Page 5 of My Kind of Happy

‘Thank you, that was really … useful,’ I said hurriedly, getting to my feet. I handed her back the stone I’d been holding. ‘Is that quartz?’

She didn’t take the crystal from me, she held my gaze instead. ‘You chose selenite. It’s a calm stone. It brings a deep inner peace, perfect for someone who might be grieving.’ She folded her hand over mine. ‘You keep it. A gift from me. I wish you well for the future, Fearne.’

My voice had evaporated but I managed to smile and nod my thanks.

‘And this?’ Laura held out her blue stone. The metallic flecks twinkled where they caught the light. ‘What did I choose?’

Maureen smiled knowingly. ‘Sodalite. It eliminates mental confusion and improves communication to help you verbalise your feelings. I hope it has helped?’

Laura’s eyes flicked briefly to mine. ‘I think so. I’ll certainly try.’

Maureen insisted on Laura keeping her crystal too and after clasping both of our hands and wishing us well, she sent us on our way.

Once we were out in the corridor, we headed for a squishy sofa and both collapsed onto it with relief.

‘Never again.’ I groaned, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyeballs. ‘How weird was that? So apparently I’m a misery guts and you need to work on your communication skills.’

I shoved Laura’s arm playfully, expecting her to join me in poking fun at what had just happened. But when she met my eye, her face had gone deathly pale.

‘There’s something I’ve got to tell you.’ Her voice shook. ‘Something I’ve been trying to tell you but I haven’t had the courage.’

A trickle of fear ran down my spine, a hundred awful possibilities whirring through my head.

Please don’t be ill. Please.

My mouth had gone dry. ‘What is it? Tell me?’

‘It’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing, at least …’ She swallowed as if she might be sick. ‘I hope it is. Because if you didn’t think it was, then …’

‘Jesus, Laura, my heart is going like the clappers here.’ I gripped her hands. ‘Put me out of my misery.’

‘It’s Hamish and me,’ she blurted out. ‘We’re seeing each other.’

I was lost; what was so earth-shattering about that? ‘Well that’s nice for you, when?’

‘No,’ she said slowly, ‘I mean we’re together; as in I love him.’

Laura and Hamish? My Laura, and my brother’s best friend.

My jaw dropped open. Of all the things she could have said, that one hadn’t even crossed my radar. They’d known each other for years, but not well and there’d never been a spark between them. Or at least so I’d thought. And I saw them both separately all the time and neither of them had mentioned it.

Laura was staring at me, waiting for my reaction, but I was so stunned I couldn’t react.

‘Well, that’s unexpected,’ I managed shakily. ‘Since when?’

There was a beat of silence.

‘We swapped numbers at the funeral and—’

My gasp stopped her in her tracks.

Freddie’s funeral. July last year. The worst day of my life. Correction: second worst. The day I found out he was dead was off the scale.

I sat back against the sofa, taking this in. Laura squeezed my hand but I slid my fingers from her grasp and turned my face away. While I was burying my big brother, our two closest friends were setting up their first date. I felt physically sick.

‘How could you?’ My voice was barely audible, and tears spilled down my cheeks. I shook my head, trying to remember the events of the day. ‘Of all the places. And as for Hamish, I thought he was genuinely cut up at the funeral. But now it turns out he was working on his chat-up lines.’

‘It wasn’t like that, I promise.’ She held her hands up, pleading with me. ‘Initially we thought we should stay in contact because we were worried about you. I didn’t even see him again after that until December. We just texted each other or talked on the phone.’