Page 74 of The Happiness Project

‘Call it,’ I say, handing it to him. He does and it goes straight to voicemail. It’s an automated response so there’s no clue as to who is behind this.

Almost immediately after the call, he gets a message saying that this fake Angie is busy. My skin crawls to see my name appear on the phone and know that someone is pretending to be me.

‘Give me the number,’ I say. ‘They might pick up to a number they don’t know.’

I call the number and after a couple of rings, the person picks up.

‘Hello? Who is this?’

I recognise the voice immediately and suddenly it all falls into place.

‘Sarah?’

‘Angie? Oh god.’

‘Sarah, I’m here with Michael and I think we need to talk.’

* * *

We meet in the park and as we watch her approach, I feel as if I’m in some Russian spy movie. I invite Sarah to sit at a picnic table and ask her to explain everything.

‘I’ve loved him for years, ever since I lost my husband,’ she blurts out through snotty tears. ‘Jenny and Michael took me in, we went everywhere as a threesome, so when she died, I presumed it would move on to just being the two of us. I knew I could look after Michael better than you ever could and that’s what Jenny would have wanted, I’m sure. If I lost Michael to you I’d have nothing, so I called him from my colleague’s phone while you were in the bathroom at the café and then I got the idea for everything else later. I bought one of those pay-as-you-go phones to send the other messages. I didn’t think you were serious enough about him and hoped you’d hit it off with David.’

She looks up at Michael and says, ‘We could have made a go of it.’

Kindly, he puts his hand on top of hers and tells her that it wouldn’t have worked as he sees her as just a friend. I look on, thinking that’s particularly generous as I’d have pulled her hair out.

‘The book club?’ I ask.

‘I just wanted to keep tabs and know what you were up to.’

‘And The Salt Path?’

‘Jenny and I read it together when she was first diagnosed.’ I can hear the sorrow in Sarah’s voice as she speaks. I’m not quite sure how it’s happened but in this moment I’m actually feeling sorry for her. When I first met Sarah, I thought of my own situation this time last year; how lost I was and how much I needed a friendship circle of my own. I invited Sarah into ours and I know I would have done anything to make her welcome. I’ve been badly deceived, and although Sarah’s actions had no regard for my feelings, I do understand them. I’ll be happy when I never have to see her again, but I feel sad for her rather than angry.

I’m ready to leave and get up from the bench but Michael stays seated. I hear him tell Sarah that she’ll meet someone soon and, when she does, he’ll be so happy for her. Sarah gets up and walks away; we both watch to make sure she has.

‘Gosh, that was tough,’ I tell him.

‘She’s still grieving,’ he says. ‘But as long as we’re okay, we can watch out for her going forwards. Agreed?’

‘Agreed,’ I say, then link into his arm as we walk; I feel relief at being able to leave this scene behind us. ‘Now for a very important question — do you have a black sweater and jeans?’

‘Of course, why?’

‘Because we’re going to rekindle this relationship the way it started. With a party.’

Chapter Thirty-Six: Don’t Stop the Party

When I walk into the bar with Michael there’s a cheer from my friends as well as some odd glances. I can tell they’re all itching to ask what happened but are being polite while he’s by my side. The politeness is unusual from this lot but welcome right now.

‘We’re on champagne to start,’ says Charlie, putting a rainbow-coloured Hawaiian garland over our heads then pouring us each a glass from the bottle on our table. He leans in to give me a kiss on the cheek and whispers, ‘I want to know everything.’

‘Maybe I’ll tell you later,’ I reply with a wink. ‘But maybe not.’

My mum clinks her glass with Michael’s and says, ‘Good to finally meet you. I thought you might be a figment of my daughter’s imagination until I started following you. She used to have pretend boyfriends when she was a teenager so it wouldn’t have been a surprise.’

I watch Michael’s face try to process all of that and can’t help but laugh. I link arms and guide him gently away from her.

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