Day 85: Tales Of Unexpected Calls And Friendship Clues
Day 85 Of How To Move On From A Man — 1LD
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I’m Andie and my ex, Douglas, dumped me. This is my break-up, so to speak. Douglas is a power player in Melbourne, worth more than I could ever comprehend.
I have no idea why we broke up.
I work and live at 1 Lovelock Drive. There, my best friend James and I are building Highway, our unisex clothing line. Our two other best friends, GG and Sophia, are investors.
GG is dating Douglas’ brother. Awkward.
My friends have been acting strange since the breakup. Since things have changed, I’ve found papers in James’ briefcase outlining plans for an expensive office space for our business.
I saw Sophia’s name appear on my phone.
Flashing back and forth.
It’s amazing how a palm-sized screen can cause such panic for a few seconds. As the call overtakes the phone, your entire life pauses as you’re riddled with indecision.
Should I answer?
Should I not?
What do they want?
Why are they calling me?
It had been a long time since any of my closest friends had called me too. Outside of James checking on where I was, I couldn’t recall the last time I had seen her name appear.
I answered, but not without the mountain of hesitation overcoming me.
“Hey Soph,” I said, feeling as if the words didn’t feel genuine. Or like I had said them.
“Yeah, Andie, we need to talk. I heard about the weekend.”
She paused. As the silence engulfed the call, I wondered. What part was she talking about?
The part where I secretly spent the night shagging Alex? Or how James chastised me for not being there through his problems with his homophobic aunty?
I couldn’t pinpoint it, and her silence wasn’t helping me.
“Ok,” I responded. Sophia cleared her throat, seizing any opportunity I had to explain anything.
“A real estate agent called me. Yasmine. She told me someone else was looking at some space in the city I had been looking at, too.”
So much for a little client confidentiality, I thought.
Yet, of all the papers, I never saw Sophia’s name on any of them. Nor GG’s, coming to think of it. I knew they were both investors, but it was James with the papers.
Here I was assuming it was him hiding his dealings just from me. But with one mention of the situation, I knew I had only scratched the surface. And that petrified me.
“I see.” My voice shook.
This was the moment I should have started grovelling, begging for an apology. Explaining myself. Spouting some bullshit about not knowing why Alex insisted I go to this property with him.
I was ready with the lie, ready to defend myself against any and every objection she was going to throw at me.
“Andie, I know it was you looking at that space. And I know you need to see more. Go to the corner of Chapel Street and Toorak Road. That’s all I can say.”
Sophia swiftly hung up the phone.
What?
WHAT?
What the hell just happened?
What was with the cryptic clue? I felt like some CIA agent in a darkened corner of a car park just gave me a clue. Instead, it was one of my best friends.
Why was she telling me?
But more to the point, why was she half telling me? Was she my friend?
At thirty-five I wouldn’t have thought friendships would be so complicated.
I thought all I had to do was survive my break-up.
You’re reading The Andie Chronicles, the 2023 romance-fiction series from the 1 Lovelock Drive (1LD) universe.
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