Laurence was working in a restaurant in Chelsea. He was head chef. Gus said Laurence didn’t like it much because the kitchen was almost underground. He wanted his own place again. They’d bought a house in Hammersmith, in a street that joined one that ran down to the river. Gus said it was brilliant, really close to Hammersmith Broadway Tube Station.
‘London’s great,’ Gus said. He grinned at Sophy. ‘Poor you.’
‘I don’t mind,’ Sophy said, tossing her hair. ‘I really don’t. Not now.’
On the mornings when she was late, Sophy caught the bus to school, but on other mornings, when she got up the first time Gina called her, and not the third or fourth, she walked instead. She took the path through the Abbey grounds, over the green uneven space with its little outcrops of square stone, where the Abbey had once stood, and past the arch which Dan had so loved, and along the path between the bushes and the seats and the litter bins to Orchard Street. Then she would walk up The Ditches, admiring the china cats in bonnets and the starved spider plants that stood on the windowsills in defiance of accepted good taste, and come out by the wall of High Place.
Even half hidden by its wall, High Place looked different now. The upper windows had blinds of bleached canvas and split cane, instead of curtains, and the street gate had been painted matt black with a new latch and handle of brushed steel. Mrs Pugh was to be seen shopping in the market sometimes, examining melons and avocado pears with a professionalism that disgusted the stallholders, and it was reputed that she still went to London every few weeks, to have her hair cut.
Sophy always paused, on the opposite pavement, and looked at High Place. She could look at it quite easily now and without even a twinge of longing or regret. It had been her childhood home after all, the home of a certain, now finished, period of her life, the place where she had lived all those years before she grew into herself, before the friends began.
THE END
About the Author
Joanna Trollope has written several highly-acclaimed contemporary novels: The Choir, A Village Affair, A Passionate Man, The Rector’s Wife, The Men and the Girls, A Spanish Lover, The Best of Friends, Next of Kin, Other People’s Children, Marrying the Mistress, Girl from the South and Friday Nights. Other People’s Children has been shown on BBC television as a major drama serial. Under the name of Caroline Harvey, she writes romantic historical novels. She has also written a study of women in the British Empire, Britannia’s Daughters.
Also by Joanna Trollope
THE CHOIR
A VILLAGE AFFAIR
A PASSIONATE MAN
THE RECTOR’S WIFE
THE MEN AND THE GIRLS
A SPANISH LOVER
THE BEST OF FRIENDS
NEXT OF KIN
MARRYING THE MISTRESS
GIRL FROM THE SOUTH
BROTHER & SISTER
SECOND HONEYMOON
and published by Black Swan
By Joanna Trollope writing as Caroline Harvey
LEGACY OF LOVE
A SECOND LEGACY
PARSON HARDING’S DAUGHTER
THE STEPS OF THE SUN
LEAVES FROM THE VALLEY
THE BRASS DOLPHIN
CITY OF GEMS
THE TAVERNERS’ PLACE
and published by Corgi Books
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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THE BEST OF FRIENDS
A BLACK SWAN BOOK : 9780552996433
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN: 9781409011514
First published in Great Britain in 1995 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Black Swan edition published 1996
Copyright © Joanna Trollope 1995
Joanna Trollope has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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The Best of Friends Page 28
