Page 74 of The Plot Twist

‘More important than your writing career?’

Allie nodded again.

Jess exhaled heavily. ‘So it’s serious then?’

‘I think so.’ Allie felt dejected. ‘But I also think I’ve messed it up completely.’ She wanted her friend to disavow her of this uncomfortable thought but Jess said nothing, and, for that Allie was actually grateful. It meant Jess wasn’t just filling her mind with platitudes.

‘So, what do you have planned?’ Jess asked eventually.

Allie took a deep breath. ‘I’m going for the grand romantic gesture. Hoping that might get his attention. Make him realise I’m serious, about him.’

‘And that entails writing an entirely new story?’

‘Yup,’ Allie said much more confidently than she actually felt. ‘But I’m also going to finish writing Martin and Angie’s story, and then I’m going to give it to them. As a gift. A tribute, if you like.’

‘What if they end up splitting up?’

Allie felt tears forming in her eyes at the thought. ‘God, Jess, seriously? It’s bad enough that I’ve messed things up with Will. I think my belief in true love would be terminal if that happened. Ugh. Who am I kidding? I think my belief in true love died a long time ago.’ Allie slugged back the rest of her glass of wine and reached over to grab the bottle. ‘I mean, maybe I should have just sucked things up with Dominic and realised that was the best I could hope for.’

‘Don’t say that!’ A look of abject horror was now on Jess’ face. ‘He cheated on you!’

‘We don’t actually know that.’

‘How else do you explain the “Uber driver”?’ asked Jess.

Allie considered this, putting her creative mind to work. In a book there were loads of ways she could have explained it away, a trick of the light, an overfamiliar Uber driver that Allie then missed being reprimanded by a horrified Dominic. But in the light of real life, she had to admit it was hard to place a positive spin on seeing your ex-boyfriend kiss another woman in a car right outside your flat.

‘Yeah, but maybe we could have worked through it. Maybe weshouldhave worked through it? I could have put more effort in. Not have expected so much.’

‘I don’t think we should even be discussing this,’ Jess said tartly.

And so, Allie shut up. Because she didn’t want Jess judging that small part of her brain, which had a very loud voice in vulnerable moments, which was now suggesting that maybe what she and Dominic had wasgood enough, and that if she’d made an effort to talk things through with him, work things out, then she wouldn’t feel so alone right now.

‘So, if we’re in the mood for confessions…’

Allie turned her head sharply at Jess’s words. ‘You’re pregnant?’ she blurted out.

‘No!’ protested Jess. ‘Look?’ she said, pointing at her glass, then the bottle of wine, and finally chugging half of it back. ‘Also, why is that the first thing people suspect when a woman in her thirties says she has news? It’s such a product of the patriarchy. Men NEVER get asked that question,’ she grumbled.

Allie felt her feminist credentials suitably questioned and went slightly red.

‘But what was with the whole ‘Tom has a cold’ business the other night?’

‘What? Oh that,’ replied Jess. ‘I just felt like I should cut down on drinking, and I didn’t want to make a big thing out of it, so I just pretended my drinkwasalcoholic.’

‘You could have told me,’ Allie complained, ‘I’d have been supportive.’

‘No, you’d have made a big deal out of it and then thought I was pregnant anyway. Exactly like you’re doing now,’ retorted Jess.

‘Sorry,’ Allie mumbled.

‘No, it’s OK,’ Jess sighed. ‘I guess I need to find a better way of imparting big news.’

‘Well, go on then…’

‘Tom and I are moving out of London.’

If Allie’s jaw had been physically capable of dislocating and hitting the floor it would have done so. Allie couldn’t think of anyone in her social circle who was moreLondonthan Jess. She’d grown up in the city, hated being out of it for university, and had made it abundantly clear that if Allie wanted to stay best friends, Allie would have to move to London with her. Not that Allie minded, she was pretty clear herself that London was where her heart lay. So, she couldn’t help but feel a small niggle of betrayal inside her at Jess’s confession.

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