Page 47 of Settling the Score (The Karma Club #4)

‘And you’re pretty good sidekicks,’ Paige called towards Aiden and Blake, who were still standing by the door, as if they were bouncers in a nightclub, bracing for Harvey’s return.

* * *

He didn’t return though.

After that day’s game, which the Titans won 7-2, Chuck group called them to say that Harvey had been arrested, and also removed from his own company.

They were giddy with excitement and relief, and their celebrations would go down in history as some of the best of all time.

* * *

The next day, Chicago O’Hare Airport

Unlike that cold and blustery, snowed-in night, Chicago was now a picture of autumn beauty, with a crystal-clear sky and flights streaming in and out of the airport, all on schedule.

And four women, who’d met on that fateful night, found themselves back at the airport, accompanying the Titans back to New York.

But first, they had a little reminiscing to do.

So, leaving the team to the first-class lounge, they slipped out and retraced their footsteps to a familiar bar, with its familiar décor, and the signed picture of Aiden ‘Love of Sienna’s Life’ Carter behind the counter, and found, to their surprise, that despite being busy with a lunchtime rush, ‘their’ table was available.

They swooped on it, sitting silently and staring at one another, as if they almost couldn’t believe how much had happened and changed since that night.

The same waitress who’d served them back then appeared. ‘Can I get you ladies anything?’

‘Prosecco,’ they said, in unison.

‘A bottle,’ Bella clarified.

They all laughed, then Astrid added, ‘And a mocktail.’

‘This is strange,’ Sienna said, looking around, shaking her head a little in wonderment. ‘We’re here, and yet, everything is so different. I don’t recognise the woman I was back then.’

‘No, nor do I,’ Paige admitted.

‘Honestly, meeting you guys changed my life,’ Astrid said.

Bella nodded. ‘I couldn’t have imagined how fateful that drunken chat would be.

’ The waitress placed Astrid’s mocktail, an ice bucket and three glasses in the middle of the table.

Sienna set about filling the glasses. ‘I don’t just mean because it’s how I met Chase, but obviously that too. It’s more… you guys.’

They all looked at one another and nodded. Sienna felt a lump form in her throat.

‘I never had a sister,’ Sienna said. ‘I never understood what that bond was like. But if I had, I guess I imagined it might have felt like this.’

Bella nodded. ‘But better, because we chose each other,’ she said.

Emotions were strong. They sat quietly, each reflecting on the importance of this friendship.

‘To us,’ Bella said, lifting her glass into the air.

‘To Just Desserts, and our crazy little Karma Club,’ Astrid added.

‘To living our best lives,’ Paige chimed in.

‘To best friends,’ Sienna murmured.

‘Forever,’ they all said, and laughed, as they clinked their glasses together for what was most definitely not the last time.

* * *

As their glasses emptied, the diner had filled, so there was a line of people at the bar, and not a spare seat in sight.

The Karma Club barely noticed – they were still riding high on their success.

But then a woman walked past, flustered, eyes darting across the restaurant, and in her hand, she held something Sienna instantly recognised. She sat a little straighter.

‘You guys, look.’

‘What?’ Astrid lifted a hot chip towards her lips but paused, midway. ‘What is it?’

‘Look!’ Sienna pointed, and the gesture caught the attention of the flustered woman.

‘Ohmygod.’ Paige’s jaw dropped. ‘The flyer. ’

‘It’s funny,’ Sienna murmured, thinking back to that fateful night. ‘I watched that woman with the magenta hair handing out leaflets, and I wondered what her criteria was for who received one. Like, it wasn’t everyone. She was very selective.’

‘And she selected us,’ Bella said, with a small nod. ‘Well, actually, she selected my kinky friend Diedre, but she selected me.’

‘We were meant to meet,’ Sienna said, leaning forward and putting her hand out. Each of the women put theirs on top, supportive. Agreeing.

Astrid’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Yep.’

‘But look.’ Now it was Bella who pointed across the restaurant, at another woman who was clutching a flyer, looking totally lost and stranded in manic airport hell. ‘She’s been working her magic again.’

‘You guys,’ Paige said. ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’

In answer, Astrid lifted an elegant hand in the air and waved it around, gesturing first to one of the women, and then another, beckoning them over.

‘Heya,’ Astrid said, when they reached the table. ‘Did you want our seats?’

The women looked from one to the other. ‘Oh, we’re not together,’ the shorter woman with thick glasses demurred.

Paige smiled serenely. ‘Neither were we. Don’t let a simple thing like that get in the way of a good time.’

The women looked unconvinced, but the four original members were already standing, their hearts warm with being able to pay forward their good fortune – and hoping that these women’s lives might even be changed in the same way theirs had been.

‘Hi, I’m Monica,’ Sienna heard the woman in the green hat say, as they walked away from the table.

‘Mary-Beth. Where are you heading to tonight?’

As they reached the door to the packed diner, two more women walked in. ‘There are a couple of seats at that table,’ Bella offered. ‘Just over there.’

And when they glanced back at the table they’d recently occupied, it was to see Mary-Beth and Monica locked in conversation, laughing about something.

Sienna reached down and squeezed Astrid’s hand; Astrid looked at her and smiled. Everything was just as it was meant to be.

* * *

The following Christmas. Ashbury Falls, NC

‘Is that them?’

Aiden peered out of the window and shook his head. ‘They’ll be here soon.’

‘I know.’ Sienna smiled. ‘I’m just excited.’

‘Me too.’ Melanie grinned from where she was curled up on the sofa, a small red ribbon around her plaited hair.

Though they were no longer neighbours – Aiden and Sienna had moved into the big, beautiful house they’d always walked past (the one Aiden had all but promised he’d make Sienna hers when he could) and were painstakingly restoring it – but Melanie was still a regular fixture in their lives.

If anything, the house was closer to the school than Melanie’s, so it was easy to stop in on her way home, to share the news of her day or grab a sandwich.

Being so close made it easier for Sienna to be away from home, which she frequently was.

At least when she was there, she got to spend lots of quality time with the girl she loved like a daughter. ‘I can’t wait to finally meet them.’

Sienna scrunched her nose. ‘You’ve met my friends.’

‘But not, like, all together, at the same time. He says it’s like nothing I can imagine.’

‘He, being Aiden?’

Melanie nodded, and Sienna laughed softly. ‘Well, he is not wrong.’

Sienna took a moment to turn slowly and take in the lounge room.

It was the first room they’d fully finished re-doing, carefully returning the historic charm of the place, while updating the wiring and features to make sure it was safe and modern.

The bedrooms had been renovated just enough to make them comfortable for this weekend – when the original Karma Club crew, plus the honorary members (including Chuck) were coming to stay, and Sienna couldn’t wait to play host and show them her town.

Though she hoped they’d forgive Aiden for having hidden remote-controlled crickets in all of their rooms. He’d laughed, when she’d told him the truth of that noise, especially when it had been a part of what had driven them back together, but he’d sworn he’d get his own revenge, when the time was right… which apparently it now was.

In the end, Aiden hadn’t hated coming back to Ashbury Falls.

Everything he’d felt on that score had, they’d decided, been about running from how much he loved Sienna rather than the place itself.

Now that he’d accepted his feelings, Ashbury Falls had earned a different place in his heart.

Though his father was the only dark spot on their horizon, they rarely saw him.

He’d given up on going to church, and from what they heard, he seemed to be in a committed relationship with a bottle of liquor, each and every day.

He was beyond help, beyond redemption, and they had agreed that they’d just let him do him.

Living well was their best revenge, anyway.

Coming back to Ashbury, Aiden had been determined to do something about the way it was morphing into a town with no hope and no prospects.

Bit by bit, he’d started investing in the place.

He now co-owned the diner, the hardware store, and was in talks with the Titans about co-funding an ice rink in town, on the basis that Aiden and Blake would personally run recruitment and training sessions for talented young kids like they’d been.

They split their time almost equally between New York and Ashbury Falls, with the exception of the odd trip to the UK, to catch up with Paige and Olly. Though they also did their fair share of trans-Atlantic travel, with Paige never wanting to go too long without face-to-face time with her girls.

Sienna was always careful about Aiden’s generosity.

She’d worked so hard all her life, and asserted her independence wherever possible.

But in one way, she’d allowed him to help financially – as a loan.

He’d hired an incredible team of lawyers to work on her father’s case, and Sienna had every reason to think this would be his last Christmas behind bars.

Not only that, they’d been so impressed with the briefs Sienna had put together that they’d asked her to intern for them over the summer.

She’d agreed, for the experience, but Chuck’s offer was still very much in her mind.

It was no bad thing, she considered, to have such great possibilities, and she knew that whichever she chose, it would be right for her, because she’d work hard, and because she deserved to succeed.

Since that fateful night in Chicago, Sienna had done a lot of thinking about life, and families.

Melanie wasn’t her daughter, and yet she occupied that space in her heart.

Cynthia wasn’t her mother, yet Sienna truly loved her as she would have her own.

And her friends – well, they weren’t family, but they were every bit as dear to her as family ever could be.

There wasn’t a thing she wouldn’t do for them, and knowing that loyalty and love was reciprocated made her feel as though she was going through life with the biggest and best support network anyone could ever want.

Christmas magic was heavy in the air, but Sienna didn’t need it. She had everything she’d ever wanted, and then some.

Just desserts had been served to all – it was just very lucky that they’d happened to deserve the happiest of endings imaginable.