Friendship on Fire (45 page)

I stared blankly at her, but I could guess.

‘His parents didn't approve, because my family wasn't wealthy or prominent enough, was the first reason. I knew for a fact his mother loved me, but he knew my pride wouldn't let me question that argument; I wasn't from a rich family and I guess I did feel like he'd settled for second best while I was upgrading.

‘The second reason was that he was so lonely overseas and worried about his life that he sought solace with a French woman for a few months, near a village they were fighting to protect. He looked remorseful, yes, and did not give me the option of taking him back if I wanted to, which I didn't. He then sent me on my way, without me being able to give him an insight into how I was feeling or the kind of anguish I felt while he was away. Did I hate him? For a while. It didn't help me.

‘I thought that after him I'd never recover, never be able to find another man who touched my soul as much as him. I did. A few years later, I met your grandfather and I knew then that the pain I suffered over Gerard was worth it. It made me appreciate your grandfather so much more.'

I had stopped eating and given her my full attention half way through her story. The factual way she said it interested me. She still had a look of vulnerability, like she had to take herself back to that place in order to gather her feelings and memories and give them to me, to help me.

‘Wow. Why haven't you told me any of your stories before, Nanna?' I asked, gazing across the table at her with renewed respect.

‘You never asked, my dear,' was all she said, before beginning to eat her own food.

It was a big challenge and I wasn't nearly prepared for it; but I'd try.

Josh, Treston and Shane came without a lady partner for the first time in goodness knows how long. So it was just the six of us in one cabin. We were going to have a ball or kill each other trying.

The boys made a special effort to take care of me and not tease me. I could see them biting their tongues or looking meaningfully at each other when they had the opportunity to rip me off. I appreciated it, but I would go back to normal much quicker if they treated me as such.

One day, Dad came back to the cabin after being out alone. In his arms he gently carried a bunch of beautiful flowers, the buds ranging from orchids, to roses and daffodils. He handed them to me almost shyly and watched me marvel over their smell and colours. When I asked him what made me deserve such a thing, he said that every girl who has her heart broken deserved something pretty in her life. Then he said I shouldn't make a habit of getting my heart broken as it might turn out to be quite an expensive gesture for him.

I laughed, as did the others, my eyes filled with tears, (remembering my vow not to cry) and thanked him from the bottom of my heart. Nate was right about one thing; I was incredibly lucky to have such a supportive family.

Mum and I had girl time. We hit the ski resort shops and checked out the latest snow fashions. We tried on stupid polka dot thermal pyjama pants and made funny faces with designer snow goggles. OK, I'm making it sound more glamorous than it really was, but who cares? I had Mum's support and attention and she was helping to knit my heart back together, one shop at a time.

On the last night of the ski trip, Shane sat with me in front of the toasty fireplace. I could tell he'd been especially watching me these last few weeks and I'd worried him because I didn't talk to him about what happened like I normally would. That night, like Mum and Dad not so long before that, he cornered me. I didn't mind. Deep down I believed Shane and I held the same wavelength and level of emotional intelligence and could have easily been twins. His easygoing nature wasn't a weakness; beneath it lay a gentle spirit, sensitive to people's needs and feelings. Right then, he was the kind of person I needed.

‘Do I call off the assassination plot?' he asked, offering me some coffee from his thermos.

I giggled at his heart-warming, yet violent comment and took a swig. ‘Pretty poor assassin if he hasn't got him already, don't you think?'

‘Good point,' he nodded. ‘I could have done a better job myself …'

‘You don't need to worry about me,' I lied. It was the worst 3 experience of my life. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Maybe Skye.

He raised his eyebrows in disbelief. ‘Are you sure about that? I thought we had
the
talk a few months ago and you still went ahead with it. Now look at you.'

‘What's wrong with me?' I challenged, slight twitch on my lips.

Shane waved his free hand at me. ‘You're all skinny and puffy eyed. How do you expect to pull a rebound guy looking like that?'

‘Yes. That is my goal in life,' I replied dryly.

‘And, you don't talk to your big bro anymore. That means something is wrong in your head,' he said, tapping his skull with his index finger.

I rolled my eyes. ‘Thanks. I'm ugly and crazy now, is that it?'

‘Uh …' Shane wasn't good at digging himself back out of verbal holes.

‘Kidding. It's nice that you care. I'm sorry I've been off the last few weeks. I've been pretty rocked.'

‘Wanna talk about it?'

‘Maybe one day,' I said demurely.

‘I'm here for you, Daisy. If only to spit in his Big Mac the next time he shows his face in McDonald's with Rachael and …'

Back up. ‘What?'

‘What? Fine, I'll only put a hair in it,' he shrugged.

‘No not that. You can poison him if you want. Maccas. You've seen him there with Rachael?' I could barely contain my dark curiosity.

‘Yeah. A few times. I figured they were friends because of you and her.'

His innocence was endearing but I wished he had the foresight to tell me earlier.

‘I would have thought so, too,' I mumbled to myself.

Shane put the Thermos on the coffee table and shook his head to clear it.

‘Hang on. Are you telling me the other weekend might not have been the first time they were together?'

Sighing, I prepared myself for the possibility. ‘I wouldn't put it past them. For all I know, it's been going on since the party at Rachael's house when Nate and I hooked up.'

Like a flood washing over my head, I remembered times when I could have been suspicious but was too trusting not to be. The scene that kept flashing before my eyes was my last soccer match Rachael came to watch. She'd invited herself to it and spent a good portion of the time looking after me after I got clocked with the ball. The vision of her and Nate talking like they were good friends, her hand on his arm …

The coffee I'd just drunk threatened to exit my stomach ungracefully, along with the rest of our expensive dinner. The familiar sinking, sick feeling returned as my favourite unwanted guest. I didn't want to know the truth, but I had a feeling I wouldn't let myself move on until I knew the full extent of her betrayal.

‘Daisy, are you OK? Here, have some more coffee,' Shane held the flask up for me, concern furrowing in his brows.

I shook my head, one hand on my stomach. ‘No, thanks. I need to go do something.'

He eyed me suspiciously.

‘You're not turning into a bulimic, are you?'

‘Hell no. Not on purpose, anyway. I need to make a phone call.' I started to get up.

‘Be careful. I can threaten to bash him if you like, in the background.'

‘Not him. Her,' I murmured, hands shaking as I pulled my mobile phone from my pocket.

Alone in my log-cabin room, sitting on my bunk, I dialled an unlikely person's number.

‘Hello?' Skye's voice answered. Music was thumping in the background.

My heart pounded. Should I hang up? This was a crazy idea. She'll use this information to plaster all over the school walls. I'll never live it down.

Get over it,
my brain sternly told me.
Not long left of school
anyway. People will forget her like Nate's forgotten you …

‘Hello?' she said again, annoyance mounting in her voice. ‘If this is another prank I swear to God …'

‘Skye. It's Daisy,' I said in a quiet, broken voice.

Instantly Skye changed her tone. ‘School captain. What a pleasure. I'm not sure how
I
can help you, although I am a woman of many talents.'

‘I need you to be real with me for a minute. Do you think you can do that?'

Silence on the other end revealed Skye thinking about my question.

‘I can't promise anything,' she said finally.

‘It's important,' I said, trying not to beg the enemy.

Her impatience waned slightly. ‘I'll try. But hurry up. You're wasting my time.'

Resisting the urge to tell her where she could stick her time, I took a deep breath and questioned my sanity for the millionth time.

‘How long had Nate and Rachael been seeing each other before his birthday party?' There, I said it. It was out there, never to be retrieved again.

‘Wow. You
are
a bit slow to catch on, aren't you?' Skye nearly laughed.

‘Can you just tell me, please? I need to know the truth.'

The smugness in her voice was unmistakable. ‘So I take it you can't trust what Nate says after all? Like I warned.'

‘I haven't asked him. You were my first choice, because you are kind of in with everyone and I figured you'd be honest with me, as you always are.' The unlikelihood of a truce between us made me smile despite myself.

She sighed. ‘Honestly, I don't know. Definitely since Rach switched to the greener grass of my crew. They hit it off from the beginning. But then, we're all friends, if you know what I mean.'

Of course I did and it made me feel sick. It hurt me to consider how Rachael hit it off with
my
boyfriend from the beginning. Who else had she got with from Skye's crew? It was so unlike the Rach I thought I knew.

‘So you didn't see anything, in public?' My heart thudded so hard I thought she might hear it and tease me for it.

‘Not anything out of
our
ordinary.' What did that mean?

‘Right.'

‘But hey. Let's stop wasting Skye's precious brain space with insignificant talk and you can hear it from the horse's mouth yourself?'

There was rummaging and whispering but I didn't hear Skye say my name as she handed the phone over. Possibilities of who the horse might be started racing through my mind.

I must have been slow on the uptake, like Skye said. So much so, the horse said, ‘Hello?' before I had time to agree or disagree with Skye's decision to potentially humiliate me over loudspeaker. And I was too polite to hang up. And curious.

‘Hello? Who's this?' I asked stupidly.

‘Rachael. Is that you Daisy?' she asked bluntly.

‘Yeah. Where's Skye?' I was trying to avoid the inevitability of this conversation.

Music continued to rage in the background, muffling the clarity of her voice. ‘She's gone to get us another drink. Why did she hand the phone to me?'

‘Oh, it's nothing. Just about the sports carnival next term,' I lied.

‘You don't have to lie to me. I heard bits of Skye's end of the conversation. What do you want to know?'

I resented the idea that Rachael, above all people, had the power to give me the answers I needed. The scarlet woman herself could decide, to a large extent, how quickly I'd get over my broken heart. I shuddered.

‘Fine. Was Nate's birthday party the first time you two hooked up? Or had you been a slut for longer than that?'

I surprised myself at two things here. I used his name in a proper sentence and I insulted my ex-best friend like I'd never done before. Both disturbed the ‘old' me.