Now and Then Friends Read Free

her cashmere coat, flicked her long glossy hair over her shoulders, and whispered something to her brother. Rachel had suppressed a pang of envy so fierce and terrible it had felt like an ulcereating away her insides. Her envy didn’t arise from Claire’s
things
; it had never been about material possessions. So Claire was rich. Lots of people were. No, it had been about the
freedom
. The ease with which Claire sat there smiling and didn’t seem to have a single worry in the world. The family that surrounded her, protective, loving,
there
. Claire didn’t know how lucky she was.
    From what Rachel had seen now, she didn’t think Claire had changed. But why was she back in Hartley-by-the-Sea, and for a couple of
months
?
    â€œI’ll just take these downstairs,” she murmured to Claire, nodding towards the towels, and after an awkward pause Claire stepped out of the way.
    Rachel was switching on the washing machine when she realized Claire had followed her down to the utility room off the kitchen. She’d put her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and rocked back and forth on her heels. “So, Rachel.” She cleared her throat. “How are you?”
    â€œFine, thanks.” Rachel needlessly rearranged a few of the bottles and rags in her bucket of cleaning supplies, her head bent so her hair fell in front of her face and hid her expression, which she knew she couldn’t trust at that moment. “Never better.”
    â€œHow’s your mum?” Claire asked, and Rachel stiffened. Claire had never talked about her mother; they’d stopped being friends right before Janice Campbell had had her accident.
    â€œFine. I mean, the same.” When Rachel was eleven, Janice Campbell had fallen down the stairs of one of the houses she’d been cleaning and broken her back. She’d been virtually bedridden since.
    â€œAnd . . . your sister?” Claire asked hesitantly, and Rachel knew she was feeling her way through the dark, trying to be polite.
    â€œSisters,” she corrected. “They’re both fine. Thank you for asking.” She forced a bright smile. “How are you? Broken engagement aside, I mean.”
    Claire let out a soft, hesitant laugh. “Truthfully? I don’t know.”
    It didn’t really surprise Rachel that Claire didn’t know how she was feeling; she’d always been like that, waffling over everything, even whom she was friends with. And now Rachel no longer cared.
    â€œWell, then.” She hoisted her mop and pail. “I’d better get back upstairs.”
    â€œRight.” Claire moved out of the way again, and Rachel brushed past her before heading upstairs. She cleaned the bathroom Claire had used, spritzing the mirrors and sink, opening the window to let out the steam, half listening to Claire move around downstairs.
    When she was finished, she came back down and found Claire in the center of the sitting room, standing there as if she were lost in her own house.
    â€œSo I’ll be back next week,” Rachel announced, “unless you’d like me to come sooner than that? Since you’re staying? Normally I just do a quick tidy because there’s no one here.” She didn’t relish the thought of cleaning up after Claire, but she could use the money. She could always use the money.
    â€œOh, once a week is fine. I’m not . . . I mean . . .” She shrugged, and Rachel remembered how Claire hadn’t always finished her sentences.
    â€œOkay, then. See you next week.”
    Rachel loaded her cleaning supplies into the back of the hatchback she used to get to her various jobs; C AMPBELL C LEANERS was painted on the side, along with her mobile phone number. Her sister Meghan had protested the advertisement, since the car was the only one they had, but Rachel had ignored her.
    â€œWhen you’re making as much money as I am,” she’d stated,