Dessi's Romance (30 page)

Another thought strikes me.
‘You realise that none of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for Jon
smashing up his car and Dessi getting hurt. It’s all to do with Chaos Theory.’

Sacha looks surprised.
‘What’s Chaos Theory?’

I recall Abdul’s exact
words: ‘Chaos Theory suggests that real life is a series of incidents in which
one event may change those that follow and make them unpredictable.’

‘That’d be about right,’
says Sacha. We think this over before I stand up and say, ‘Feel like another
coffee?’

48. Epilogue

Acland Street, midday. Shoppers, latte
drinkers, tourists, buskers, children and a group of teenagers dodging school,
push their way through the crowd. Two women, one trim in a smart black suit,
the other’s loose caftan hiding her plump body, appear from the car-park behind
the arcade. Though an unlikely couple their body language and brief sentences
suggest that they know each other well. After double-checking that a certain
table inside the arcade is well hidden from passers-by, they settle themselves
at it. This is Hannah and Julie, old friends who have come to spy on their
daughters who have had a significant break in their friendship.

Hannah switches her cell
phone onto voice-mail, places it in her bag and stows the bag under her chair.
‘Should be able to see them from here,’ she whispers.

Julie giggles. ‘Sneaking
around like this makes me feel so naughty,’ she admits. ‘What if they see us?
What’ll we say?’

Hannah suddenly leans
forward. ‘There’s Emma.’ She inspects her watch. ‘She’s early.’

Julie mutters: ‘First time
ever. Can’t see her from here. What’s she doing?’

‘Settling in one of the
outside tables.’

Julie jumps up. ‘Can you
see Dessi?’

‘Not so far… No, there she
is. Now she’s sitting next to Emma. Thank god they’re talking.’

Julie settles back in her
seat. ‘What else are they doing? Can you tell if they’re getting on?’

‘Not really,’ Hannah
murmurs. ‘They’re not doing much… well, except talking…’ She maintains a
running commentary. ‘A waitress has come over… they’re looking at the menu…
they’re giving her their orders… they’re talking again…’

‘Do they seem friendly?’

‘Can’t tell.’ Hannah’s gaze
stays fixed on the other side of the street. ‘They’re still talking…’

‘Well, that’s something.
Talking is half the battle. Hopefully, that’ll help sort things out. How do
they seem?’

‘Can’t tell.’ Hannah says
briskly. She turns and her expression softens. ‘Do you remember the first time
we met?’

Julie grimaces. ‘Do I ever.
I was crying my eyes out about some guy.’ She bites her lip and laughs. ‘Guys.
I sure can pick them!’

Hannah smiles briefly. It’s
obvious she has heard all this before. ‘But can you believe,’ Julie continues,
‘I can barely recall his name.’

‘Bob, no Ben, wasn’t it?’

Julie blinks. ‘How come you
remember?’

‘Weird brain, odd things
stick. But I’ll always be grateful to him. Without Ben we might never have
met.’

‘Guess not.’ Hannah smiles
wryly to herself. What she will never tell Julie is that the same Ben had
shortly after tried dating her. But knowing what she did, she had refused.

A slight pause. Then
Julie’s peevish, ‘I can’t see anything from here. What’s happening?’

‘Not much… what do you
know…’ Hannah springs to her feet. ‘They’re holding each other, they’re hugging
and I think… it’s too far for me to see but I think they’re both crying…’

Julie also rises and
focuses on the activity across the road. ‘Maybe we should go over and join
them. We can always pretend that running into them is an accident.’

Hannah considers this. ‘I
think not. I’d rather they didn’t suspect that I looked into Dessi’s email.
Let’s leave it to them to patch things up and resume their friendship.’

‘Like us?’

‘Just like us. Only we’ve
never had a serious break. Come on, I’ll give you lift home and then I have to
get back to work.’

‘Right. Sorry,’ to the
waiter who is approaching them with a menu. ‘We’ve changed our minds. But we’ll
sure be back another time. And next time there’ll be four of us.’

‘That’s right,’ Julie
echoes. ‘Two mothers, two daughters, all close friends.’