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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lovers or friends?

It was Saturday evening, but Stephany had nowhere to go. She sat on the sofa, looking at the telephone. Max had not spoken to her on the flight home, and at Stansted Airport he had kissed her goodbye and gone to get a train.

A week had passed, and he had not telephoned her. How could a holiday end so badly? She wondered. It had all been going so well with Max before the holiday.

She thought about their last evening in Italy. It seemed a million years ago now. Max had asked her to live with him! And now he wasn’t speaking to her. She wanted to cry. She had had a bad week. She couldn’t help thinking about Carlo. If she had never kissed him that evening, they would still be friends.

Now she felt she had no-one, no friend, and no lover. She picked up the phone and, although she thought Max was probably not at home, she called his number. She waited. Finally he answered.

‘Max?’ she said, before he could speak. ‘I love you, please believe me!’

Max didn’t say anything for a few seconds, then said, ‘I can’t.’

‘Well, at least, Max, can we still be friends?’

‘Just friends?’ asked Max.

‘Yes,’ said Stephany. ‘Just good friends.’

To her surprise, Max started to laugh. ‘Do you know what a good friend is?’ he asked.

‘Of course I do, I’ve got lots of good friends,’ said Stephany.

‘Including Carlo?’ Max said.

‘Carlo was a good friend. But . we destroyed it. I understand that now. I feel so lonely. Last week you were both my friends. Now I’ve got neither of you!’ There was a silence. Was Max feeling sorry for what had happened?

‘Stephany,’ he said. ‘I’ll tell you what a good friend is. A good friend is someone who is honest with you.’

‘OK, Max,’ said Stephany. ‘Maybe I’m not good at being “good friends”, but you know we were good lovers. Didn’t you enjoy being with me?’

‘Yes, I did,’ said Max, sadly, ‘but it’s over, Stephany. I can’t have a relationship with a woman I can’t trust.’

‘You can trust me,’ said Stephany. ‘I promise I shall never let it happen again.’

‘It’s too late,’ said Max. ‘I’m sorry.’

Stephany put the phone down. She wanted to cry. Then suddenly she felt angry. If it wasn’t for her, Max wouldn’t have had a holiday at all. It wasn’t fair that she should be left with nothing. She went and looked in the mirror.

‘Well, perhaps not nothing,’ she thought, looking at herself in the mirror. ‘I still look pretty, and I’ve still got other friends.’ She picked up the phone again. She called a friend, a woman this time, and asked her if she wanted to meet her in a club later that night. She then put on her red dress, made up her face, and went out of her flat.

She didn’t need Carlo and Max, she thought. Tonight was Saturday night. She wasn’t going to sit at home all evening feeling sorry for herself. She was going out to have a good time.