The Golden Hair by Isabella Fitzjohn-Moores

Author:Isabella Fitzjohn-Moores
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fable, fantasy, relationships, greed, manipulation, intrigue, contemporary fiction, coming of age, corruption, friendships, controlling behaviour, betrayal.
ISBN: 9780995467712
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2016
Published: 2016-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

A package arrived in the post for Charlotte - a large rectangular brown box that she opened with youthful curiosity, her fingers tearing at the seams of the cardboard. Inside was a cream dress, simple and understated, stopping below the knee and made of a silk blend. It was fitted around the waist, and when Charlotte put it on, it swung like a clay mould of her own body, not tight or clinging at any stitch or corner. There was a note laid in the tissue paper next to the dress.

Char, I’m sorry about what I did; it was dishonest and not how a good friend should act. You are a good friend of mine, and I don’t want to lose you over this. It’s an odd thing to try to get your head around, and I’m not making excuses. What I’m trying to say is that it’s human nature; you see a coin on the pavement and you pick it up - only what I did is not the same as that. I wish you’d told me and I had time to get my head around it. It doesn’t seem possible for you to have gold hair! I feel a bit mad really.

I couldn’t spend the money on myself - it felt wrong, and it just ate me up - so I bought you this. It feels more considerate than just sending the money in the post. I hope you like it; I know you like white (you boring sod).

Love Lucy x

You’re my best friend, Char; don’t stay angry at me for this.

Charlotte pressed her lips together so the colour left them and then reappeared brighter. She felt nostalgic lament in her chest as she softly constricted and tensed her brow. Lucy didn’t have a phone, so she took out a pen and paper and an envelope from a drawer beside her bed next to the Grimms’ fairy tales and F. Scott Fitzgerald. She licked the stamp and smoothed it flat on the envelope next to the address.

I’m going to come down and visit, and I’m going to make you a cake. I can actually cook now; can you believe it? I forgive you completely because there’s nothing to forgive; I was childish about how I dealt with it. I have things to tell you. Call me from Tom’s phone or send me a letter and we can go to the zoo and scare the penguins.

Charlotte x

You’re my best friend too, Otter.

After work Charlotte walked through the town and took the bus to Totnes. It was a lovely afternoon full of sunshine-doused dust that floated in the air like midges caught by a lantern. She trawled through an old clothes shop, picking out two pieces from the twenties: a shimmering sea-green flapper dress and a gold-sequinned crop top designed to be worn over a dress. Out of the musty cavern with its wet wooden beams and peeling walls, she seated herself in a fresh verdant café with a cup of tea and the smell of cake and sugar on the hot-coffee air.

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