The Woman on the Ledge by Mancini Ruth

Author:Mancini, Ruth [Mancini, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781804945247
Publisher: Cornerstone
Published: 2024-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

27

By six thirty, Helen had unpacked and was having a bath. I went out for the food and wine. When I got back, Helen was out of the bathroom. I opened one of the bottles of wine I’d bought from the supermarket next to the Chinese takeaway, poured two glasses, then dished up the food: chicken chow mein for her, and kung pao prawns and egg fried rice for me.

‘Cheers,’ I said, raising my glass to her as we sat opposite each other, either side of the tiny table in the corner of my living room. It wasn’t quite the ambience of the Soho wine cellar, but I’d cleared the table of its usual clutter and lit two tall, slim red candles. In the half-light, Helen’s features looked pale, almost ghoulish, behind the strands of wet hair framing her narrow face.

‘To us,’ she said. ‘To finding each other again.’

‘Yeah,’ I smiled. ‘I’m so glad I went to the reunion. I so nearly didn’t.’

‘Me neither.’

‘And,’ I added gently, ‘I’m so, so glad I came up to the roof terrace when I did.’

‘Must have been fate,’ she smiled.

‘That and fags,’ I smiled back. ‘And shame. God. I bet Annabel Mercer was glad she went. She’d have loved every minute. I can’t believe what an idiot I made of myself.’

‘Forget it,’ Helen said, gathering up a forkful of noodles. ‘They always were such nasty little bitches.’

‘They’ve a lot to answer for,’ I said.

She heaved a long sigh. ‘I guess we gave them a lot to talk about.’

I caught her eye and shook my head. ‘No. We didn’t.’

‘Well, I did, then.’

‘No,’ I said again. ‘That’s not what I meant. I meant that it wasn’t our fault. We didn’t do anything wrong – either of us.’ I paused. ‘Except that I betrayed you,’ I said sadly.

‘You didn’t betray me.’

I looked her in the eye. ‘Well, I wasn’t a very good friend, was I? After what he did to you.’

She put her fork down, reached out and took hold of my hand across the table. ‘Tee, don’t beat yourself up about that. You were fourteen. You didn’t know. And besides, I went with him when I knew you liked him too, didn’t I?’

‘I just thought he’d dumped you,’ I said. ‘I thought …’

‘I know,’ she said soothingly. ‘I know what you thought. It’s OK, Tee.’

‘So that wasn’t why we stopped being friends?’

‘No,’ she insisted. ‘The bullying was part of the reason I left school, but never you. I wanted to say goodbye to you, but my dad had to start his new job sooner than expected and … we just left. It happened very suddenly and my parents didn’t warn me. But I promise, it wasn’t anything to do with you.’

I swallowed, shamefaced. ‘I thought he was going to be my boyfriend.’

Helen’s face softened. ‘I know. I know you did, Tee. I thought the same thing. He tricked us both.’

‘“When you’re sixteen, we’ll be together.” Is that what he told you?’

She nodded.

I shook my head. ‘I was so blind.

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