'I'm fine, I'm fine,' Eloise rushed to reassure her. 'It was just a car accident. Nothingtooserious, but, well, the car's a bit of a mess. I’m a lot of a mess.'
Cally was already on her feet. 'Where are you? Do you need me to come and get you?'
'No, no. I'm okay, really. Just a bit shaken up. I'm at home now. The police brought me back after they took my statement.'
‘The police! It must have been serious. Are you sure you're alright?' There was a pause. ‘I’m coming over.’
‘Ahh, would you mind? I’m shaking like a leaf. I need a glass of wine. Or three.'
'Of course,' Cally said without hesitation. 'I'll be there as soon as I can. Just stay put, okay? Don’t move a muscle.’
'Thanks, see you soon.'
As Cally ended the call, she set off at a brisk pace, tracing her steps automatically back through the streets of Lovely Bay. As she rushed, she nodded to a few Lovelies as she passed, but her mind whirled about Eloise. Eloise was not a drama queen. A car accident, even a minor one, was no small thing as far as she was concerned and if the police had been involved, it couldn’t have been nice.
Cally reached her flat in record time and fumbled with her keys in her haste to get inside. She barely paused to kick off her shoes before heading to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she grabbed a bottle of white wine, snatched a bar of chocolate from her emergency snack drawer, chucked in two bags of crisps, had a quick wee, washed her hands and face, and went back in the direction that she’d come.
As she left her flat, Cally felt more than a pang of guilt. When Eloise had called, she'd been wallowing. She’d totally wanted to offload on Eloise and hadn’t expected Eloise to need help. Eloiseneverneeded help. She always had all her balls nicely in the air.
Thinking the whole way through her journey how selfish she was, Cally quickened her pace as Eloise’s road loomed before her. Cally bounded up the steps to Eloise's door. She rapped softly, then stood back, shifting from foot to foot as she waited for a response. After what felt like an age, but was probably only a few seconds, Cally heard movement from inside. The door swung open to reveal Eloise, looking pale, a bit dishevelled but in one piece. Without thinking, she stepped forward and enveloped Eloise in a tight hug. ‘You look absolutely dreadful!’
Eloise stiffened. 'I'm okay. Really, I am.'
Cally pulled back and frowned. ‘Are you sure? You're not hurt anywhere?'
‘I’m fine. My bank balance won’t be good when I see what this does to my insurance premiums.'
Cally chuckled as she slipped off her shoes and followed Eloise in. 'Well, as long as you're in one piece, that's what matters. You go and sit down. I’ll open the wine and bring it in. Sounds like you are in need of it.’
Cally busied herself in the kitchen, finding glasses and opening the wine. She went through to the sitting room and asked Eloise to recount the details of the accident.
'It was so stupid. I was just coming round that bend by the old corner shop along the way; you know the one?'
Cally nodded, handing Eloise a glass. 'The one with the nasty blind spot? Yeah, I know where you mean.'
'That's the one. Well, I was coming around it, and suddenly, there was this cat in the road. I swerved to avoid it, and well, the next thing I knew, I was up close and personal with a garden wall, and a van was in the back of me.'
Cally winced in sympathy. 'Thank goodness you’re okay.’
‘I was lucky. The airbag went off and everything.’
‘Ouch. How's the car?'
Eloise grimaced. 'Let's just say it's seen better days. The front's all crumpled. The airbag probably saved me from a nasty bump on the head.'
'It must have been terrifying.'
'It was. One minute, everything was normal, and the next... I keep thinking about what could have happened if I'd been going faster, or if the airbag hadn't worked properly, or…'
Cally sighed. ‘I know. Gosh, you just don’t want to think about it, really, do you? It sounds like it could have been a lot worse, though.’
‘It's a bit of a wake-up call, you know? Makes you realise how fragile everything is. It all happened so fast.'
Cally nodded. 'I know what you mean. Life has a way of throwing these curveballs at us, doesn't it?'
'That it does,' Eloise agreed, taking another sip of her wine. ‘Some things come to try us.’
Cally swigged a large gulp of her wine. All she could think about was how relieved she was that Eloise was okay. Just behind that, she felt sick to her core about how the accident might have had a different outcome. Then she kept thinking that, as Eloise had said, life was very fragile. You didn’t know what was around the corner at any given time. You didn’t know who might not be there for you to miss.
