“It'll be fine,” Nicola says, turning her Audi convertible into the driveway.
“You keep saying that...I'm starting to think you're trying to convince yourself, instead of me.”
Nic shoots her a look just as she's parking among the dozen other cars out the front of the two storey house. They'd passed Bowes Museum a few minutes ago, Sarah and Tom's home tucked down the end of a private cul-de-sac on the outskirts of Barnard Castle. Kimberley could hear the sounds of children around the back of the house, Leigh's distinct laughter making her smile. She catches Nic quietly regarding her.
“What?”
“She's like a daughter to you, isn't she?”
“You don't feel that way about her?”
Nicola shakes her head. “I love her to bits, but when it's time to go, I go. Sarah told me she practically had to kick you out last week.”
Kimberley chuckles quietly. She'd been spending time at Sarah and Tom's place, getting there when she could, knowing Leigh spent every second weekend there. The little girl had been impressed with her jumping skills the first time she'd visited, Sarah losing her cool and telling Kimberley off in a tone she'd never heard from her friend. It'd been that motherly tone she recalled her own Mum using, worry and fear evident in the blonde's words. She'd promised Sarah no more jumps, had apologised for getting swept up in the moment, and she'd kept her word since, despite Leigh's constant requests for more.
“You in there Kimba?”
“Hmm?”
“Come on – you can get me a drink. It'll calm me nerves.”
-----
Nic and Rick – jokingly referred to by the girls as the 'ick' couple – had spent Rick's actual birthday in Spain, throwing together a last minute party a few days beforehand. Kimberley had been so busy trying to decide on a manager and getting audition tapes together that she'd completely forgotten to worry about whether Cheryl was attending. Leigh had launched herself at her as soon as she'd walked in through the door, Kimberley well aware of Cheryl's eye on her for the rest of the evening. She'd drunk orange juice and had coloured with Leigh in the corner, catching the Geordie looking at her once with something other than concern, something that had seemed at the time to be wonder.
She can feel the look now, bouncing Emmy in her lap, telling Leigh all the baby facts she knows. They've shared polite hellos and goodbyes, the girls trying to get them to talk each time they're all together, but the younger woman's having none of it, and if Kimberley's honest, neither is she. She remembers how stubborn Cheryl was, knows the woman has never been pushed into anything she didn't want to do.
-----
“Well, there's a sight to see.”
Kimberley immediately tenses at the sound of Cheryl's voice, frowning at the thought that it had never been this way in the old days. Cheryl had always managed to bring out the best in her, could get her to smile when she was feeling sad, made Kimberley happy just by looking at her. The tension's continuously there now, and she wonders how the other three haven't been driven insane by it, how their other friends and family haven't demanded that it be sorted out.
“A Leigh-less Kimberley.”
“She's upstairs with Sarah, looking for that CD of ours Diana signed. You know, if I'd have known she'd be my main competition at auditions now, I would've knocked her off at the judge's house way back when.”
There's silence and Kimberley knows the Geordie's already gone.
YOU ARE READING
Chim- In aeternum
FanficKimberley returns to meet up with her family and the rest of the girls after nearly 10 years. She left after drunkenly sleeping with Cheryl and nobody had heard from her since. However when she returns Kimberley learns that nobodies had it easy sinc...
