Read Fry for Free Online

height.
    My teeth chatter as I walk him out to his car. The warm weather has completely evaporated. We’ve gone from autumn to summer to winter in the space of a few days. The leaves are now crisp with frost and many of the birds have retreated back to their hideouts.
    “So you’ll let me know about Christmas?”
    “OK.”
    “Oh, and one more thing, Izzy.” He produces a brown cardboard box from the boot. “Can you give this to Kate? It’s just some of her old stuff from the attic. I picked it up by mistake when I moved out. She’ll probably want it back.”
    I nod, despite the knowledge that in order to give the box to Kate, I’ll have to admit to her that I’ve seen him.
    Well, there’s no rush.
    I’ll wait till she’s got over the shock of Julio asking for a divorce.

Mustafa’s - Thursday Night
     
    My shoulders feel a little tense as I walk through the door of Mustafa’s. My friends are already there, and as always these days, the group includes Alicia.
    “Isabel, we were beginning to wonder where you’d got to,” Deacon says and he pulls up a chair for me. Alicia is sitting in my usual seat. I glance at her nervously. I’m still no closer to knowing what to make of her.  At work she has already ingratiated herself with Sonya and she’s even flirted with Stu, though I’m sure she wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole. Everyone seems to like her, and yet there is something about her, something inexplicable that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end. I reach for the glass of wine Rhett’s just poured me and take a large swig.
    “Uh oh, what’s going on?” Kate asks, watching the people at the next table being pulled from the comfort of their chairs. Tonight’s entertainers, a ‘traditional’ Greek dance troupe from Portsmouth, are hauling everybody to their feet. They make us link hands, so that they can lead us in snake like formation around the chairs and tables. The dance gets faster and faster, and the heady speed is a little sickening, especially as I’ve just drunk half my wine.
    Flushed and out of breath, we return to our table, where we replenish ourselves with more wine. I look on as the dance troupe smashes plates on the floor and dances around in the resulting shards. I really hope these are props, as the whole thing looks rather dangerous.
    “Oh, I got everyone key rings,” I remember, pulling them from my bag and setting them down in the centre of the table.
    “What are these?” Rhett asks, picking one up to examine it. “They’re kind of…ugly.”
    “They’re smoke detectors,” I say, careful to avoid Alicia’s eye. “I just thought, after the fire at the caravan park we should all be a bit more safety-conscious. It can’t hurt, can it?”
    My friends exchange bemused looks, much like the time Kate got us all suntan lotion for Christmas. 
    “That’s really thoughtful of you,” Alicia says sweetly. “I’ll keep mine in my handbag at all times.”
    I am almost grateful to her as the others murmur in agreement, even though she is the reason I bought them in the first place.
    “You know, I heard a rumour that they’re reopening Millennium,” Rhett says, sipping his Turkish coffee.
    “Really?” Deacon looks at me in delight. “Maybe we can recreate our first meeting?”
    “I don’t think so!” I glare back.
    “Why, what happened?” Alicia wants to know.
    “Can you believe he threw me out of a nightclub?” I say, shaking my head in disbelief.
    “I didn’t throw you,” Deacon objects. “I was very gentle.”
     
    * * *
     
    It was ten years ago and Kate and I were queuing to get into Millennium, the most popular - in fact, the only - nightclub in Queensbeach at the time. Kate had just turned eighteen, and although I was a few months younger, I rarely had a problem getting in as I was tall and sophisticated for my age, or so I liked to think. That night, however, there was a problem.
    “You can go in,” the bouncer told Kate. He was