Free Watch Over Me by Daniela Sacerdoti

burnt my hand.

    Gail is sick with the flu. She didn’t go to work. I can hardly go round to her house and speak to her now. It’ll have to wait until Sunday, if she’s well enough.

    ‘Jamie!’ Shona shouted from across the road, waving her hand. She was getting out of the car with Fraser and the girls. We walked up to the church, Alison, her eldest, holding Maisie’s hand, all four of them looking so pretty in their Sunday clothes.
    Shona slipped her arm under mine.
    ‘How’s things?’
    ‘Aye, aye, ok.’
    ‘… Yes?’
    I laughed. ‘What do you want to know?’
    ‘You know fine well …’ she said with a smile.
    ‘I am going to finish with her.’
    ‘Good.’
    ‘Good? I thought you liked her!’
    ‘I do, very much. She’s lovely, and Helena is a good friend of mine, and her mum and dad were good friends with our mum and dad, and blah blah blah. I can see the way you look at her.’
    ‘How do I look at her?’
    ‘Like you look at me.’
    Unbelievable. Shona is so perceptive and she knows me like the back of her hand.
    ‘Hi!’ I felt a hand on my shoulder. Gail. She stood on her toes to kiss me on the cheek, elegant in a white trouser suit and full make up on. I could smell her perfume – she always wore a lot of it.
    ‘Hi Shona, and where are the girls? Here they are, hello! Hi Maisie!’ she chirped, as bubbly as ever.
    Shona and I looked at each other. I felt positively sick. I hate, absolutely hate, making people upset. No, really. It’s just awful.
    We sat beside each other in church. I had a nice chat with her mum and dad, her mum touching my arm affectionately. I could feel my resolve dissolving.
    After the service, we all walked to the pub for lunch and sat on the red couches beside the fire. Myself and Gail, Gail’s mum and dad, Shona and Fraser and the four wee girls. I went up to get drinks for everybody.
    As I was standing at the counter, I could smell something lovely, something fresh and sweet. I turned and she was behind me.
    She smelled of clean, she smelled of shampoo and of apples. Well, maybe the apple bit was just my imagination. She smelled of Eilidh.
    ‘Hello.’ My heart was in my throat and I was mad at myself for it.
    ‘Hi Jamie. Is Shona here? Oh, Shona! It’s been so long!’ She went over to hug my sister. ‘And look at your girls, all grown up! Gail, hello, I saw your sister the other day, it’s great to see you again.’ A flutter of greetings followed. Eilidh looked so fresh and simple, in her jeans and a black top that showed her shoulders, her hair shiny, her skin not quite as white as the girls up here but not dark – sort of buttery, somehow. Creamy.
    I noticed that Gail wasn’t smiling much. I thought that maybe she still wasn’t feeling well.
    ‘Are you sitting with us?’
    ‘Thanks, that would be great, but I can’t, Peggy and Margaret will be here any minute.’
    ‘Come here beside me till they arrive then,’ said Shona, patting the seat beside her. They sat and started chatting while I brought the drinks over two by two.
    ‘I’ll phone you during the week,’ said Shona. ‘We’ll arrange something. Maybe you can come up to Aberdeen, I’ll take you out for lunch.’
    ‘Oh, Shona, I’m not great company these days,’ she whispered, a shadow darkening her face. The haunted look again. My heart went out to her.
    ‘Oh well, I’m never good company at all, ask Fraser!’ They laughed. ‘Seriously. It’d be lovely.’
    ‘Ok. Ok, thank you.’
    She hugged Shona, said goodbye to us and disappeared into the next room to find a seat and wait for Peggy and Margaret. I watched her walking away, following her lithe figure with my eyes, unable to look away.
    When I looked around again, I saw that Gail was looking at me, Shona was looking at us both and Fraser was looking into his pint, typical bloke. The girls were debating who’s the prettiest fairy in Tinkerbell: the Secret of Pixie Hollow , a film that I’ve seen so many times I could recite it