Wildflower Park Series. Bella Osborne

       Chapter Twenty-One

      Anna knew she was blinking more times than was necessary but Sophie’s words had stunned her. She never believed Sophie would ever actually leave Dave. Sure, they annoyed the crap out of each other, but that was normal for them. She shut her front door behind her and licked her lips as she tried to think of the appropriate thing to say.

      ‘Well, say something,’ said Sophie, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks.

      Anna stepped forward and enveloped her friend in a tight hug and held her until the crying had subsided. Anna could foresee it being a long evening where Sophie would offload all her woes about Dave and his PhD-level uselessness whilst Anna nodded in the right places and then Sophie went home to shout at Dave a bit more. Anna held her at arm’s length. ‘I’m going to make us ridiculously calorific hot chocolates and then you’re going to tell me all about it. Okay?’

      Sophie bobbed her head. ‘I’ll finish unpacking while you get the drinks.’ Anna looked like she’d stepped into a revolving door the wrong way – confused and slightly stunned. She opened her mouth but no words came out. Sophie disappeared into Anna’s spare room.

      Anna had a number of conversations in her head whilst she was making the hot chocolate, most of them ending in ‘… but you’re not actually moving out. Are you?’ although the fact Sophie was unpacking her stuff and neatly folding it into Anna’s IKEA chest of drawers told her it wasn’t going to be straightforward. Anna stared at the hot chocolates and for the first time in a very long while she wished they had been alcoholic. She scattered some mini marshmallows on top, took the laden mugs into the living room and waited for Sophie. Maurice stretched out on the sofa next to Anna and gave her arm a pat with his paw. She absent-mindedly stroked him and he started to purr like a small motor.

      Sophie came in and flopped into the chair opposite. ‘Right, the case is unpacked. I’ll go back for more stuff tomorrow. Thanks for this. Yum,’ she said, picking up the mug.

      Anna wasn’t sure how best to tackle this. ‘When you say, you’ve left Dave …’

      Sophie pursed her lips. ‘I’ve had enough. Causing a scene with Hudson was absolutely the last straw.’ Sophie was resolute. Anna hadn’t seen her quite like this before.

      ‘But what about Arlo and Petal?’

      ‘Oh, I’m not leaving them.’ Anna did a sigh of relief followed by a sharp intake of breath and she almost inhaled a marshmallow. If she wasn’t leaving the children was she expecting to move them in too? Sophie continued. ‘I’m going to get up early so I’ll be there when they wake up and then they’re off on holiday with the Kraken for two weeks.’

      Anna was hugely relieved about this. She’d forgotten Karen was taking the children away for a while. ‘It might do you both good to have two weeks together without the children.’

      Sophie was already shaking her head. ‘No way. I can’t do this any more.’ Her voice cracked and she pulled a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose loudly. ‘This isn’t what I wanted, Anna. I wasn’t meant to end up like