Page 3 of A Secret Escape

Thinking about that brought her back to the present.

Milly checked the time again. The place felt so dead it was hard to believe a train was due to arrive any minute. But even if it did, there was no guarantee that her friend would be on it. Maybe Nicole was going to ghost her again. Maybe she wasn’t going to show up, and Milly would drive back home alone feeling more of a fool than she already did.

And if Nicole did happen to arrive, what was Milly going to say?

Why have you ignored me for the past eighteen months?

Where were you when I needed you?

It had happened right after Milly, Richard and Zoe had visited her in LA. Milly assumed there was a connection and had spent hours going over the holiday in her mind but couldn’t identify a reason. Initially she hadn’t worried because she knew how busy Nicole was, but a few weeks later when Milly had left a message telling her that Richard was having an affair and divorcing her and there wasstillno response,she’d started to worry. More than worry. Her friend’s silence had hurt. It had been a bitter blow, coming so soon after Richard’s betrayal.

The one person she’d always thought she could depend on, her safety net in life, had let her down.

Milly still couldn’t believe Nicole had ignored something so life-shattering. When had they ever not supported each other? Some long-term friendships continued out of habit, but theirs was real. Theirs was rare and special. Until it wasn’t.

Nicole’s silence hurt more than it should have because not only had Milly been dumped by her husband but it seemed she’d been dumped by her best friend too, and in some ways that felt worse. It had been the lowest moment of her life. So bad that she tried not to think about it because she’d dragged herself back from the edge and didn’t want to risk staring into the blackness again.

She’d survived, mostly thanks to the support of her mother and grandmother, but it had changed things. There was no more believing that Nicole would be there for her in a crisis. No more pretending that the wordSisterin her phone was anything more than a way of disguising Nicole’s identity.

Even now, so many months later, that reality hurt.

“Maybe it’s me.” She spoke aloud, as she sometimes did when she was alone in the car. It was the one time she felt able to speak her mind. “Maybe I’m just the kind of person people leave.”

First her father, then Richard and then Nicole.

She’d assumed that was the end of it, and then the night before Nicole had finally called.

The call should have woken Milly up, but she had been lying awake stewing about Richard, having conversations in her head that she knew she’d never have in real life despite the assertiveness course because she was determined to keep things civil for her daughter.

She’d answered partly because it was Nicole and Milly had never not answered a call from Nicole, and partly because a small hurt part of her hoped that maybe Nicole was finally getting in touch to apologize or at least explain.

But there had been no apology or explanation,just a plea.

I need your help.

Nothing for eighteen months, not a squeak, and now she was expecting Milly to help.

During the conversation, admittedly short, not once had she asked how Milly was doing. She hadn’t mentioned Richard’s affair or the divorce or acknowledged how hard it must be for Milly to be going through exactly what her mother had gone through. She proffered neither explanation nor apology for not being there for Milly. It was all about her.

I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Please, Milly. I’m desperate.

Desperate? What did desperate look like when your life was pretty much perfect? Just how desperate could you be when you were rich, beautiful and the toast of the movie-going public?

Nicole didn’t know the meaning of the word, but Milly did, although she worked hard not to show it. She’d been determined not to put that extra pressure on Zoe.

She was just about holding it together, which was another reason she should have said no to Nicole. She should have put into practice everything she’d learned from her assertiveness course. She should have saidNo, sorry, I’m struggling enough with my own life as you’d know if you read your emailsor, better still (as she’d been taught that it wasn’t necessary to give lengthy explanations),Sorry, I can’t help.

But she hadn’t said any of those things. She’d said yes.

Yes, she’d pick her up. Yes, she’d drive at night to lessen the chances of being seen. Yes, Nicole could stay with Milly. Yes, she’d find a way to hide her.

Which was why she was now, against her better judgment, sitting in the middle of nowhere waiting for a train that was late and a friend she wasn’t sure she wanted to see.

The assertiveness course clearly hadn’t worked. If she was more assertive, she’d demand a refund.

A sound cut through her thoughts, and she saw the train approaching. Finally.

She felt a slight stirring of dread. The fabric of their friendship had been stretched by their diversifying paths and was now torn in so many places it was barely holding together. Their relationship hadn’t just changed, it was unrecognizable.

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