She knew as soon as she heard his voice that day what sort of evening to expect. The tone of his voice, discernable despite the poor reception on her phone, told her all she needed to know.

“What are you playing at?”
“What?”
“I said, what are you playing at?”
Sorry babe, I don’t get ya.” Cara tried to keep the physical shaking of her hands from her voice.
“Where have you been, I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day.”
“I went shopping with Sarah like I said. We’ve been in Brent Cross all day and I haven’t had much of a signal. Sorry babe, you weren’t worried were you?”

From beneath her long eyelashes Cara could see Sarah trying not to listen but finding it impossible to do so. Cara had to stay calm, the last thing she wanted to do was raise her long-time friends suspicions any more about the state of her marriage.
“And where is Sarah now?”
“Here with me, we’re just having a coffee. I should be home in about half an hour.”
“Really, I’ll be waiting. I think we need to have a chat.”

Cara could feel her heart begin to pound faster.

“Okay sweetheart, I’ll see you soon. Love you.”

By the end of the first ‘you’ Cara could already hear the dialling tone and her previous nervousness was beginning to worry. Looking at the phone’s display for a few seconds, hoping he’d call back and cancel out her worries Cara realised she was wishing for the impossible and placed it back into her Christian Dior handbag. Taking a somewhat shaky sip of her Mocha chino she looked up to see Sarah’s blue eyes staring straight into her own brown ones.

“Everything alright?” Her friend asked with feigned naivety.
“Yeah fine. He was worried I was spending too much money. You know what there like, men eh?”

Cara’s reworking of the telephone conversation fooled neither of them, more continued to increase the now tense atmosphere. Sarah watched Cara gulp her drink down what would have been a hard feet for anyone except a fire-eater such was the coffee’s temperature.

“Well I better get going. Tony’s cooking dinner and he’ll probably want to eat straight away with us being off out tonight.”

The lies of her words hurt both of their hearts.

“Okay then babe, today’s been great hasn’t it. We’ll have to do it more often.”
“Yeah, yeah we will.” Knowing that in a few hours time that Tony would have more than likely vetoed any future shopping trips.
“Well I…’ Cara picked up the cluster of bags at her feet and got up from the chair, ‘I er… better get going.”
“Of course you had. You don’t want to keep your master waiting.” Sarah regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She never meant to hurt her friend but sometimes it was virtually impossible to keep her opinions to herself. Unfortunately slagging of that worthless piece of crap was only going to help his cause and push Cara into defending the man she called her ‘husband’. She was determined not to let him drive a wedge between them like he had most of Cara’s other friends. No, Sarah knew she’d be there long after Mr Tony Henry.

“Good luck with the interview hun and we’ll speak soon yeah.” Cara reached across the table to hug her friend and for a moment thought back to the old day. When it was just the two of them, no work, no bills, no responsibility, no men. Oh to go back there. Finally managing to prise herself away Cara turned and walked towards the car park lift.
She didn’t hear her friend pray, “Please take care.” as she drifted into her own world.

Sarah watched her walk away, the earlier energy and vibrancy of her friend now diminished by one 2 min phone call. Her back hunched on her tiny frame she looked like a woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders, a weight that wasn’t about to disappear any time soon. Gone was the companion Sarah had spent her entire teenage years partying and holidaying with, in her place was a tired specimen looking at least 5 years older than she was. Gone was the stylish Cara constantly up to date with the latest fashions. Now she was a frump wearing things Sarah doubted her own 60-year-old mother would wear.

Much to the backdrop of denials Sarah knew that things weren’t as they should be in the Henry household. In the beginning she wasn’t sure, couldn’t quite put her finger on it. And to be honest she had been sucked in like everyone else. But then she’d seen her friend become more withdrawn and quiet; of course she’d tried to ignore it. Told herself what did she know about married life since she’d taken over Cara’s role as eternal singleton. Until she’d seen the bruise. By how quickly and easily Cara had lied to her she knew it wasn’t the first one, possibly just one of many. She had tried to ask the questions they tell you in Cosmo, had ended up ranting and raving but still she’d been kept in the dark. She soon realised that Cara didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to admit the shame she was feeling for something that wasn’t her fault. All Sarah could do was be there for her and let her know she would be there when Cara realised she needed her.


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