Try hard, p.13
Try Hard, page 13
“Kim was not my… BFF.”
“She invited you to her wedding after twenty years. You have to have been close.”
“Kim’s just friendly. I’m sure you’d get along.”
“Only you could make that sound insulting.”
“Simply an observation.”
Fuad chuckled in that way he did when he thought I was being difficult, and I wondered what he’d think of Tanika, too. And the fact that so many of my friends from school were chatty, bubbly people.
“What was the other reason you called?” I asked, getting us back on track.
“Ah. So, yeah, remember that this is all talk and, honestly, probably stuff I shouldn’t even have been eavesdropping on, but, it’s me. Talk at your own risk.”
And that was one of the reasons I wouldn’t be talking about Eve.
I braced myself in my seat, noticing my mum was peeking out of the living room window to check I was okay. This wasn’t really the place you just loitered in your car and got away with it.
“How do you feel about being on video?” he asked.
I frowned, waving my mum off. “You want to video call me? No, thank you.”
He laughed. “No, silly. Like on social media.”
“Hard pass.”
“Ah.” He hesitated. “Then, I might have terrible news.”
“What is it?”
“They’re talking about the need to expand into social media. You know, short videos, long ones, getting the staff writers on the content.”
“They want us to write for social media?” I didn’t love that, but I could do it.
“Not exactly,” he said, his tone wheedling. “They’re not looking to hire more people, especially not to do what we’re already doing. They want us to do it alongside the writeups.”
My stomach dropped. Of course they were looking into that. In this day and age, it was a wonder it hadn’t come up sooner. But still. I had no interest in being on camera. I hid behind the photographs, behind my words and articles. I was good at that. I was not a presenter or a personality.
After a moment of silence, Fuad made a popping sound. “So, what do you think? Would you do it?”
“Would I have a choice? If they don’t want to hire more people, they’re not going to keep giving me jobs if I don’t do it, are they?”
“Well, it’s not like they can just get rid of you if you don’t.”
“True, but you know how it’ll go if we refuse. Just messy and complicated, and there is a clause in the contract that says they can make changes to respond to the market. This is exactly that.”
“Yeah.” He hummed. “Well, you know, as I say, it’s just talk right now. And I wasn’t trying to wreck your holiday with it.”
He had a strange way of showing that. Especially since he’d have heard about it on Friday at the latest. He could have asked before I left. “Right.”
“I mean, I’m kind of excited about it, honestly, but I just wanted to know what you’d say if they asked.”
“I don’t know.” I’d need to think about it, hear their proposal. And I wasn’t supposed to be hearing about all of this while I was on holiday.
I was not, however, surprised to hear Fuad was looking forward to it. He already had a decent presence on social media. He was no stranger to filming himself. He was also significantly more outgoing and personable than I was. He was the kind of personality that worked in front of a camera.
I sighed. There wasn’t anything I could do about it, and, even if there was, it wasn’t going to happen while I was on holiday leave. “Thanks for the call, Fuad. I need to run.”
He laughed. “Try not to stay too busy on your break!”
“Sure. Bye.” I hung up.
The whole thing felt like a lot, but the worst part was how Eve was the first person to pop into my mind for who I wanted to talk to about it. That made no sense at all. We’d never been people who talked to each other. Sure, she’d spoken to me at school, but we’d been worlds apart. We hadn’t been friends. And, now, after two days of being back in touch, she was the one to come to mind? It didn’t make any sense at all.
I shook the thoughts off, my mind too busy to make good choices, and climbed out of the car, finally heading inside. If I stayed put for too much longer, Mum would have been coming out to get me.
She gave me all of ten seconds after I got in the door before she was at my side. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Just work,” I said, trying subtly to adjust my blazer and ensure my piercings weren’t showing through it. I’d checked in the mirror a lot, but, being back around her had it forefront in my mind.
She tutted. “They shouldn't be contacting you while you’re on holiday.”
“It’s fine. Just a colleague and office rumours, you know?”
“About you?” she asked in a scandalised tone, pausing in her quest to lead me to the kitchen.
I laughed once. “No. Not like that. Company changes. You know how it is.”
“Oh.” She started moving again, gesturing me along the hallway with her. “Your job’s going to be safe?”
“Yes,” I said, sounding far more confident than I felt. Restructuring and redundancy weren’t exactly strangers, and there was every chance this could be part of bigger changes. “It’s really nothing to worry about. You know how company gossip gets around.”
She relaxed. “Of course. Plus, you’re a big name over there. They’d be lost without you.”
I wasn’t sure that was true. Sure, I was a senior writer, and I had gotten lucky with attention on my pieces, but everyone was replaceable at the end of the day. That was the corporate world.
When I didn’t offer any more commentary or information than a quick nod, Mum sat me down, and started making tea. She gave me a moment as she filled the kettle and pulled out two tea bags before she turned back to me and smiled. “So, how was the party?”
I almost laughed at the flashback to being a child attending my classmates’ birthday parties, returning home with a party bag and a piece of cake wrapped in a colourful napkin. “Busy. Seems like Kim’s wedding is going to be a big one.”
“Oh, yes?”
If I ever got married, she was going to be disappointed by the wedding. She looked positively overjoyed.
I hummed and leaned my chin on the back of my hand. “Tanika was saying there’s like nineteen bridesmaids, two maids of honour. Over two hundred guests.”
“Tanika was there? Oh, what a sweet girl. How’s she doing? We haven’t seen her for a couple of years. Remember the last time she came over here? Oh, it was so long ago.”
I didn’t really remember it, no. Studying for exams, or celebrating them being over, or something similar, I imagined, but I couldn’t actually place it. Odd, really, since she hadn’t spent that much time over here, but it was two decades ago, and a lot had happened since then.
“How’s her husband?” Mum asked as she poured the water into the waiting mugs. “He’s a sweet man. We’ve only met him the one time—ran into them at the market—but I could tell he was a good one. Much better than the guy she was with before him.”
I nodded sharply. “That’s what I hear.”
Mum hummed, stirring the mugs and adding milk to her own. “So nice that everyone from your cohort is getting married and being happy.”
Ah. I knew this line of thought. “Indeed,” I said, watching her pull the biscuit tin out and bring it over to me before returning for the teas. I’d have offered to help, but she never let me.
“Any chance Eve was there?” she asked, her voice purposefully and transparently light when her back was towards me.
I waited until she turned around and was walking towards me—a touch longer than she’d normally wait, obviously hoping she’d be able to conceal her reaction. “She was, actually.”
“Ah,” she said, working hard not to stumble or smile too widely.
“Yeah. Whole group of us from school.”
“It sounds like it,” she said, sitting down with me and waving off my thanks for the tea. “Have a biscuit.”
Not one to argue with her in this mood, I pulled the lid off the tin. However, I could feel her getting more and more antsy as I took my time choosing one. Finally, I plucked a biscuit from the container and looked up at her.
She smiled. “Was it nice to see her again?”
“After yesterday, you mean?”
“Yes.”
I bit down on my amusement. “It was nice to know someone there. You know, someone I’ve seen more recently than two decades ago.”
She sat up taller in her seat, leaning towards me across the table, and she snatched up a biscuit with alarming speed.
While Fuad survived on gossip, it seemed my mother had been starved of the stuff.
“So, you spent a lot of time with her?” she asked eagerly.
“A decent amount,” I offered, wondering how much detail I wanted to get into, but, if not with my mum, then who? “Kim’s new cousin-in-law was… excited to claim Eve’s attention.”
“A challenger? For her affections?” She clasped her face in her hands. “Oh, my!”
I laughed in disbelief. “Mum, it’s not the Middle Ages.”
“Maybe not, but this is serious, Fia. If there’s someone vying for her attention, you’ve got to put yourself out there, let her know how you feel.”
“And how is that?”
She huffed. “I know you said last night it was in the past, but, I don’t know. Something in my bones tells me there might be more there. And, you know, someone else is just a complication along the way. You and Eve have history.”
“We went to school together two decades ago. I don’t know if that counts.”
“It definitely counts,” she said sternly. “Besides, that’s not all it was. She was important to you.”
I sighed, thinking back. “She was important to everyone.”
“But it’s you she’s choosing to spend time with now.”
“Because we happened to be at the same two events.”
Mum studied me, sipping her tea as she watched me sip mine, and I could see a million different thoughts simmering barely below the surface.
I’d shut her down last night, and, today, I’d immediately gone back out, seen Eve, and… enjoyed the way she touched me, the way she looked at me. I’d enjoyed the time alone in my car. I’d handed over my phone without a second thought. There was just something easy about being around her.
“Fia,” Mum said, keeping her tone measured as she put her poppy-covered mug back on the table, “do you like being around her?”
I blew out a heavy breath. “I suppose so, yes.”
She fought hard to hide her excitement. She was unsuccessful. “Then maybe that’s all you need to know for right now. You like being around her, she seems to like being around you—”
“She did spend a lot of time with Sammy.”
Mum shot daggers at me. “So, for now, just spend some time together. Enjoy yourself. Allow yourself to rest and have some fun.”
“I have fun.”
She reached across the table to cup one of my cheeks. “I know you do, but this is a different kind of fun.”
“Mum, I…?” Before I could worry too much that she wanted to talk about me just sleeping around with Eve, she shook her head.
“Not like that.” She shuddered and rallied, dropping her hand. “You love your job, and I know you have fun there, but this is a human connection. And there’s something there, I can feel it. You deserve to explore it.”
“And we’re hoping she agrees?” I knew I was, but I shouldn’t have been. It was so much more complicated than even my mum understood, but what could I do? I wanted to talk to Eve, to spend more time with her. And I hadn’t felt like that in a very long time.
“Oh, I’m sure she does. You’re a lovely young woman.”
I laughed, grateful for the snap in tension that had been building in my chest. “Thanks, Mum. I think you’re duty-bound to say that, though.”
“Nonsense. I just happen to know you and I’m sure Eve is happy to know you too.”
“It’s… complicated.”
She looked at me, seeming to understand that there was something I didn’t want to talk about—didn’t know how to talk about—but which I truly believed to be complicated.
Nodding, she said, “Be that as it may, it’s still worth spending time with someone you feel drawn to and connected to. Maybe the rest of it is stuff you’ll be able to figure out together. But I know you regret not talking to her more at school, and I don’t want you to feel like that again now that you’ve gotten a second chance.”
Mums really did know too much sometimes. I’d never named regretting not talking to Eve more. Of course she’d figured it out.
I sighed, but something eased inside of me—the part that needed permission to talk to Eve, even if I felt like I couldn’t give her everything I wanted to. “I suppose we don’t really get a choice, anyway, what with all these wedding events.”
Mum smiled victoriously. “Has she given you her number?”
“Yes.” I tried not to flush at the fact that it was her private one and she’d earlier avoided giving Sammy either of them.
“So, it doesn’t have to just be wedding events…” She wiggled her eyebrows at me and I couldn’t help but smile.
“She’s invited me to watch her play rugby on Tuesday night.”
Mum gasped, accidentally inhaling some of her tea, and I suddenly had to wonder how much gossip Dad told her because she recovered remarkably smoothly. “Fia, that’s wonderful! Oh, I’m sure you’re going to have the best time. I hear she’s a wonderful player.”
“She is.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make you soup and tea and things to keep you warm.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be that cold,” I protested, not wanting her to put herself out, but still grateful for her care and excitement. Maybe it was nice to be looked after sometimes.
Mum waved me off. “And we’ll make sure you look absolutely stunning and there won’t be space in her mind for any other woman. Don’t you worry.”
I laughed, trying hard to ignore the pang of discomfort that the only way I could impress Eve was with my looks. Instead, I concentrated on worrying that my mum was too into this whole thing and wondering if I should have let on that I still liked Eve. But, even with all the complications, I couldn’t exactly deny that I wanted to be the woman on Eve’s mind.
Chapter Sixteen
Eve
Sometime in my late twenties, I’d learned that conflicting schedules were not conducive to a good relationship. Maybe, for some couples it could work, but, in my experience, it had always been the death knell. And, while my work schedule had gotten a little more traditional since retiring from rugby, I was still an early riser, with the need for a morning workout.
Which probably went some of the way to explaining why, when I received a message from Ophelia at twenty past six in the morning, I was elated. Similar schedules, early morning workouts. Superb sign. And, maybe, it was a little bit to do with the fact that the message was accompanied by a photo. One taken outside the pool, with her smiling and looking directly at the camera—directly at me.
It was forward for her, but I was ridiculously into it.
Perhaps she’d been spurred on by the fact that I’d texted her basically all night. At least, I did once I’d finished dinner with Dad and Soph—and gotten Soph to stop talking about how very hot Ophelia was.
Of course, the woman was gorgeous. She always had been. But there was so much more to her, so much to discover under the surface that she kept hidden away—like that cheeky, teasing side that had lightly tugged my waistcoat just to have another second to say goodbye. I wanted all of her. But I wasn’t foolish enough to think Ophelia didn’t get hordes of people wanting her simply because she looked so beautiful.
I wondered, not for the first time, whether that was part of why she kept people at a distance. I hadn’t known her before secondary school, but, even with the amount of sports I played and how many comments I got that my figure wasn’t feminine enough, I knew exactly how the world’s reactions changed once you hit puberty. Had that happened to Ophelia and shut her down? Had she always been wary of people? Perhaps it was nothing so dramatic and she really just didn’t love being around lots of people. I hoped it was the latter. But… her warmth when she started letting you in, the way she still was with Tanika and Kim, after all these years and with very different personalities, suggested she didn’t hate people the way I imagined some people read her doing.
I concentrated on her message, smiling to myself again that she’d initiated contact, mere hours after I’d bid her goodnight.
I glanced around, looking for a nice background, before positioning myself in front of a tree and taking a picture that made it clear I was in running gear. Snap, I sent back.
I could imagine the way she’d smile, the curve of her lips, the way her eyes lit up and crinkled. Maybe it was a sign that I’d spent too much time looking at her if I had a crystal clear image of her smile in my head after only two days, but, in my defense, I’d watched her smile like that for years when we were teens too, and nothing about it had gotten any less beautiful with age.
Swimmers do it wetter, she sent back only moments later and the bottom of my stomach dropped straight out of my body.
Sure, I was trying to just think of her as a friend—and I was grateful for her friendship—but that had to be flirting. I’d been flirted with more than enough times to know. The fact that it was Ophelia jarred in my brain and insisted that she mustn’t be flirting, but… how else was someone supposed to interpret that?
I lunged into some stretches, ostensibly because I’d interrupted my run to text her. Realistically, because I didn’t know how else to get the nervous, excited energy out of my body.
Trying to play it cool, and painfully aware it was so easy to misinterpret someone’s tone and meaning over text—even with those eyes staring at me from her photo—I took a steadying breath and messaged her back. That rather depends on the British weather, don’t you think?
