Sugar Secrets…& Rivals Page 5

  There. Kerry the diplomat came through just in time. If Sonja knew what she was really feeling right now, they might not have a friendship left. And Kerry was torn between anger and insecurity - she may be livid inside, but she didn’t want to lose Sonja as a best friend.

  “Well, if you’re sure,” Sonja said, a little too quickly for Kerry’s liking.

  “I’m sure. I’ll call round and collect my things some time tomorrow, if that’s OK.”

  Kerry picked up her bag and began walking towards the exit. No one noticed the tears in her eyes as she strode purposefully ahead.

  CHAPTER 9

  MISSING, PRESUMED LATE

  Kerry woke up feeling as if her head was stuffed with cotton wool and her eyes had been glued shut. She squeezed them hard for a few seconds then headed for the bathroom for some Nurofen and a shower.

  Studying her face in the bathroom mirror, Kerry was horrified by the puffy-eyed, mascara-stained monster who stared back at her. After snivelling all the way home in the taxi last night, she had gone straight to bed for a good old howl of self-pity. And left her make-up on.

  Now, in a rather more rational frame of mind, she realised that she had probably over-reacted to the events of the past couple of days. So what if Sonja thought Natasha was the most fascinating, fun-loving person on earth? It was completely ridiculous that Kerry should feel threatened by her.

  It wasn’t as though she was around all the time and intent on stealing Sonja away. She’d be going back to London soon and might not be seen in Winstead again for months. That wasn’t the sort of relationship that was going to threaten the friendship Sonja and Kerry had built up over the last twelve years.

  And there was no avoiding the fact that Sonja was much more of a party animal than Kerry. She was bound to get on with someone who could match her step for step on the dance floor.

  Kerry stepped into the shower and vowed not to let any of this stuff get to her any more. She was due to meet some of the gang at the café in an hour, and if Natasha was there too, then great. Kerry was determined to be level-headed about this; she was not going to let jealousy get in the way.

  In fact, when Kerry got to the End, Natasha wasn’t there. Nor was anyone else.

  Odd! thought Kerry. She was sure they’d arranged to meet at midday. It was only ten past twelve - surely someone should have turned up by now.

  She went up to the counter to see who was on duty today.

  “Hello? Anna! Are you there?”

  “On my way,” she heard Ollie’s voice call from somewhere behind her.

  Turning around, she saw his body reversing into the café from the street outside, his arms cradling what seemed like several hundred loaves of bread.

  “Oh, hi Kez. Good, I’m glad you’re here. I haven’t got enough arms. Could you do us a favour and lift up that worktop there so I can get these into the kitchen?”

  Kerry reached under the counter and felt for the bolt. She slid it across and lifted up the stainless steel worktop to let Ollie through. Holding it aloft, she watched as he struggled sideways through the gap, his head tilted back and his chin delicately positioned to steady the pyramid of bread.

  Just as he was about to clear the gap, Kerry lost her grip on the worktop and watched in horror as it fell, clonking Ollie with a hefty thwack on the back of his head.

  “Eurrrgh!” Ollie cried. His head jerked forward and the tower of loaves tumbled in all directions.

  The next thing Kerry knew, he was on his knees, grovelling among a sea of white bread, fiercely rubbing the back of his head and groaning softly to himself.

  “Oh, Ollie, I’m so sorry!” Kerry yelped, holding her hand to her mouth in absolute horror.

  God, what a clumsy cow, she thought. I can’t believe I just did that! What a stupid, dumb-arsed thing to do. And of all people, it had to be Ollie. Poor Ollie!

  Kerry knelt down beside Ollie, who was crouched in pain, unsure of what to do.

  “Are you OK?” she mumbled. “Can I do anything?”

  Ollie didn’t answer. He just sat rubbing his head, his face crimson.

  “I’m so sorry!” Kerry wailed. “It just slipped out of my hand. It was an accident.”

  Still no response. Kerry wondered if he was seriously hurt.

  “Can you hear me, Ollie?” she asked tentatively, poking him in the arm.

  Ollie’s face contorted into an involuntary grimace that he struggled to turn into a smile. “You sound like someone out of ER,” he croaked at last.

  “Sorry,” Kerry babbled. “I’m really sorry…”

  Ollie gave Kerry a wry grin. “If you stop saying sorry for a second perhaps you could get me a towel or something to put on the lump that’s erupting from the back of my head.”

  Kerry leapt up and ran towards the kitchen. Going through the door she tripped on a loaf of bread and went flying herself, landing on the floor with a thud.

  Oh no, this is just awful, she thought as she lay looking at the terracotta floor tiles and reddening with embarrassment. Why did this have to happen now, with Ollie? Why couldn’t it have been Anna who I just tried to kill? Or Nick? Anyone other than Ollie…

  Then she heard a loud guffaw and, looking around, saw Ollie creased up with hysterical laughter. She had to admit that they did look a rare old spectacle, like extras in a bad disaster movie. Kerry’s look of torture brightened into a massive grin and she crawled her way back to, Ollie. They sat leaning against one other, unable to speak because they were laughing so much.

  “Oh, Ollie, I’m really sorry…” said Kerry for the umpteenth time once she’d got her breath back. “I only came in to meet the others.”

  “You’ve just missed them,” Ollie explained. “They’ve gone down to the river for a picnic. Took all of yesterday’s left-over sandwiches, a load of crisps and fizzy drinks. Maya tried to call you at home but you must have already left.” Kerry’s face went from girlish joy to a look of hurt and disappointment.

  “Oh. So they went on without me. Was Sonja here too?”

  Ollie nodded. “She came in with Tasha. She stayed at Sonja’s last night.”

  “Oh.”

  “Didn’t you know? I thought you went out with them too?”

  “I did, but I went home early,” Kerry told him. “Oh, Ollie, it was awful. I might as well not have been there. Your sister and Sonja were acting like a couple of long-lost pals all night.”

  “And that got to you, did it?”

  “It did at the time. Then I decided I’d been over-reacting. But now I’m not so sure.”

  “Don’t let it bug you,” Ollie consoled. “Sonja and Natasha are way too similar to get along in the long term. Why do you think they gave each other such a wide berth at school? Neither of them has changed that much. They’ll get sick of the sight of each other soon. Trust me.”

  Ollie gave Kerry’s hand a little squeeze which made her blush. If he noticed he chose to ignore it, adding, “Now, are you going to go and meet the others? I’ll make you a cheese and tomato sandwich - on the house. And I’ve got a custard slice left over. You’ve only missed them by five minutes and I said I’d fill you in on the details. They’re down by the watermill.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Kerry mumbled. “I’m not sure I can be bothered now.”

  “Look, you must, you’ll have a great time.”

  “Uh, OK. Who else is there?”

  “Matt, Maya, Sonja, Tasha and Cat.”

  “What about Joe?”

  “Dunno.” Ollie frowned. “You haven’t seen him, have you?”

  “No. You know about Matt finding him drunk the other day though, don’t you?”

  “yeah. I keep trying to find him to ask what happened, but he’s never in. He’s been acting a bit weird lately, but he won’t talk about it.”

  “What do you mean, weird?”

  “I dunno really, I can’t explain…” Ollie paused, trying to find the right words as he got to his feet and expertly threw Kelly’s sandwich toget
her. “…He’s just not himself. He’s kind of sullen, withdrawn. I know he’s like that a lot of the time with other people, but not with me. He knows he can talk to me. But I’ve hardly seen him these last couple of weeks. It’s just odd.”

  “I’ll keep a look out for him.” promised Kerry, dusting herself off. “So, are you gonna come to the river when you knock off here?”

  “Possibly. Elaine’s coming over today but I’m not sure when. If she gets here by the time my shift ends, we’ll come along.”

  “Great…” Kerry felt a stab of disappointment. Typical! Not only had she lost her best friend to someone else, but now her best male friend had his girlfriend tagging along too. It sounded like an afternoon made in hell. Still, she had nothing better to do.

  Taking the food Ollie was holding out for her, Kerry turned and headed for the river.

  CHAPTER 10

  KERRY GRITS HER TEETH

  When Kerry found the others they greeted her like a long-lost friend.

  “Kez, thank God you got the message!” Maya cried, leaping up from the grassy bank and rushing forward to greet her.

  “Yeah, about time too,” added Matt. “We thought you weren’t coming.”

  “Sonja reckoned you’d been abducted by aliens on your way home last night when you didn’t turn up at the café,” Cat cackled.

  “But I did get to the café,” Kerry countered. “At just after twelve.”

  “And you were supposed to be there at eleven thirty on the dot,” Matt said. “We can’t sit around all day waiting for you to sort your hair out, you know.”

  Sonja broke off from her conversation with Natasha and turned to Kerry.

  “I waited as long as I could, Kez,” she said. “I thought you knew we were meeting at eleven thirty.”

  Kerry seethed inwardly. She distinctly remembered Sonja telling her to get to the café at twelve.

  Had Sonja deliberately told her the wrong time? Kerry couldn’t be sure. She counted to ten (really quickly) and decided it wasn’t worth starting a fight.

  “I, uh, must have misheard you, Son,” she relented, practically choking on her words. “So… have I missed anything?”

  “No, apart from Matt trying to have sex with anyone who’s willing,” Catrina said through a haze of cigarette smoke.

  “Yeah, I feel really rampant at the moment and I think this could be your lucky day, Kez.” Striking an exaggerated Love God pose. Matt strutted up to Kerry and began running his outstretched arms up and down her body in mock passion.

  “So what you’re saying is that you’ve had no takers so far,” grinned Kerry and then blushed, immediately embarrassed by her reply.

  “In a word, yes,” said Catrina on Matt’s behalf.

  “But it’s not fair,” Matt wailed, all fake angst and bad acting. “I’m so ugly and still a virgin and nobody wants me!”

  It was the sort of performance only someone as good-looking and super-confident as Matt could get away with. And being the only male in the company of girls this afternoon - and loving every minute of it - he was letting them know how much he rated himself.

  “Have you ever considered developing a personality? I hear it can work wonders with the laydeez, you know.” Catrina smirked.

  “Hey, who needs a personality when you’ve got looks like mine?” Matt replied, thrusting out his pelvis and running his hand through his hair.

  “You said it,” Maya laughed.

  Kerry sat down on the grass between Maya and Sonja who immediately turned her back on Kerry to carry on chatting to Natasha. But Kerry was determined to make an effort.

  “So, did you guys have a good time last night?” she asked, smiling.

  Sonja glanced over her shoulder at Kerry. “Mmmm, great, thanks.”

  “Did you go to that new club then?”

  “Uh, no, we just ended up at another couple of bars…”

  “Meet any guys?”

  “Only dorks.”

  “So I didn’t miss much then?”

  “Nope.”

  “What time did you get home?”

  “Uh… not sure, two-ish?”

  “Oh, so you didn’t end up on an all-nighter then?”

  “No.”

  “Oh.” Kerry was running out of questions to ask and it wasn’t as if she was getting any help from Sonja.

  She watched helplessly as Sonja leaned over to Natasha and whispered something in her ear. The pair then collapsed into fits of giggles. Kerry looked on, bemused and hurt, and felt tears pricking her eyes again. She couldn’t work out whether they were sharing some secret about the night before or laughing at her.

  When they’d finally stopped sniggering, Sonja and Natasha huddled together once more and began talking in hushed tones, punctuated by the occasional titter.

  Talk about rude! Kerry thought, gritting her teeth and trying not to let it get to her. She spent much of the next couple of hours chatting to everyone except Sonja and Natasha, who continued their own, very private, conversation.

  Kerry spotted Ollie and Elaine first, walking along the towpath, hand in hand, a picture of syrupy contentment. It was at times like this, when she saw someone she knew so happy and in love, that Kerry really wished she had a boyfriend. Especially someone as nice as Ollie. Elaine was lucky to have bagged a catch like him; she often wondered if Elaine realised that or whether she took him for granted.

  Frankly, Kerry couldn’t fathom quite what kept things going between the pair. They both insisted that the relationship was a very relaxed one, with no ties. But Kerry reckoned that it must be pretty solid to stand the separation.

  Elaine lived about sixty miles away, and neither she nor Ollie had a car. When they did get together, they always looked so pleased to be in each other’s company. Kerry was convinced - they had to be in love.

  “Hi, Elaine,” Maya called out. “We haven’t seen you since Ollie’s gig at The Bell. What have you been up to?”

  “You don’t need to ask her that,” Matt cut in. “It should be obvious. She’ll have been out in people’s back gardens saving the woodlice, or bonding with tree people and playing with her crystals all at the same time. Isn’t that right, E?”

  Elaine beamed. She knew Matt was sending her up and she didn’t mind one bit. They got on really well despite being complete opposites. Matt was a capitalist, would-be entrepreneur, while Elaine was a bit of a hippy - but they sparked off each other whenever they met.

  “Actually, I’m into nose cogency at the moment. It’s the latest thing,” she said. “You can get a lot of negative energy from your nose which you can channel into the positive if you stick your finger up high enough. It would probably work for you, Matt, if you stuck it up your backside.”

  The banter carried on like this for the rest of the afternoon. Only Sonja and Natasha didn’t join in; they seemed to have so much to talk about between themselves. One or the other might give the occasional conspiratorial glance round at the rest of the gang, but other than that they were totally engrossed in what the other had to say.

  After a while, Kerry could bear it no longer.

  “I think I’ll go for a walk,” she announced to no one in particular, standing up.

  “I’ll come,” said Ollie, surprising Kerry so much that she blushed.

  “Uh… uh, how about you, Elaine?” Kerry asked quickly.

  Elaine, who was deep in conversation with Matt, lifted her head and looked vaguely in Kerry’s direction.

  “Sorry, what?”

  “Do you want to come for a walk?”

  “Urn, I don’t think I will, thanks. I’m a bit whacked, actually.”

  “Anyone else?” Kerry asked.

  Without waiting for a response, Ollie set off down the towpath.

  “Come on, Kez,” he called. “It’s just you and me.”

  “You seemed pretty peed off back there.” Ollie gave Kerry a look of real concern as they walked side by side along the towpath.

  “You could tell? I thought I was
being subtle.”

  “You were. But I know what’s been going through your head these last few days, don’t I?”

  Kerry sighed. “I guess so. To be perfectly honest, Ollie, I’m getting pretty sick of Sonja. She’s completely ignoring me. Do you think I’ve upset her? Is she punishing me for something, ‘cause if she is I wish she’d spit it out. She’s driving me nuts.”

  “Come on, you know Sonja better than that. If she was hacked off with you, you’d know about it. She’s not the sort to hide her feelings, is she?”

  Ollie raised his eyebrows at Kerry and she shook her head.

  “She’s a bit like a puppy,” he continued. You know - all in-your-face enthusiasm and charm, wanting to lark about with anyone who’ll join in. She doesn’t mean anything by it, I’m sure. She won’t even have realised that you’re fed up, Sonja doesn’t consider anyone’s feelings other than her own.”

  Ollie shot another considerate look at his friend, and added, “Your trouble is you’re too sensitive - you need to lighten up a bit.”

  “You’re right of course,” Kerry shrugged. “And in my more rational moments I can see that and convince myself that their sudden friendship doesn’t bother me. But the truth is, it does.”

  She stopped - aware that the conversation was getting a bit heavy for a Sunday afternoon picnic. She tried to lighten up a bit.

  “I must have some jealousy problem that stems from childhood - maybe the fact that Lewis was born so long after me made me feel like he stole my parents’ attention. Maybe since then I’ve had a problem with sharing things. Like my friends.”

  Kerry gave a Ollie a wry grin to let him know she was trying not to take herself too seriously, and he responded by putting his arm around her shoulders for a moment and giving her a comforting squeeze. Which made her blush again.

  They carried on walking in silence for a while.

  What a lovely day, thought Kerry as she studied the glints of white light the sun’s reflection made on the surface of the river beside her. The only noise they could hear was the plip! plop! plop! of the stones Ollie was skimming across the water’s surface, and the occasional “yeess!” that came from his lips when he’d thrown a particularly good one.