Chapter Forty-One

‘Er, it's…' Len gestures to the pet carrier. ‘It's the cat. I thought you might like him back.'

‘You've brought Tuna?' I exclaim, rushing over to the carrier and peering inside to see the familiar grumpy face of my rescue cat staring back at me in mute disapproval.

‘Well, it turns out he and Jenny don't really get on,' Len mumbles. ‘Anyway, if you're happy to keep him I'll be on my way. Leave you to your…' – his eyes move from Sam's dripping form and broken face to Theo's glower, to my flower crown and sparkly purple fairy wings – ‘party.'

‘Can you take Tuna and leave him with my mum?' I ask, and with a beleaguered sigh and a wary look at the lot of us, he picks up the pet carrier.

‘Fine,' he says. ‘But, Clementine,' – his eyes flick around the group once more – ‘as a friend, I really think you need to take a good, hard look at the choices you're making.'

‘I really don't give a shit what you think, Len,' I reply. ‘But you're right… I do need to have a look at my choices. I can't believe I wasted four years of my life on a man with the personality of a dry Ryvita because I was too scared to have an emotion. You can go now.'

And just like that the chapter closes on Len. Good bloody riddance.