Meagan exhaled again, her breath a white column against the black sky.

‘FUCKING MEN!’ she screeched before pounding off down the street.

Chapter 34

Simi

‘This is nice,’ said Simi blowing her freshly painted nails. ‘Been ages since we’ve chilled.’

‘Hmm, mmm.’ Jemima nodded as she tapped out a text message trying not to smudge her manicure.

‘And what with my audition this week and you with the book, the dating game… and all your phone calls, it’ll be great to let our hair down at the Hudson Hicks party tomorrow,’ Simi continued as Jemima chuckled at an incoming message.

‘Totally,’ said Jemima, finally turning her attention to Simi. ‘I know I haven’t been around much.’

‘That’s okay. You’re busy. It’s just lovely to have my advice guru back coz I need to talk to you about something,’ said Simi cautiously.

‘Funny. There’s something I need to ask you too,’ said Jemima but before she could say more her vibrating phone cut into the moment like a hot knife through butter.

‘Sorry, Sim, I’ve gotta take this,’ Jemima said, scooping up her phone and padding through to her bedroom, laughing with whoever was on the other end.

Simi strained to listen. If she didn’t know better, she would swear Jemima was flirting. But with who? Simi blew on her nails again. Jemima wasn’t the devious type but things were definitely different of late. Maybe it was just the book though that didn’t explain the mysterious phone calls. Twice, Jemima had seen her phone ring and closed her bedroom door to take the call. Was Jemima dating one of the men from the game? Simi glared at her closed bedroom door just as Jemima traipsed back into the living room, plopping herself onto the sofa.

‘Fancy a movie?’ Jemima said clicking on the TV.

‘Mmm,’ said Simi, noticing a tiny smile on Jemima’s face. ‘Who was that?’

‘Publicist. Boring strategy stuff for the book launch,’ said Jemima, scrolling through her Webflix account.

‘Working on a Saturday – dedicated,’ Simi probed.

‘Well, you know – Ooooh, Fatal Attraction. I haven’t seen that in ages.’

Simi looked at Jemima who was giving nothing away. Perhaps that was because there was nothing to give away. Maybe Jemima had just spoken with her publicist and, knowing how boring Simi found all that stuff, was simply sparing her the dull details.

‘Obsession is so interesting, don’t you think?’ said Jemima, eyes still on the screen. ‘I mean… Meagan told me about Terry, at college…’

For the first time since she’d sat back down, Jemima looked at Simi. ‘Did you know that what you were doing was…’

Simi watched Jemima hesitate, searching for the least hurtful word.

‘Weird?’ offered Simi.

‘That’s not what I meant.’

Simi sighed. Her pursuit of Terry had been a low point and, with the benefit of nearly two decades of hindsight, pretty bloody humiliating.

‘I wasn’t weird. I was desperate. Jem, I know this dating thing just looks like fun but in these few weeks I’ve discovered a lot – deep things, like stuff about my dad. When he left, it triggered something. I’ve spent my whole life searching for his love. Thing is, I’ve been looking in completely the wrong places, ready to fall at any opportunity. That’s desperation.’