Lonely and Tired

If in Doubt - Day Drink

Much to my relief Cathy wasn't home when I pulled into the driveway. There was no doubt in my mind that she was not going to be a happy camper but I was really glad not to have to toss out more apologies for the morning than I already had. The entire interaction with Brian had been weird. Hot, but undoubtedly weird. I plugged my phone in to the charger hoping that any call I received from him was actually from him and not a lawyer threatening death and dismemberment for my destruction of his car.

There was work I really needed to be doing, I'd gotten some great airport lounge shots that I'd already transferred to my laptop ready for editing that I could have gone through and uploaded, god knows the airline that had given me the upgrade would be expecting to see them soon, but my visit to Ryan's grave and the weird flirt-slash-fight fest with Brian had left me exhausted. I flopped down onto my bed in Cathy and Jeff's spare bedroom. I closed my eyes for a moment hoping to still the pounding headache that was coming on and was carried away on a strange dream where I was floating down a murky river on a rubber ring with judgemental turtles watching me as I floated past. My last thought before I dropped into unconsciousness was wondering why the ducks that floated alongside me were facetiming the turtles to criticise my choice of bikini.

My name, "Stephanie!" screeched at roughly the same decibel level as a jet engine dragged me out from the depths of slumber.

Blinking groggily in the early afternoon light I opened my eyes to see Cathy hands on her remarkably slim hips glaring at me.

Forcing myself to a sitting position I said, "So you've seen the car then?"

"Please tell me there wasn't another car involved..." she wrung her hands, the substantial diamond on her ring finger glinted in mockery of my newly single status.

"There wasn't another car involved."

"Oh thank god," she breathed dropping down to sit on the edge of my bed. "I was thinking we could order a pizza for dinner? Harper refuses to eat anything that isn't pizza, spaghetti with ketchup, grilled cheese or fries at the moment and I've already exhausted those options for this week. Thank god she'll drink what she thinks is a chocolate milkshake. If I couldn't hide spinach in that slurry I don't know what I'd do."

"Pizza is perfect Cath," I smiled at her, I was so going to hell for lying about the car but the woman was at her wits end. Jeff was an amazing guy but he worked till all hours as a doctor in a family practice. Cathy had come out to California to try her hand as an actress but after being felt up by one too many movie producers she'd thrown in the towel and pursued her second great career ambition of interior design. On the one hand that had been great because she'd been incredibly successful on the other it had been an absolute pain in the arse because she was perfectionist who'd not yet learned the art of delegation.

She absolutely didn't need to know that Brian may be calling with demands of restitution for the damage to his very pretty car. I had money, I'd pay for his damage and if necessary hers too, I could only hope her insurance company would buy my story of an inconveniently placed pole.

"So what happened to my car?" she was trying to be calm and it was clearly killing her.

"There was a pole..."

"Really? It looks flatter than what a pole would do." Jesus Cathy, you and your eye for detail. It may be a benefit in a bathroom remodel but not when I was trying to lie my arse off regarding my crashing of a Mercedes.

"Maybe it was a bollard. Sorry I was jetlagged. All I know was I made contact with something solid which was absolutely not another vehicle."

"It was another car wasn't it?" she gave my knee a reassuring pat. "Steph, you've never been able to lie, at least not for the real whoppers. Everyone knew it was you and not Ryan who signed Grandma McInerney up for pay per view wrestling, not that she cared in the end. She loved a man in a leotard. And we all knew that it was you who recorded music videos over your parents' wedding video. What I still can't work out is if you ever had an all-girl metal band called Bitch."