Free Sophie's Run by Nicky Wells Page A

she trailed off.
    “You went, and he met you there?” I offered.
    “I went, and he didn’t meet me there. He brought somebody else. He didn’t even acknowledge me.”
    I must have looked like a question mark, because she reiterated. “He pretended he didn’t know me. He blanked me. I tried to talk to him but he had security take me away.”
    I gave a sharp intake of breath. Oh my God.
    I was going to find him. And when I had found him, I was going to kill him. No, better still, I was going to tear him apart alive, bit by bit.
    But Rachel was still talking.
    “So I flipped. I went to the railing and took my ring off and threw that over the side. I thought I’d feel better, but I didn’t. And then it seemed like a really good idea to go after it. I mean, what’s the point of it all?” She shrugged her shoulders. “I hadn’t even drunk anything. I threw my glass of champagne at him before they dragged me away. What a waste, huh?” She gave a hysterical giggle. “Anyway. What a stupid thing to do. I felt I couldn’t go on. But you can always go on. Of course you can. Remember Gloria Gaynor, right?” And unbelievably, she burst into song. Very softly. “I’ve got all my life to live, I’ve got all my love to give, I will survive… I will sur vive …”
    Her eyes glazed over and she bore a crazed expression. A rash of goosebumps spread from my arms to the nape of my neck. I hated seeing my friend like this, veering between her calm, rational self and hysterical, defiant self-pity. Yet before I could say anything to comfort her, she passed out. A nurse—a different one from before—gave a little cough. She seemed to have been in the room for a while.
    “Sorry,” she said. “I had to be here. I didn’t mean to listen. Anyway, looks like she’s asleep now. That’ll be the sedative kicking in.”
    I nodded. “Was this…was this really her talking, or was that the sedative, too?”
    The nurse smiled. “A bit of both. What a shock, though. You can kind of understand her reaction, can’t you?” She busied herself straightening Rachel’s blankets.
    “You’d better go and get some rest,” she suggested. “Come back in the morning. She’ll have a jolly good sleep. Everything will be better in the morning.”

Chapter Fifteen
     
    When I emerged from the hospital, more shaken than I had realized, I found Dan waiting outside the lobby. He looked slightly disheveled and very pale.
    “What on earth happened?” he greeted me. “Is Rachel all right?”
    I started talking, but he interrupted me immediately. “You look done in, let’s get you home. You can tell me on the way.” He took my arm and led me toward the car park. I filled him in on the evening’s events on the drive home, and his face assumed a grim, and a grimmer still expression.
    “Low,” he mumbled under his breath. “That’s really low.” He drove on in silence, but at the next red traffic light he suddenly erupted. “Bastard,” he announced forcefully and smacked the steering wheel as hard as he could.
    “I know,” I concurred. “Bastard. Scum. Evil son of a bitch. I’ve gone through the whole catalogue but nothing’s quite strong enough.”
    Another silence ensued as we neared Dan’s house. Soon, we were sitting in Dan’s kitchen, me with a gin and tonic—for medicinal reasons—and Dan with a whisky on the rocks.
    “You don’t think…” Dan pondered, sounding hesitant to express his thoughts. “Well, is it possible that Jordan might have tried to break up with her for a while and she didn’t get it?” he finally ventured.
    I spluttered into my drink.
    “No! ” I issued with considerable emphasis. “How can you even think that? They were engaged .” I took a deep breath to steady my voice. “Rachel picks up on these things, she would have known something was wrong. No,” I reiterated, “this was a complete surprise to her.”
    “I guess you’re right.” Dan was crestfallen. “I never really liked the