Page 69 of The Woman Who Said Yes

I break off as she laughs. ‘How d’you know this?’

‘Phil told me.’ I pull an expression of profound regret.

‘Ah… Phil.’ She grimaces. ‘You okay about that now?’

‘Okay-ish, I suppose.’ My stomach shifts uneasily.

‘Could’ve been a lot worse,’ she says, squeezing my hand. ‘You could’ve had sex with him.’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘And thank God I didn’t. I think it’s the only sensible thing I’ve ever done in my life.’

Eva runs a hand over her curls and smiles. ‘I’m glad you told me. We’ve never had secrets before, have we?’

I hug her and blink away my sudden tears. ‘No, I don’t think we have.’ And then – because why not, really? – I tell her everything else: about Boggis Road and the angry tenants there. How Sam and I had gone behind her back then too.

‘You two.’ Shaking her head, she smiles knowingly.

‘Yeah,’ I say quickly, sensing myself reddening. ‘It was me, though, mostly. He probably just wanted to be left alone to have a lovely time with Lucy.’

Eva frowns. ‘He’s still seeing her?’

‘No idea,’ I say with a shrug. ‘I assume so.’

‘Oh, Andie,’ she says, because she knows. Of course she does. She has probably known all along that there was something there, between me and Sam; at least on my part. Something I’ve never quite been able to tell her – because I didn’t want anything to change things between the three of us. And neither, I think, did she.

It feels as if there is no need for either of us to say anything more as we gather up her discarded shoes from her bedroom floor. Then she stops, and my heart lurches as she grabs her phone from the bed and taps at it. ‘Who are you calling?’ I blurt out. Not Sam, is what I mean. Please don’t call Sam and say anything about me!

She flaps a dismissive hand at me, and then says, ‘Dom? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just, there’s something I need you to do before tomorrow, okay?’ As she pauses, frowning, I can just about make out his voice. ‘Yes, or I’m not going to marry you. I’m not joking. So, look – I realise you might not like this, but Andie and Sam went round to one of your places…’ She turns to me. ‘Boggis Road, was it?’ I nod, mortified. I’m going to have to face this man tomorrow – at his wedding! How will that be? ‘And the place is a state, one of the tenants said,’ Eva continues. ‘They need – well, I’m not sure exactly what they need. But maybe a plumber would be a good start?’

Whatever he says seems to appease her, and when she’s finished the call she turns to me with a satisfied smile. ‘So, that’s sorted.’

I stare at her in disbelief. ‘I can’t believe you said you wouldn’t marry him!’

‘Well, young people living in shitty accommodation? It’s disgusting. What if that were Marnie or Jake or Theo?’ Anger flashes in her eyes.

‘You’d be round there sorting it out.’ Of course she would. One time, soon after Bibi had left, she and Sam and Theo and I were having a picnic in Victoria Park. At ten years old, Theo had gone back to liking Lego again – particularly his Star Wars models – and had brought one along. As if from nowhere, a bigger kid had appeared and snatched it from his grasp and run away with it, laughing. ‘What the fuck was that all about?’ Sam asked a few moments later, having spotted the commotion and hurried back to our spot with our ice creams. ‘Theo, are you okay?’

Eva shrugged. ‘Some asshole tried to run off with his Command Shuttle and I wasn’t having any of that.’ She’d run after the kid and snatched it back off him. Eva is the kindest person I know, but she won’t take any shit from anyone. So why can’t she see what Sam and I have been able to see, from that very first time we first met Dom? That something is wrong with all of this?

‘So, listen, what are you going to wear?’ Her question cuts into my thoughts. ‘Are we forgetting about the static dress?’

‘Well, I don’t have anything else,’ I tell her.

‘Yes, you do,’ she says, sweeping an arm across the outfits still strewn on her bed. The shimmery pink dress is perfect, she decides. Obediently, I try it on, and as I check my reflection, I have to admit she knows a thing or two. ‘You’re actually quite good at this,’ I concede with a smile. ‘But, you know, it’s sleeveless⁠—’

‘So what?’ With a flourish, she drapes my cape around me. ‘For warmth only,’ she instructs, ‘in case it’s chilly. Honestly, you look amazing without it.’

‘Are you sure? I’m not contravening some rule, am I? By showing my arms⁠—’

‘—Of course not.’ She grins. ‘Just don’t iron it on a hot setting, okay?’

I laugh, deciding that actually I won’t dare to iron it at all, as we pile up the surplus outfits and decide that we’d better call it a night. It’s getting late and Eva has what might possibly be termed ‘a big day’ tomorrow. As befitting a sleepover, I’ve brought my best PJs with a tiny polka dot pattern, those other giant aberrations having been dispatched to charity along with my specialist baking accoutrements, unused. After Phil had left my place in the morning, it had started to feel like the ideal time to clear some space.

A little later, after just a single celebratory cocktail each – ready-mixed from a tin – we climb into Eva’s bed together. It is a riot of multicoloured throws and patchwork quilts, and is queen-sized, as befitting her status. Exhausted Eva falls asleep instantly, one long leg flung out from beneath the covers.

As I lie there in the dark, I think of that girl with the bike in Boggis Road, and Dom with his barbecue tongs and that shut-down website showing his different name, and Geraldine, and the fact that there is probably no fancy house on the river. Lumped altogether like that, it seems like a lot. However, I am readying myself to do my duty tomorrow as, in just a few hours, Eva and Dom will be married. Then they will drive away to a little hotel in Sussex and her new life will begin.

That’s Eva’s choice. She’s a grown woman after all, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop it now.