‘Kalani.’ Hattie beamed, scanning the stunning room. ‘This is fabulous. Thank you so much for inviting us to your karaoke party. We are going to have one hell of a neat and tidy, spill-free evening!’
The room was, indeed, fabulous. White walls with the odd navy accent. Unfussy, dark furniture to match the kitchen, a few tasteful works of art and throws draped over the leather sofa and chairs. All of it designed to be a mere background to the breathtaking view.
‘Plus, where’s Laurie?’ Kalani wheezed, spinning around with a bottle of gin in one hand, an oven glove in the other. ‘I expected you two to be late, but she should be here by now. How are we going to do the Spice Girls if she stands us all up?’
Before we could answer, all our phones pinged with a message from Laurie to say that her husband was stuck at work and she needed to drive Flora to a sleepover. She’d be there by 8.30.
‘Well, that’s just…’ Kalani spluttered.
‘A shame, but hardly a disaster,’ I finished for her, carefully taking both the bottle and the oven gloves from Kalani and putting them down on the work surface. ‘Why don’t we pour ourselves a drink, then get cracking with the first song?’
‘You go ahead,’ Kalani stuttered, as if she’d been replaced with a nervous, insecure Kalani clone. ‘I need to sort the snacks. I think I should have got fewer cakes and more samosas. And I thought it’d be fun to try beetroot crisps. But seriously, beetroot is bad enough in a salad, let alone as a crisp. Ugh. I knew this was a terrible idea. Stick to your lane, Kalani, and hosting isn’t it!’
‘Kalani!’ Hattie said, sounding like a Victorian headteacher. ‘We are your friends. We’ve come to hang out and have fun, not eat crisps.’
‘Okay, then!’ Kalani dumped the unopened packet of crisps in the bin.
Deirdre promptly pulled them out again. ‘It’s fine, this bin is completely empty and cleaner than my fridge.’
Before she could spiral any further into panic, we all hurried over to where Kalani stood, flapping her hands in front of her face, and enfolded her in a wall of hugs.
This was an eye-opener to me: that someone looking that good in a leather jumpsuit could have a comfort zone, and inviting a few friends round pushed her right over the edge of it.
‘Okay,’ Kalani gasped after a few seconds. ‘I’m okay. I know it doesn’t matter. It can’t be worse than when we went to Laurie’s and her waste pipe flooded. But I sort of feel like I’ve invited you to read my journal.’
‘Here,’ I said, offering her a glass brimming with gin and tonic.
‘That’s a martini glass.’ Kalani winced.
‘Not right now, it isn’t.’
‘Oh, stop moaning and choose a song,’ Hattie said with a laugh, so that’s what we did.
* * *
I might have been okay, if I hadn’t just wailed my way through ‘We Are Family’.The Gals had let me cry as we bopped and hugged and sang the chorus in each other’s faces. I’d collapsed onto the sofa, smiling through my tears, marrying the sadness with the hopefulness of this new start, when Laurie arrived.
‘Sorry!’ She wheezed, having raced up the stairs. ‘I know, I’m a work in progress, but you can’t be too mad at me because I actually hired an actual professional cleaner this week, and, even better, I’ve made initial enquiries with a home carer for Dad…’
The encouraging replies from the others were lost on me as Laurie bustled further into the room.
I smelled and saw the flowers in her hands at the same time.
‘Here, an apology. I brought white ones so they’d blend in with the décor.’
Roses, of course.
Roses, on top of a large glass of wine and the melody of my sibling’s favourite song still echoing in my ears, and I had to knock Deirdre out of my way as I hurtled down the stairs and through the front door, managing to reach a dark corner around the side of the house before retching my guts up.
‘Soph?’ Deirdre asked, once I’d finally stopped heaving and was standing braced against the rough brick wall. ‘Are you okay?’
‘She only had one glass,’ I heard Kalani say from behind her. ‘Do you think it was the crisps?’
‘Can I have a minute?’ I asked, resting my forehead on the wall. ‘Please.’
I heard the Gals shuffle about and mutter between themselves before slipping away.
Sliding to the ground, I pressed a clammy hand to my chest and willed my heart to stop juddering. When that failed, I pulled out my phone and called the one person I wanted to see right then.
