‘Jem,’ said Simi into the silence, ‘I need to ask something too. Why didn’t you use your stories?’

Jemima began to shake. ‘I tried but where I’d shut down a chance of… something… you two hadn’t. Simi, those butterflies you get when you like someone feel like dread to me. That smile a stranger gives you, terrifies me. Whatever you’d been through you could still let a man in – even a little. Beverly was dying with me but with you guys, she could breathe again. And I want to breathe again too, stop running and just… stay still.’

All three of them fell silent as the airport crowd navigated around them sensing this was something delicate, not to be disturbed.

‘I read the book again,’ said Meagan. ‘I was making notes for the case. It’s… it’s really good.’

‘You think so?’ Jemima said, a smile breaking through her sorrow.

Meagan smiled back. Just like bowling, reading was never going to be her thing but Jemima had written a real page turner. Even in the world of comedy, Meagan saw on a daily basis how narratives were still so male-dominated. But in Beverly Blake, here was a strong, female lead that was smart and now sweet, funny and sexy. There was no way she was going to stand in the way of that.

‘You should publish it,’ said Meagan.

Simi gasped.

‘What do you think, Sim?’ said Meagan.

‘Like, totally. Completely and utterly!’ Simi chimed.

Jemima clasped her forehead, her eyes searching Meagan’s.

‘Are you serious?’

‘Yes!’ clapped Simi.

‘Absolutely. But on one condition,’ said Meagan.

Simi stopped mid-clap.

‘Name it,’ Jemima said, seeming about to hyperventilate.

‘Don’t go to America,’ said Meagan.

There was no way she was going to let Jemima go. Simi needed her, she needed her, and she knew Jemima needed them too. Good girlfriends were a rare and precious thing and in their womanhood they had a matchless kinship. After ten years they were so entangled it was impossible to tell where their love for each other began and ended. They’d seen each other at their lowest ebb and highest highs. They’d celebrated together, commiserated together, briefly lived together, fought, wrestled and primal screamed together. From the stream of disparate souls that moved like bouncing atoms through each other’s lives, these girls had, like atomic fusion, clung to each other to create a greater whole. Jemima and Simi made Meagan a better, happier, wiser and now, hopefully kinder, person. No, she would not allow Jemima to disappear from her life. She couldn’t. She was her life.

‘Deal and thank you,’ Jemima said choking down her emotions.

‘Thank you,’ said Meagan hugging her.

‘Ohmygod, ohmygod. Yay!’ Simi yelped as she threw her arms around them in sheer joy.

Chapter 50

Jemima

Jemima took in deep life-affirming breaths, still reeling. In twenty-four hours she’d gone from having nothing to feeling like the world was at her feet and she had everything – almost. She’d been lurking around the corner from Nostromo for an hour. Every now and then she’d edge closer only to scuttle back to her hiding place the moment the door opened. She had called Chance’s practice but it had gone to his answer machine every time. He wasn’t at the park which left Nostromo as her only other option but that meant seeing Azi. As the sun peeped from behind the clouds, Jemima watched curiously as her shadow crept across the pavement. No more running, she reminded herself. No more running. She threw back her shoulders and strode towards the front door.