She was also not wrong.
“I need to talk to Evie,” I said.
“Wait!” Keely said quickly. “If this is something that might upset her, tell me first because it’ll be better if I can soften the blow.”
“Why would me getting back with Natalie upset her?” I asked, genuinely curious. I would have understood, after all Evie had done for me, if she was mad at me if I ever got that stupid, but upset?
Keely paused for a second then said, “Stop changing the subject. What’s going on?”
Shaking off any glimmer of hope that Evie might feel the same way about me as I felt about her, I said, “Yesterday, my doorbell rang and there was a box of photos on my doorstep. Copies of the ones Natalie ripped up while I was in hospital. There was a note, like an apology, so I went to see her and-”
“You went to see who?” Keely interrupted. “Evie?” She sounded more confused than ever, and it was clearly contagious because I didn’t understand why she would have thought I meant Evie.
“No, I went to see Natalie. I wanted to thank her for getting my mum to send the photos over and to-”
“Ash!” Keely sounded both frustrated and annoyed. “You absolute pillock. It was Evie who contacted your mum to get the photos sent over.”
I fell silent.
Evie? No. It was Natalie who had sent them. When I went round there, she’d… Oh.
I suddenly remembered the blank look on her face when I’d mentioned the photos, and the way she’d stumbled over her words and…
God, I really was a pillock.
Why hadn’t I realised it then? Because I was in too much of a rush to get the visit over. If I’d just stopped and thought about it for a second, I might have figured it out. Natalie had never done anything that thoughtful in her life. She would never have had the balls to try talking to my mum, but it hadn’t occurred to me that Evie would replace the photos either. It was the kind of thing she would do, but since it was Natalie who had ruined them, and the note said something about the photos making up for everything, I’d just assumed…
“How did you not notice it wasn’t Natalie’s handwriting?” Keely asked, exasperated.
“I didn’t even think about it,” I said. “I was so surprised to see the photos that I didn’t look at the note again. If I had, I might have seen it.”
And if she hadn’t sent the photos, how the hell had she found out where I lived to come over that morning? The crazy bitch must have followed me home the day before.
“What do I do?” I asked, frantically. “What do I do, Keely?” I hated the idea that I’d messed up so badly, and Evie must have thought I was a complete tool for not calling her to say thank you.
I had to fix it.
“Get over there now,” Keely said. “I would drive you over myself if I didn’t have the kids.”
“It’s fine,” I said, rushing back to the bathroom to dry off my hair a bit more then running to get my trainers. “I’ll go now.”
“Okay. And Ash… don’t screw this up.”
She didn’t need to explain what she meant. This was no longer just about the mistake I’d made with the photos, it was about the fact that I’d unintentionally hurt her. It was about me going to her and telling her the things I’d wanted to tell her for a while.
It was about me actually doing what I wanted, needed, to do, even though it scared me.
I said goodbye to Keely, slid my phone into my pocket, picked up my keys, and headed for Evie’s house.
The whole way there, I kept thinking about what I wanted to say. I knew I had to apologise for the photos, and explain how I’d messed up so badly. I just hoped she’d accept my apology. The fact that Keely had called me told me that Evie had to have been really upset. Keely had never once made any attempt to intervene with anything before.
As I walked down Evie’s street, my palms were sweating and my heart was pounding.
This had to work out. It had to.
I walked faster, but as I got closer to her house, the sound of shouting caught my attention and I halted, trying to work out where it was coming from. Taking another couple of steps forward, I realised it was coming from Evie’s, and with my chest threatening to explode, I ran towards her door, wondering what was going on.
“No, I won’t calm down, you stuck-up fucking bitch! You two deserve each other, you’re both so pathetic!”