The Long Weekend by Clare Lydon Page B

didn’t we?”
    Up ahead, the other three were singing a hiking song and performing exaggerated skipping as they linked arms and screeched ‘Vol-der-eeeee, vol-der-raaaah, my knapsack on my back!’
    Tash turned and waved an arm at them to join in.
    Laura and Vic smiled obediently, but ignored the call to action.
    Vic remembered the way Stevie looked ten years ago and the moment when her blonde hair suddenly shimmered for her. She remembered wondering why she was feeling jittery and tongue-tied around her old friend and then realised with shuddering clarity what those feelings meant.
    Vic recalled being terrified of saying or acting on it, for fear Stevie would just laugh at her. But when Vic had approached Stevie, fuelled with a healthy slug of Dutch courage, Stevie hadn’t rebuffed her. In fact, more than that, Stevie had been more than open to the idea, and within hours they’d been naked in Vic’s king-size bed, laughing at the improbability of the situation – friends of ten years suddenly getting jiggy.
    “We’re like Monica and Chandler!” Stevie had espoused in her lilting Scouse accent – and indeed they were.
    They’d slept together on the final night of a tumultuous weekend, then sat silently opposite each other through the following morning’s strained breakfast in their hired Welsh holiday cottage, rain drumming on the roof. Slinging glances and trading winks across the toast and marmalade, they had managed to remain under the radar, which is exactly where they wanted to be until they’d worked out whether or not this was something . Vic had been sure this definitely was something, even at such an early stage.
    “Seems such a long time ago,” Laura said, breaking into Vic’s thoughts. “I can’t imagine my life without Tash and the kids, like it was back then – I’ve got a family now, it’s who I am. And if you’d asked me to predict that ten years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to. I was only just getting over sleeping with Kat.”
    Vic noticed she mumbled the last bit.
    “I was just thinking about that – thinking how I was grateful to you for taking the spotlight off me and Stevie last time.” Vic patted Laura on the back. “So thanks again,” she said, laughing.
    Laura shook her head and shuddered. “I don’t think about it for years – I mean years , sometimes not even when I see Kat. But then I come on this weekend and it’s like it happened yesterday.” Laura looked down and kicked the gravel. “Just got to get through the next 48 hours and then I can forget about it till another ten years’ time.”
    “It’ll be a breeze,” Vic said, wondering again why Laura hadn’t just told Tash. But then, she was hardly one to be dishing out relationship advice.
    ***
    Up ahead, Stu and Stevie were discussing the various merits of running-shoe brands – Stu was a vociferous Nike ambassador while Stevie favoured New Balance. Tash, meanwhile, had only just started running regularly, so tuned out of the conversation when it got too technical. She spun around and saw Laura and Vic deep in conversation, so left them to it.
    Tash gulped down the sunshine, loving the way it felt on her skin, how it tasted, the way it smelt. Her skin tingled as her body loosened, spurred on by the fact she was here with no kids and no responsibilities – just her, Laura and good friends. Tash allowed herself a grin – she’d come a long way since the days of her marriage to Simon and the despair that had left her in. She’d managed to turn her life around and that was all thanks to Laura. Her Laura .
    She still remembered the first time they’d made love in her bed, three dates in. On their first date, they had gone for coffee. On the second, they’d ventured out for dinner. However, for the third date, Tash had shipped her two young daughters off to their grandparents for the weekend and invited Laura over for dinner, fully understanding what the dessert would be.
    Tash had served up lamb shanks