Page 75 of Plot Twist

‘No, that’s grand, thank you. I’ll have it in this.’ She gestured at the cup and smiled before leaning closer to me as the barista walked away. ‘The woman who lives three doors down from me was speaking to Maeve, whose sister Gina works along the road from the nursery. She said Jackie’s back.’

Ah, so it didn’t take long for the whole town to be talking about Riley and Jackie. I couldn’t say I was surprised.

‘Erm, well. . .’ I stammered, unsure what to confirm or deny. This wasn’t my story to tell, after all.

She crossed her legs in her shiny purple exercise leggings and leaned in further to dish out more gossip.

‘And I texted Riley last night, just by coincidence of course, to ask about our yoga book and he didn’t text me back,’ she continued, as though that confirmed it.

‘What yoga book?’ I asked. I’d never heard Riley mention anything about that.

‘He didn’t tell you?’ she frowned, looking hurt. ‘The one we were meant to meet to talk about. I wanted his advice on writing a book about yoga. He said we’d get a date in the diary but it’s not happened yet.’

Ah, the date. I doubted that Eimear had any interest in writing a book about yoga. I could bet she was keen to try some new positions with Riley, though.

‘Anyway, is it true? Is Jackie back?’

My phone rang before I could answer. Saved by the bell.

‘Sorry, I need to get this,’ I apologised, standing up.

Eimear’s mouth fell open, as though she wanted to lie down on the ground like a toddler and throw a tantrum. I felt a little bit guilty as I lifted my phone to answer it on the way out of the café, waving goodbye on the way out.

‘Hello?’ I said.

Somehow, I knew it was him before he even replied. I felt it somewhere deep down in my gut.

‘I’m sober now,’ came the reply. ‘And I wondered if we could talk.’

35

NINE YEARS AGO

‘They’re planning this big opening do. A black-tie swanky event. Leila said I might get to go.’ Drew’s eyes danced as he spoke.

He was wearing a perfectly pressed suit. Again. Did he think he was impressing someone? It certainly wasn’t me. I preferred him when he looked normal. Acted normal. The Drew I’d met at the ice cream van last summer wouldn’t have cared about a black-tie event. He’d looked like he rolled out of bed every day and pulled on his crumpled T-shirt, shorts and trainers before strolling into work. If he’d been asked to a swanky event, he’d have run a mile.

Now, since his promotion, he was all ‘dress for the job you want, not the job you have’ and all this corporate mumbo jumbo about sales potential and exponential growth. He credited Leila with his newfound success, of course. He thought the sun shone out her backside. They’d gone for drinks to celebrate his promotion, which she’d labelled on social as ‘Bye, bye Mr Whippy, helllllllo Mr Suave Boss Man. Same level as me now. Even-stevens’ with all the clapping emojis that followed.

I’d had to pretend to be surprised when he’d called me with his promotion news. The next day.

‘That’s great,’ I said. ‘When is the black-tie thing?’

He looked away.

‘When?’ I pressed.

He had that shifty look that I’d seen before, the one that he used when he knew I was going to give him trouble. I knew there was more to this than met the eye; I just hadn’t quite figured out what it was.

‘Next Thursday,’ he said quickly, as though he was hoping that the faster he said it, the less likely I was to realise what that meant.

A quick reflection and my reflexes kicked in.

‘You’d miss my graduation day.’

He let out a huge sigh. The secret was out. I’d scuppered his plans.

‘I know, but Becca, we can go out and celebrate just the two of us, especially now my promotion has been confirmed.’ He smiled hopefully at me, looking over his shoulder and around the restaurant.