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‘How do you know about that?’

‘She told me. Bragged, actually. I just wanted to check… Are you OK?’

Leigh wanted to say she was. But it would have been a lie. ‘No. I’m not.’

‘I’m sorry. What do you say I slaphertonight too, double my money?’ Alex asked wryly, a little of her old self coming back.

Leigh was touched that she’d even joke about it. ‘That’s nice, but I don’t want you to get a taste for it,’ she quipped.

Alex chuckled. Leigh was glad to see her smile.

‘Seriously, why did you slap her?’ Leigh asked.

Alex went quiet for a moment. Leigh expected a joke or deflection, the Alex Walker standards. But she must have been too tired to summon any of that because all she said was the truth. ‘I didn’t like the way she was talking about Amanda.’

Leigh nodded. ‘Iknewit would be that.’

Alex looked away, and somehow, from somewhere, anger seemed to rise. ‘This is your fault.’

Leigh looked at her in disbelief. ‘I can’t wait to hearthis.’

‘You keep poking at me.’

‘Poking at you?’

‘Yes. “Acknowledge your feelings, Alex. Stop pretending you’re a robot, Alex. Let people get close to you, Alex.”

‘I never saidanyof—’

‘Youdid. In your way. You just stand there, being like you are. And it makes me feel things that I don’t like.’

Leigh was shocked. ‘That’s not my fault.’

‘Maybe not, but I can’t do it.’

Leigh put her hands on her hips, at a loss. ‘You don’t have to. Like you said, this will be over soon.’

Leigh could have sworn she saw remorse pass across Alex’s features, but if it was there, it never made it out of her mouth. ‘I need to go talk to Isabelle and get this straightened out if I can,’ she muttered.

Leigh was disappointed in her for caving in, but then again, Leigh couldn’t talk. She’d bent over and taken it from Erin tonight. ‘Do what you have to do,’ she said, the only kind thing she could think to say.

Leigh decided it was time to get out of here. She turned and headed down the alley, out to the busy, dark street.

‘Wait, why did you even come to this thing?’ Alex called after her.

Leigh stopped, but she didn’t turn, merely tossing her final words over her shoulder. ‘Because I’m an idiot and wanted to support you.’

She kept walking.

She didn’t see a cab anywhere, and when she checked her phone, there were no Ubers for half an hour or so. She looked around and saw a bar. Maybe she should take a leaf out of Erin’s book and drink some pain away.

She went into the bar and ordered whisky. She took a sip and remembered she hated whisky, but it was the drink of maudlin nights, so she kept at it. Soon enough, she finished it and ordered another. It tasted just as bad, but she drank it down.

She was considering punishing herself a third time when her phone vibrated.

I’m sorry. Please come back.

Leigh erupted in astonished laughter, causing a few bar patrons to look. She was past caring. She had a text argument to have.