There was nothing more distressing in life than knowing a friend needed to run. That whatever it was they needed to face was too much for them to cope with. That somehow the only solution was to hope the problem went away all by itself.
Olive knew that whoever the not-much-of-a-hero was, he was the reason Skylar had raced away into the night.
Wanting to make sure whoever it was wasn’t about to play chase, Olive checked no one else had followed. It was only Richard, with Randy and Veronica making up the rest of the Oakley West trio.
‘Go find out who that is,’ Olive instructed Richard, who was catching flies with his open jaw.
‘But what about Skylar? I’m going to see what’s up.’
‘I can catch up with her quicker.’ Olive retrieved her Segway from its hiding place. ‘And I think, in this instance, she might want to talk to a woman.’
Olive was trying to be gentle in her encouragement. It wasn’t necessarily that she was better equipped to deal with the situation, unless it was an emergency period moment, of course. It was more that she sensed it was a time to offer support in the right places. And even if she wasn’t quite sure where those places were, gut instinct told her it was better for her to be the one to get to Skylar first to find out what was going on.
Olive was becoming quite the professional on her Segway and was able to change direction at speed. At first she thought Skylar had gone up the slope (good job it wasn’t the stairs), but as she was halfway up she heard an unmistakable sob coming from the beach huts. Doing a nifty about-turn, Olive headed for where she guessed her friend was hiding.
‘I’m going to make you a G&T. Then you can tell me what’s so upsetting. Because I know the wine wasn’t great, but I didn’t think it was bad enough to make anyone cry.’ Olive let herself into her hut to fix a couple of drinks to go and enjoy with Skylar. In Olive’s world, problems weren’t fixed with a cuppa when gin was on hand. It was generally far more comforting, she found, if enjoyed at the right time in the right quantities.
Skylar came to join Olive. At least that was a good sign. She was prepared to come out of her own safe space.
‘I feel like such an idiot. What a way to react.’
‘I guess that depends what you were reacting to.’ Olive kinked an eyebrow in the hope it presented her best listening face. She didn’t expect Skylar to tell her anything, but if she wanted to, she was there to listen.
‘It’s stupid.’ Skylar shook her head and wiped a random tear from her cheek.
‘No tear shed was ever a stupid one.’ Crying wasn’t a sign of weakness in Olive’s opinion. More a testament to strength. To being able to admit all wasn’t right with the world and it was okay to admit defeat, even if just for a moment.
‘It’s shock, I think. I just never thought I’d see him again. Let alone barely metres from here.’ Skylar seemed more composed with a few sips of gin down her.
‘See who?’ Olive wasn’t trying to be nosy, but if Skylar wanted to open up she would help her with a bit of prompting.
‘Pete. He’s Lucas’s dad. He’s been out of our lives for a long time.’ Skylar took another sip of drink.
Olive should have made it a double. ‘Did you know he was going to be back?’
Skylar was definitely in shock, the way she was gripping the glass giving it away. She shook her head to say no rather than speak.
‘So Lucas doesn’t know?’ People could be so cruel. He must have known Skylar was based in the area. Surely it would have been common decency to let her know?
‘Pete hasn’t seen him since he was two, and ever since we’ve had child-maintenance payments off him, but nothing else. No regular contact. Not even birthday cards.’
‘Really?’ Skylar rarely spoke of Lucas’s father and now Olive understood why. ‘Does he know you live here then?’
Olive couldn’t fathom how anyone would just turn up out of the blue like that unless there was some it’s-a-small-world kind of explanation.
‘He knows.’ Skylar downed the rest of her drink. ‘And I’m sure it’s quite deliberate.’
‘What makes you say that?’ There was so much of Skylar’s history Olive didn’t know, and she knew only too well about keeping the dark corners of life to oneself. There were many things about Olive’s past she’d chosen not to share.
‘Pete never does anything by accident. And what am I supposed to do? He can’t waltz back into Lucas’s life without warning. Even if he doesn’t want to, we’re so bloody close it’s inevitable we’ll bump into him.’
None of it bore thinking about. Even without knowing all the details, Olive knew Pete had put Skylar in an unacceptable position. Turning up almost literally on her doorstep without warning was particularly horrid when they had a child to think about.
And because some days words were never enough to cover the things that needed to be said, Olive poured them both another drink.