Page 15 of Five Things I Love About You

‘Oi!’

‘Serves you right,’ Sophie says.

‘I was only teasing,’ Kirstie says, rubbing at her forehead. There’s a small red mark just above her left eyebrow and I feel bad.

‘Sorry.’ I turn back to Sophie. ‘Thanks, Soph. That was… interesting.’

‘I know you think it’s all a load of bollocks’ –it’s like she can read my mind –‘but I promise you it means something. It’s like the cards have chosen you rather than you’ve chosen them.’ She reaches out her hand and places it on my arm. ‘But you know that this isn’t a guide to life, or a prediction. It’s just a reading, which means it can be interpreted in lots of different ways. I just say it the way I see things.’

‘So, all that stuff about meeting my soulmate…’

‘Could still very much happen. The cards are telling you that the universe is perfectly aligned for that, should you be in a position to make it happen.’

‘What you’re saying is, she needs to go out drinking and pull someone?’

Sophie stands and walks over to the wicker chair she previously vacated then sits down in it once more. She pours a shot of vodka from the bottle and tips it down her throat. ‘What I’m saying, Kirstie, is absolutely that.’

‘Oh God, not tonight,’ I groan. ‘I just want to go to bed and sleep for a thousand hours.’

‘You’d rather spend time with a figment of your imagination than go out and find a real man is what you mean.’ Kirstie gives me a meaningful look.

‘No, not really. To be honest that’s all pretty exhausting. I just wish I could either work out who he was so I could find him in real life, or that the dreams would stop.’

‘What dreams are they then?’

We all look round at the same time to find Pieter, Sophie’s husband, standing in the kitchen doorway.

‘Oh nothing,’ I mumble, my face burning.

‘Heeey, darling!’ Kirstie yells, waving her glass in the air, and I realise she’s quite a bit more drunk than I am. I pour a splash of vodka into a glass, top it up with tonic water – no more neat spirits for me – and take a large gulp, hoping Kirstie doesn’t tell Pieter what we were talking about. I adore him, but I don’t want to discuss my love life – or lack of it – with him. And I certainly have no intention of telling him about my dreams.

He steps inside the room and glances down at the table where the tarot cards are still laid out. ‘Oh I see,’ he says, nodding knowingly.

‘Miranda said she wanted a reading,’ Sophie says, slightly defensively, as though Pieter has accused her of doing something she shouldn’t be.

Pieter’s gaze slides my way, eyebrows raised. Pieter adores Sophie – even after twenty-five years together – so I know he’s only teasing her. But I also don’t want to upset her so I just smile. ‘Guilty as charged,’ I say.

‘I see,’ he says again, a smile playing on his lips. ‘And has it been useful?’

‘I’ll let you know.’

He sets about pouring himself a coffee and I watch as he takes a sip and grimaces. I smother a smile as he leaves the room.

‘What’s up?’ Kirstie is studying me intently and I wonder what she sees on my face. I shrug.

‘I dunno. I suppose I just never thought I’d get to the grand old age of forty-nine and still be wondering when I’m likely to get my shit together.’

Kirstie takes a sip of vodka and shakes her head. ‘You have got your shit together. You’ve got two great kids, you still get on with your ex-husband. Your job situation is not your fault and you’ll easily find another one, and as for Darren – well, the least said about him the better.’ She looks at Sophie. ‘Tell her, Soph.’

Sophie leans forward and wraps her hands round mine, holding them gently. ‘Kirstie’s right, M. I know it might feel like everything has gone wrong, but you’ve got so much going for you.’ She smiles shyly. ‘And I know you’re sceptical about the tarot cards, but I believe in them and I really believe there’s a big change about to come.’

‘Thanks, guys. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

‘Well, you’ll never have to find out, will you?’ Kirstie tops up my glass and grins.

I’m overcome by a sudden urge to be on my own, and I stand abruptly. My legs are a little wobbly and I’m not sure whether it’s the vodka or the reading, but either way I feel the need to get away from this room for a while.

‘Are you okay?’ Sophie says, peering at me with a look of concern.

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