Emily hurried into the hospital ward, clutching a bag of fresh grapes, her heart pounding. “Oh, Charlotte, darling, you gave me such a fright!” she exclaimed, her voice trembling. “When your daughter called to say you’d had a heart scare, I nearly fainted myself!”
Charlotte lay propped up by the window, pale but smiling weakly. “Em, you angel, thank you for coming,” she said, reaching for her friend’s hand. “Its been dreadfully dull hereI thought Id go mad from boredom.”
Emily set the bag on the bedside table and glanced around. The ward held four beds, but only two were occupied. On the neighbouring bed, facing away, lay a woman with long silver hair neatly braided down her back.
“And whos your neighbour?” Emily whispered, settling into the chair beside Charlotte.
“Oh, thats Margaret. She was brought in yesterday,” Charlotte murmured. “Quiet as a mousejust reads her books or watches things on her phone. They say her blood pressures as unpredictable as my heart.”
Just then, the woman turned, and Emily felt the colour drain from her face. Those familiar hazel eyes, the delicate features unchanged by time, the mole on her left cheek
“Margaret?” Emily breathed, disbelieving. “Margaret Whitmore?”
The woman froze, then slowly sat up, her gaze locking onto Emilys. “Emily Bennett?” Her voice carried the same soft lilt as it had thirty years ago. “Good heavens it cant be.”
Charlotte looked between them, baffled. “You two know each other?”
“Oh, we know each other,” Emily said tightly, not looking away from Margaret. “Very well indeed.”
An uneasy silence fell. Margaret studied her hands while Emily stared, as if half-expecting her to vanish.
“Girls, what on earths going on?” Charlotte burst out. “Emily, you look like youve seen a ghost!”
“Nearly a ghost,” Emily said quietly. “Margaret and I havent spoken in a very long time.”
“Thirty-two years,” Margaret added softly.
Charlotte gasped. “School friends, then?”
“Not exactly friends,” Emily said, sitting stiffly, poised to leave at any moment. “We shared certain interests once.”
Margaret lifted her head, meeting Emilys eyes properly for the first time. “How is Robert?” she asked quietly.
Emilys knuckles whitened as she clenched her hands. “My husband died eight years ago. A heart attack.”
“Im so sorry,” Margaret whispered, dropping her gaze again.
“Dont be,” Emily said briskly. “Thats life, isnt it?”
Charlottes curiosity was unbearable. “Will one of you please explain properly? I feel like Im missing half the story!”
Emily and Margaret exchanged a glance, neither eager to begin.
“We worked together,” Emily finally said. “At a school in Manchester. I taught English, and Margaretwhat was it you taught?”
“History,” Margaret replied. “And sociology.”
“There you are, Charlottecolleagues. Though not for long,” Emily added pointedly.
“No, not long,” Margaret agreed. “Just two years.”
“Did you quarrel over work?” Charlotte pressed.
“Over a man,” Emily said bluntly. “The oldest story in the book.”
Margaret flinched as if struck. “Em, please”
“Why not?” Emily turned to her. “Charlotte will worm it out of us eventually. Might as well say it plainly. It hardly matters now, does it?”
Margaret sighed. “No, I suppose not.”
“Out with it, then!” Charlotte cried. “Ill die of curiosity at this rate!”
Emily leaned back, gazing out the window. “I was twenty-four, fresh out of teacher training. Naïve, impressionable. There was this deputy headRobert Carlisle. Handsome, clever, ten years older. Married, of course.”
“Oh dear,” Charlotte muttered.
“Oh dear indeed,” Emily said wryly. “We had an affair. Secret, naturally. He spun the usual taleshis wife didnt understand him, their marriage was a sham”
Margaret listened silently, nodding occasionally.
“A year later, another new teacher joinedMargaret,” Emily continued. “Bright, witty, beautiful. And Robert, it seemed, decided one mistress wasnt enough.”
“Emily, it wasnt like that”
“Wasnt it?” Emily turned sharply. “You knew about us! I told you myself! We were friends!”
“We were,” Margaret admitted quietly. “I never meant to it just happened.”
“It just happened?” Emily repeated bitterly. “You just happened to steal another womans man?”
Charlottes eyes darted between them like a spectator at Wimbledon.
“I didnt steal him,” Margaret said, firmer now. “He told me you two werent serious, that it was just”
“Just what?” Emily snapped.
“That it was casual. That you both understood it wouldnt last.”
Emily laughed, a harsh, mirthless sound. “The lying snake! So he told you I didnt care, and he told me you were some flighty girl throwing yourself at married men!”
Margaret paled further. “He said that?”
“Word for word!” Emily stood, pacing the room. “And we both believed him! Fell for it like fools while he sat back, smug as you please!”
“Girls,” Charlotte interjected gently, “perhaps dont upset yourselves? Your health”
“Im fine,” Emily waved her off. “Actually, Im glad weve had this out. Cards on the table at last.”
She sat back down, facing Margaret. “What happened after I left the school?”
“We met for about three more months,” Margaret admitted. “Then he said his wife was suspicious, that we had to be careful. The meetings stopped. By summer, I heard hed divorced.”
“Divorced?” Emily blinked. “I didnt know that.”
“Divorced, and married the PE teacher from the next school over within a month. Turned out theyd been seeing each other half a year.”
“Well, well,” Emily shook her head. “So there were three of us. Maybe more.”
“Likely more,” Margaret agreed. “Thats when I realised what a fool Id been. And how ashamed I was of what Id done to you”
“Ashamed?” Emily leaned forward. “We were both his victims!”
“But I believed him! Believed you didnt truly care, even though I saw how you looked at him, how hurt you were when he brushed you off in front of others I saw you loved him!”
Emily was silent a long moment. “I did. More than Id ever loved anyone.”
“So did I,” Margaret confessed. “It was my first real love too. I thought he felt the same How stupid we were!”
“Stupid,” Emily agreed. “And young. He took advantage.”
Charlotte sniffled. “Oh, you poor dears! To lose such a friendship over that that cad!”
“Friendships one thing, loves another,” Emily sighed. “Back then, I felt Margaret had betrayed me. That no true friend would do such a thing.”
“And I thought if you werent serious, I wasnt doing wrong,” Margaret said. “And when he pursued me I thought it meant he preferred me.”
“He did,” Emily nodded. “Until someone newer came along.”
A silence fell. Outside, a light autumn rain pattered against the window.
“Did you marry later?” Emily asked.
“Yes,” Margaret said. “Three years after. A good manhonest. We had twenty-eight years together.”
“Had?” Emily echoed.
“Passed two years ago. Cancer.” Margaret dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “A quiet life, but a happy one.”
“Im sorry,” Emily reached out, touching her shoulder. “I didnt know.”
“How could you?” Margaret covered Emilys hand with hers. “We hadnt spoken in decades.”
“Children?”
“A son and daughter. Grown now, with three grandchildren between them. You?”
“Two sons. Four grandchildren. Robert was a decent father, Ill give him that.”
“So you did marry him?” Margaret looked surprised.
“Four years after it all. I was at another schoolwe bumped into each other at a teaching conference. Had the nerve to introduce himself as if wed never met!”
“And you?”
“I played along,” Emily laughed. “He was twice divorced by thenleft the PE teacher too. Said hed grown up, seen the error of his ways Well, fool that I was, I fell for him again.”
“Was it happy?”
“At times. He wasnt the dashing charmer of our school daysage had weathered him. But hed changed. Calmer, more domestic. Maybe just tired of chasing skirts.”
“Did he?” Margaret hesitated.
“Cheat? At first, yes,” Emily said frankly. “But I wasnt that naive girl anymore. Put my foot down. Eventually, he settled. Last fifteen years, I trusted him completely.”
“So there was happiness?”
“There
