Page 68 of You Belong With Me

The fruits of Alan’s labours ran in a tabloid a couple of days later, headlined: Down to Earth Life of Elliot Owen’s New Love: Star’s Girlfriend Keeps 9–5 Job.The copy explored the exciting and novel improbability of earning a salary and purchasing Americanos and dating a well-known actor, concurrently, as if contact with his groin prohibited gainful employment.

Edie

For fuck’s sake, Elliot, ‘down to earth life’! It makes me sound like I’m a simpleton sat on a hay bale, in stained overalls, hooting vacantly at passers-by.

Elliot

Hahahaha. Living La Vida ‘Local’. You look cute in that coat. Who’s your friend?

Edie

Declan. Remember, I told you about him? Lovely Irish guy who I’m supposedly line managing but is more line managing me.

Elliot

Ah yeah, of course! Hmm, he’s annoyingly tall. So, you’ve been caught red-handed, sluttishly sharing jokes with other men when I’m abroad? Noted. The sooner I install you pregnant with bodyguards in Graceland, the better.

Edie laughed out loud. Whenever they were handling this, she felt like she could conquer the world. It was a triumphal kind of day – right up until Edie’s mobile flashed late afternoon with a call from Meg.

Meg never rang her unannounced, so either she’d dropped her house key down a drain and was about to make it Edie’s problem, or it was something cataclysmic. Those were the only two options when it came to reluctant cold callers in their benighted era: absolute nonsense, or possibly the end of your world as you knew it.

‘Edie, it’s Dad! He’s sick – we’re at the hospital! You have to comenow.’

The latter. Edie’s heart stopped.

Meg was crying and using her little-sister voice that implored Edie to fix it.

‘What? What’s happened?’

‘He’s fallen down the stairs and hurt his leg, and he called me, and he wasn’t himself. Edie, you should’ve heard him. He was gibbering. I think he’s had a heart attack or a stroke or something, and that’s why he fell.’

‘Where are you?’ Edie said, in a freezing sweat already.

‘We’ve just got to QMC. I called Dad an ambulance and I got a taxi, and we arrived at the same time. Now they’ve taken him away, and they’re seeing him.’

‘Did you talk to him?’

‘Not really. He was on a trolley thing, and he waved hello, but they rushed him away.’ Meg cough-sobbed.

‘Which bit are you in? Of the hospital I mean?’

‘A&E. Edie, please come quickly – I don’t want to talk to the doctors without you!’

‘I’m on my way to QMC – stay where you are, OK? I’m getting a taxi now. I’ll be fifteen minutes.’

One thing about a quiet office with two occupants: every word of Edie’s side of the conversation had been heard by Declan, who was already on the phone to a cab company, telling them it was urgent.

He rang off. ‘Didn’t want you relying on an app. What happened?’

‘Thank you. My dad’s had a fall – my sister thinks he might be … critical.’

Edie very much wanted to be a pillar at this moment, but changes had taken place during the conversation with Meg and she’d been unaware of her altered state until now. She felt dizzy and realised she was trembling uncontrollably.

‘Shit, I can’t focus …’ Edie said. She tried to get up to grab her coat and sat back down heavily again.

‘Take a moment.’ Declan gestured for her to stay put, jumped up and got her coat.

‘You’re all right,’ he said. ‘It’s going to be OK.’ He kneeled by her seat and held her arm.

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