. She could also clearly recall each twist and turn of the argument she’d carried on having with Shay inside her head. By the time she’d reached the hotel, it was an argument she’d won, and he had apologised profusely, admitting he was the one in the wrong. He’d wrapped his imaginary arms around her once more, told her he knew when he was beaten, and confessed that yes, he’d meant to lock the hotel keys away but had dozed off on the sofa and forgotten. And she’d told him it didn’t matter one bit, she was just glad everything was sorted out now and there must never be any secrets between them again. Then they’d kissed, and kissed some more, before heading upstairs to Shay’s bedroom to put the argument well and truly behind them.
Except that hadn’t happened. Instead, she’d gone over to Compton House to see Layla. They’d spent the evening out in the garden, playing music, eating pizza, drinking cider and complaining about boys. At midnight, gazing up at the stars flung like silver confetti across the sky, Layla had said dreamily, ‘I’ve never spent the night in a tent. I bet it’s brilliant fun. There’s a music festival in Bristol this weekend. Katie and Jo are heading down there tomorrow; d’you fancy going along with them? Their tent sleeps six and we could get a lift in their car . . . Oh, sorry, I wasn’t thinking.’
Didi tilted her face towards her. ‘Thinking about what?’
‘I just said it because I knew you had the next couple of days off work, but you and Shay’ll be back together again by tomorrow.’ Layla tossed a Malteser up into the air and tried to catch it in her mouth. ‘No worries. Bum, missed.’
Didi watched her launch another Malteser; this time it hit her in the eye, causing Layla to say indignantly, ‘Ow, that hurt,’ as if the Malteser had done it on purpose.
Didi thought about those friends who were more than happy to go out with you when they were single, yet the moment they found themselves a boyfriend you wouldn’t see them for dust. It was selfish and infuriating, and she’d always made a point of trying not to be the kind of person who did that.
Which meant she wasn’t about to start now. Layla was her best friend, they both had the weekend free, and Shay was the one who’d been unreasonable. A couple of days apart would do them both some good. Didi picked up a Malteser that had bounced off Layla’s shoulder and landed on the glass-topped garden table, and popped it into her own mouth. ‘If you want to go, let’s go.’
‘Really?’ Layla jackknifed upright, scattering Maltesers in all directions. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Sure I’m sure. It’ll be great. We’ll have a laugh, a proper girls’ weekend together.’
‘Hooray!’ Layla waved her arms in the air.
‘And don’t let me forget to take a tape recorder.’
‘Why?’
Didi grinned. ‘I’m going to record everything you say in your sleep.’
And it had been great, a properly raucous girls’ weekend filled with laughter, fun and wild dancing. The weather had stayed clear, an unidentified rodent had stealthily entered their tent on the first night and bitten a hole in their shared air mattress, and Layla had been captured on tape at four in the morning muttering, ‘No way, I can’t get married to a boa constrictor.’ Which meant every time they saw a likely-looking boy, the rest of them would murmur, ‘Well hello, Mr Boa Constrictor . . .’
When the festival drew to a close on Sunday evening, they headed back up the motorway happy, sunburned and exhausted. Didi had missed Shay like crazy, but hopefully the weekend apart had done them both good. She couldn’t wait to see him again.
Except it hadn’t been a weekend apart. Arriving home, she’d casually asked if there’d been any calls for her. There hadn’t, so she’d taken a long shower and had an early night. Finally, after finishing work on Monday evening and inwardly hating the fact that she was the one making the first move, she made her way over to Hillcrest. She found the house securely locked up. No one answered the door and it felt empty.
The next day, one of her school friends told her he’d seen Shay at the train station on Saturday with a tightly packed haversack at his feet. When he’d stopped to chat, Shay had told him he was leaving Elliscombe in search of work. When their friend had asked him about Didi, he’d replied that she wouldn’t miss him, that their relationship was over.