We sat in silence for several minutes. A couple of cars passed, as did a teenager walking a dog, but he was too engrossed by his phone to pay any attention to us.
‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ I asked eventually.
‘About what?’
‘Mum’s mobility.’
‘It’s not really an over-the-phone conversation.’
‘But I had no idea it was so bad. Why did nobody warn me?’
Georgia exhaled, long and slow. ‘Dad wanted to give you a heads-up but I said…’
‘You said what?’ I asked when she didn’t finish the sentence.
‘I said you’d already run away to Newcastle and we didn’t need to give you another reason to stay there, burying your head in the sand.’
She said the words gently but they felt like a punch to the stomach.
‘Is that what you think I’ve been doing all these years?’
‘Isn’t it?’
‘Of course not!’
‘Then whathaveyou been doing, Mel?’
‘Having a fresh start.’
She blew on her hands and rubbed them together. ‘How’s that working out for you?’
When I didn’t respond, she continued. ‘What’s Newcastle got that Willowdale hasn’t? New job? Beautiful home? Relationship? Friends?’
‘That’s not fair.’
‘Maybe not, but it’s the truth. You’re doing the same job you did before you left, you’re still renting the first soulless flat you found, you’ve dumped Graeme and I’m pretty sure he was the only friend you made in the whole time you’ve been there.’
‘Not true.’ Actually, scarily accurate but it made my life sound like a disaster. ‘I have got other friends.’
‘Who?’
‘Liz.’
‘Liz?’ She placed her fingers against her temples, the deep-thinking gesture exaggerated. ‘Oh yeah, I remember Liz. Wasn’t she the woman in your building who you went jogging with for six months before she moved back to Edinburgh and never contacted you again?’
I’d hoped she wouldn’t remember that sad indictment on my ability to create a new life in Newcastle.
‘Elspeth?’ I suggested.
‘A client in her nineties who invited you for afternoon tea as a thank you.’
Why did Georgia have such an exceptional memory?
‘Hashtag friendship goals,’ she said, nudging me playfully in the side and lightening the mood.
I laughed as I nudged her back. ‘Don’t ever use hashtag in a sentence like that again.’
‘Why not? Hashtag down with the kids.’
