Free Over You by Lucy Diamond Page B

claiming to have hours’ worth of reading to plough through before a meeting tomorrow, and Nell had already arranged to go to her mum’s for Sunday dinner. So she was returning earlier than she’d guessed, but that was cool. She was looking forward to it.
    Josie was just about to dial when she stopped herself and put the phone down. Actually, it would be more fun to surprise them by rocking up when they weren’t expecting her, wouldn’t it? She could almost hear the excited shrieks from the boys as they mobbed her. It made her smile just to think about it. She couldn’t wait to hold them again, to put her arms around their wriggling bodies and feel their twin heartbeats thumping against her own. And, of course, there was Rose to gear up for now! Tonight was the night, after all Perfect timing – a romantic reunion with Pete was the very thing to top off the weekend, especially if there was some insemination as a Brucie bonus!
    Her phone bleeped as a text message came in. It was from Nell.
    Had such a fab w/e with u – loved it. N x
     
    Josie grinned and texted her back.
    Me too. Come and stay soon, she wrote. Love you.
     
    Oh, it had been great to see Nell again. The two of them had shared a cab to King’s Cross, then had a long affectionate hug on the concourse. It was only as they d been about to part that Josie remembered the photo of Pete. ‘Nell, you don’t think . . .’ she started. She paused, searching for the best way to phrase the question. ‘You know that thing with the photo this morning? Was it me, or was Lisa being a bit . . . odd?’
    Nell hesitated. ‘I’m not sure,’ she replied. ‘I could hardly think straight, my hangover was such a shocker, so the whole thing rather passed me by. But it did feel as if there was a bit of a strange atmosphere. Tense.’ She shrugged, then nudged Josie. ‘What, do you think she’s got a bit of a crush on your Pete or something? D’you reckon there was a stash of love poems under her bed as well?’
    Josie wrinkled her nose. ‘No, I . . .’ She felt stupid for having asked the question now. ‘It was probably nothing. I’d only just woken up, maybe I was reading too much into it. She seemed a bit . . . defensive, that’s all. Like I’d rattled her.’ She tried to remember the expression that had flitted across Lisa’s face, but it was hard to dredge it up in her mind now. Then a thought struck her. ‘Oh God! I wasn’t thinking. Maybe she was being cool with me after all the Nick stuff last night!’
    Nell nodded sagely. ‘Could have been. It did go a bit heavy, didn’t it?’ She rolled her eyes in a comical way. ‘I bet Nick’s ears were well and truly on fire, with all that arguing over him.’
    ‘It wasn’t arguing over him , it was just a drunken lapse,’ Josie retaliated. ‘It wasn’t like either of us still carry a torch for him.’
    ‘Well, I dunno,’ Nell put in. ‘Lisa seemed very touchy on the subject.’
    ‘Mmm,’ Josie said. The more Josie thought about it, the more her hunch seemed plausible. ‘All the more reason why that must have been it – the tension this morning, I mean. She woke up, remembered the set-to with me and was feeling a bit humpy about it. Then I burst in, brandishing Pete’s photo in her face all accusingly, and . . .’ She giggled, relieved that she’d worked it out. ‘No wonder she wasn’t exactly chummy.’
    Nell raised an eyebrow. ‘By Jove, I think she’s got it. Listen, I’d better fly, anyway. Back to my mum’s for the Spanish Inquisition on why I haven’t settled down with my two-point-two children and mortgage and sensible job yet . . . God, how am I going to cope?’
    Josie laughed. ‘You don’t have to,’ she reminded her. ‘Spare room at ours whenever you need it.’
    Nell gave her a last hug. ‘Mrs Winter, you are too kind,’ she said. ‘I’ll probably be on your doorstep before the week’s out.’
    An hour or so later, Josie pushed open the front door and dropped her