Gold Read Free Page B

look, decided that the detainees were secure for now, and nodded. Leaving the detention block of the Death Star, they slipped discreetly out of a side door and emerged into the bright April light of the car park. They took off their helmets, shook out their hair, and boughttwo takeaway teas from a catering van. They were both thirty-two. They were athletes in real life. They had sponsorship deals and privacy issues with the press and body fat below four percent. In the world rankings for sprint cycling on the track, they were numbers one and two.
    “The things I do for you,” Zoe said. “It’s far too hot in these.”
    Strands of black hair were stuck to her forehead with sweat.
    “I could do with a wee,” said Kate. “How are you meant to go in these costumes?”
    “They weren’t designed by a woman.”
    “The Death Star wasn’t designed by a woman. There’d be curtains. There’d be a crèche.”
    Zoe shook her fists at imaginary higher-ups. “Yeah! Can’t you brass hats figure out some way of balancing motherhood with suppressing this damned Rebel Alliance?”
    Kate shook her head sadly. “With insubordination like that, you’ll always be a Stormtrooper.”
    “You’re wrong,” Zoe said. “They’ll recognize my zeal and my passion. They’ll promote me to the command of their battle station.”
    “Don’t flatter yourself. They’ll take one look at your personality profile and make you a droid. Highly specialized but basically single.”
    “Oh, get fucked,” said Zoe, smiling. “I wouldn’t swap for your life.”
    A cold squall rippled the yellow-brown puddles of the film-studio car park. On the far side, in a blue SUV splashed with mud, the next group of ticket holders for the Star Wars Experience was already looking for a parking space. Kate checked her watch. The Death Star was theirs for another twenty minutes.
    “We’d better get back in to Sophie,” she said.
    The two women rushed their teas. Zoe looked at Kate over the rim of her cup.
    “Be honest with me,” she said. “Is Sophie dying?”
    “No,” Kate said, without hesitation. “The chemo’s going to work. I’m one hundred percent sure she’s going to get better.”
    “Honestly?”
    “We’ve proved it before. When she first got sick, the chemo worked and she went into remission. This is just a little relapse, and now the chemo will work again.”
    There must have been doubt in Zoe’s face because Kate began pursing her lips and nodding her head determinedly. Zoe watched the certainty building, going up the dial and into the red. One hundred and five percent. One hundred and ten.
    “Okay,” she said. “Okay. But do you really think these day trips help? They don’t just exhaust her?”
    Kate smiled. “Let me worry about that.”
    “Let me ask, at least. As your friend.”
    Kate’s smile stiffened. “Would I put her through all this if it wasn’t helping?”
    Zoe touched her arm. “Of course not. But are you sure you don’t organize these trips slightly for your own peace of mind? Just so you can be doing everything in your power as a mother, I mean.”
    “What, and you’re an expert on motherhood now?”
    Zoe recoiled as though she’d been slapped. Slowly, she collected herself and looked down, twisting her hands together.
    Kate faltered, then stepped forward and took her hand. “Shit, Zo, I’m sorry.”
    Zoe turned her head aside. “No, no, you’re right. I was out of order. I know what you go through.”
    Kate moved to put herself back in Zoe’s eye line, then held her gaze. “I know what you go through too. This must make you think about Adam.”
    “It’s fine,” said Zoe. “And you know what else? Your hair’s all fucked up.”
    Kate laughed. “Oh, have I got helmet hair?”
    “You think that’s bad? I’ve got Stormtrooper’s tits. I swear to God, these costumes are so tight…”
    Under the relief, Zoe’s heart was still snagged on the wire of the fence her friend had put up between them.