23 Attempts at Love

Chapter 24: A New Life

I decided to stay home in Nottingham while Mum got back on her feet, into her own routine. Sam and Katie had to move out after a while: Sam had a job he'd taken a hiatus from who now needed him back, and Katie had landed a role as a dancer in a major show touring Europe. She promised she'd be back as soon as she could. She'd call every week, at least once.

I got a job working for a small construction company as an administration assistant: it wasn't the dream job but it paid okay and everyone was friendly, and the hours were fairly flexible. That was all I needed right now.

After the funeral I unpacked my things into my old bedroom. They'd been sitting, gathering dust, in a state of limbo for months. They looked out of place on the old shelves, on my old desk. My London memories were inserting themselves into a childhood bedroom which didn't want them there.

Katy and Sasha called me regularly.

"How're you doing?" Sasha asked gently. The pair of them were curled up under blankets in a new flat they'd moved into. The boys had all moved out with respective girlfriends, so the girls had ended the tenancy and set up shop in an adorable two-bedroom flat not far away from our old friends.

"I'm good! We're... adjusting," I smiled awkwardly. They'd met my Dad a handful of times, never visited me back home in Nottingham. They had offered to come to the funeral but I didn't want the fuss. I'd left the reception early after a few too many "stories about your father" became too much.

"How's the new job?" Katy asked, also gently. I smiled back as best as I could.
"Honestly, fine. It'll do for now... But, what's the gossip down there? Anything interesting happening? What's new? I feel like I've been so out of the loop for ages now."

"Sasha had a date last night!" Katy grinned. "Ow!" She squealed as Sasha thumped her.

"Luce, it was a disaster. He would not stop talking about his bloody job. I mean, how interesting can quantity surveying be, really? It's just counting bricks!"

I burst into laughter for the first time in months and finally felt normal.

"God, I miss you guys," I said.

"Are you going to cry?" Sasha asked.

"No! Not this time," I grinned back, wiping away a tear. I had plenty of reasons to cry but I didn't want to think about any of them right now.

"Are you planning on coming back to London?" Katy asked. "There is a one bedroom flat right down the corridor the landlord is renovating... He said it'll be done in a month or two!" Both of them look expectantly into the camera.

"I... can't. I can't move back, not right now. Mum needs me here, or she's completely alone. Plus, I don't have a job there anymore. I don't have anything there except you guys, and I can always visit if I want to see you."

We decided instead that they would come to see me. On a Friday evening I borrowed Mum's car, drove to the train station and burst into tears as soon as two of my closest friends appeared in sight.

"Oh! Don't cry Lucy! We missed you too!" Katy burst into tears and wrapped me in her arms. Sasha – the tallest of us all – wrapped her arms round both of us and held us both close.

"I really missed you," I sniffled.

Despite my protests Mum had spent the afternoon cooking a feast for the three of us: she hadn't met the girls before but she fell in love with them instantly and was referring to them as her adopted daughters by the end of the weekend. I showed them the pubs in the village, the local walks and parks and rolling countryside, the nightlife in Nottingham and my favourite Mexican restaurant.