Cupcakes at Carrington’s (Carringtons Department Store 1) by Alexandra Brown

Did you see the look on his face?’ I reply, cringing at the memory.
    ‘Yes, but you just hold your head up high and work it, baby. He’s
reeeem
,’ she says in her
TOWIE
accent to make me smile. ‘Go grab him.’
    ‘Hardly, after that pantomime performance.’
    ‘Oh so what.’ Sam shakes her hair back. ‘Men love a girl with a sense of humour, so just laugh it off. You look a billion dollars.’
    ‘Thanks, Sam. You’re a true friend, do you know that?’ I say, perking up and giving her a quick hug.
    ‘Well, I do my best. When I haven’t got my foot in my mouth of course,’ she grins, and then adds, ‘Georgie, look I’m really sorry about the other day, your dad and all. I didn’t mean to hurt you.’
    ‘I know you didn’t,’ I say, patting her arm. ‘It’s forgotten,’ I finish, magnanimously, glad that we’ve cleared the air.
    ‘Actually, I was wondering …’ She peers at me.
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘Err, I just wondered whether you’d spoken to him recently?’ she adds, nervously. I hesitate for a second.
    ‘Strange you should ask, because I slipped up and answered the phone …’ I reply, feeling uncomfortable. Sam gives me a look as though she’s unsure whether to say anything else. ‘Tell me?’ I prompt.
    ‘Oh nothing, I …’
    ‘Come on, please just say it.’
    ‘If you’re sure?’ she says warily.
    ‘Yes I’m sure. Now will you please just get on with it?’ I smile encouragingly.
    ‘Well, I was just thinking that it’s such a shame that you two can’t sort things out. Alfie means the world to me, he’s all I have, and I couldn’t bear it if he and I fell out,’ she says, sounding panicky. She looks away.
    ‘It’s OK, you’ve got me too, and Nathan … he seems really smitten, maybe he really is your “one”,’ I say, gently touching her arm, knowing how upset she gets about the prospect of being all alone. She looks back and manages a little smile.
    ‘But what if something happened to your dad? And you hadn’t resolved this? He made mistakes, I know, and you helped him out, there’s no denying that, but do you really want to punish him forever?’ I ponder on what she’s said, and for a moment I waver – maybe she has a point.
    ‘But it’s not that simple,’ I tell her.
    ‘What do you mean?’ Sam’s eyes widen.
    ‘What do you think it did to Mum? She was devastated. It was the stress of it all that made the multiple sclerosis develop so rapidly and cause complications. That’s why she died prematurely and I ended up in care …’ I say, in a wobbly voice, an image of Mum in the hospital bed flashing inside my head. Sam steps forward and gives me another hug.
    ‘Georgie I’m sorry. I didn’t realise that you still felt that way.’ She gives me a weak smile.
    ‘It’s OK. That’s just the way it is,’ I say, putting on a brave face to cover the hollow feeling inside.
    ‘But it doesn’t have to be. You could forgive him and set yourself free from hating him. It wasn’t your dad’s fault she died.’
    ‘Maybe.’ Silence follows. ‘Anyway, let’s go and enjoy ourselves,’ I say quickly, with a half-smile, desperate to shift the conversational focus.
    ‘OK, but if you want to talk about it, I’m here.’ Sam gives my arm a little squeeze and turns to leave. I take a big deep breath, bracing myself to face Tom again.
    Nathan and Tom are sitting at the bar. They’ve already polished off half the bottle of wine. Nathan leaps down from his stool.
    ‘Here you are, lovely lady. Saving it especially for you,’ he says to Sam, and she bounces up, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Tom pulls out another stool for me. My tummy flips. I sit down and cross my legs and promptly let out a little yelp. The safety pin must have popped open.
    ‘Hey, are you OK?’ Tom leaps off his stool and places a hand on my arm. His face is full of concern.
    ‘Yes, yes I’m fine,’ I manage to squeak, wincing with agony. I quickly uncross my legs and let out a