The Lie of Love Read Free

her hands
with glee. 
    Early June still but the sun was
fierce, burning onto Darcy’s dark hair as she strode down to the newly
regenerated sea front where Amanda insisted on meeting, even though it would be
crowded with visitors and getting a seat in a decent café would be far easier
in one of the many quirky backstreet places around the town.  She was
dressed head to toe in black – skinny jeans and a slouch t-shirt with her strappy sandals – and she was beginning to regret her
reticence to wear more summery colours even in high season. But whenever she
bought anything remotely bright or pastel, it would quickly get resigned to the
back of the wardrobe no matter how good her intentions
to wear it and how much Amanda chided her. Darcy was slim and some would say
had a great figure, but somehow she was never happy with it. She preferred to
draw as little attention to her curves as possible and black always seemed to
be the solution to that problem. 
    The Sugar Cube café was aptly
named. It was housed in a small, perfectly square prefabricated building;
brightly coloured walls and laminated wood-effect flooring made it a welcoming
space with primary coloured dining furniture completing the trendy look. 
From its huge windows, the resolute grey mass of The Cobb could be seen,
snaking out to sea. On a sunny day like today, its winding pathway would be crawling
with people, wandering the famous grey cobbles as so many generations had done
before them.  
    Darcy pushed open the door of the
café, wiping a fine sheen of sweat from her brow and aware of the make up
sliding from her face even before she had taken a seat in front of her
judgmental friend.
    As always, Amanda was already
seated, looking cool and immaculate. Her outfit appeared to be effortlessly
thrown together, giving the impression that she couldn’t care less and just happened
to look amazing by sheer happy accident. Darcy knew the truth – that she would have chosen it with great care for maximum
effect.  She gave Darcy a radiant smile, rising to plant an affectionate
kiss on her cheek.
    ‘It feels like an age since I’ve seen
you,’ she purred, her smile slipping into a pretend frown. ‘Has that great lump
of a husband been keeping you tied to the kitchen sink again?’
    Darcy laughed as Amanda sat and
she took a seat across from her. ‘We’ve been a bit snowed under… you know, with
this and that. Usual family stuff.’
    ‘So…’ Amanda caught the eye of
the waitress and nodded for her to come over before turning her attention to
Darcy again. ‘What’s this huge, grand plan you want to talk to me about? Do you
have any idea how jittery your cloak and dagger conversations make me? You
could have told me on the phone last night and saved me a lot of insomnia.’
    ‘I know,’ Darcy smiled. ‘It just
didn’t seem like the sort of thing to ask on the phone. And I wanted to explain
it to you properly, face to face, no distractions from the household. I hope
you didn’t lose too many hours.’
    ‘Enough to need an extra layer of concealer this morning…’ Amanda reached for the menu.
‘Are you eating? Shall we order before we begin this life-changing conversation?’
    ‘I think I’ll just grab a slice
of apple cake and a coffee. I’m not all that hungry.’
    ‘I’ll get the same.’ Amanda
looked up to find the waitress smiling down at them. ‘Morning
Rachel. How’s your mum?’
    ‘She’s recovering well,’ the
waitress replied. ‘The doctors say she should be on her feet and running around
the soup kitchen again in no time.’
    ‘That’s good,’ Amanda said in her
most sincere tone. ‘Do give her my love, won’t you? So… Darcy and I will both have an Americano and a slice of apple cake.’ Rachel
bobbed her head in acknowledgement and left them. ‘She is such a pretty girl,’
Amanda said, watching her go. ‘Almost makes me wish fairy tales were real so I
could steal her youth for myself.’
    ‘She is,’ Darcy