When she had seen Mack kissing Dawn, Charity had been relieved. She finally had an excuse to break up with him, even though he was clearly too drunk to be making any rational decisions. He kept coming around though, trying to persuade her that they should be together.
"You said you loved me, Charity," he stood on her doorstep staring at her with those lost-puppy eyes that had probably worked on dozens of women before, but the only eyes Charity wanted to look into belonged to someone else.
"You kissed Dawn!"
"You saw how drunk I was, you know I only did it to try and make you jealous."
"Oh and that's really mature isn't it, exactly the sort of thing..."
"The sort of thing you'd do yourself. It's like Vanessa said, we're alike you and I."
The postman came along, holding out a bunch of letters (mostly junk mail, Charity told herself, it always was these days). Mack was standing in the way and the postman had to lean around him to pass the post to Charity. She thanked him and stepped back as if to close the door on Mack but he moved closer, his hand on the doorframe stopping her.
"Look, we're over," Charity told him.
"So we're not even going to talk about this?"
"There's nothing to say."
"Why? Has Vanessa taken you back?"
Charity shook her head, "I know you don't believe us, but she's moved on. We're just friends. That's it."
"But if she wanted to try again, you'd go back to her."
"Mack, you don't need to be jealous."
"So you're not going to give me another chance?"
"I think it's best if we go our separate ways."
"You're not going to ask me to be friends then?"
Charity shook her head, "I don't think you're ready for that yet."
"Fine, I'll go," Mack stepped away from the door. "Just so you know, I won't wait around forever."
Charity stepped inside and shut the door. She tossed the post down on the table and headed towards the kitchen to make a coffee. Noah came down the stairs and set about making himself some breakfast. He pushed the post to one side when he sat down at the table and frowned when he saw how the top letter had been addressed.
"Why's Vanessa getting post sent here still?" he asked.
"What?" Charity put down her mug and walked over, "she sorted all that stuff ages ago. Must be junk mail."
"It's addressed to both of you," Noah added, holding it up for her to see.
Charity took the letter and tore it open with a feeling of dread, "maybe it's something to do with Johnny's adoption."
She didn't think Vanessa had ever tried to alter that, if she had she'd never mentioned it. Charity scanned down the letter with a frown on her face, which turned to surprise. She stuffed the letter back in the envelope before Noah could try and read it.
"It's nothing."
"Yeah right."
Charity didn't try and argue. She went back to her coffee while Noah watched her, more curious than before.
Vanessa sank into the chair next to Rhona and closed her eyes, "I'm sorry, but I may need some coffee before I fall asleep."
"Bad night?"
"Johnny had one of those 24-hour bug things from school, right as rain this morning thank goodness, but he was up late last night still complaining he had a tummy ache. It's so unfair that he has more energy than me this morning."
Rhona laughed and signalled to Rodney for an extra coffee for her friend, "so you probably don't want to meet up for lunch later?"
"As long as there'll be more coffee," Vanessa opened her eyes at the aroma of fresh coffee. "Perfect."
Charity came into the café, followed by Sarah and Noah, "and I've told you no."
"But mum..."
"No buts, Noah. I'm serious. I'll help you pay for driving lessons for a car, but you're not getting a motorbike."
Charity noticed Vanessa and Rhona at the same time as Noah. She smiled at them and herded her son and granddaughter up to the counter.
Noah glanced over at Vanessa, then back at his mum, "are you going to give her the letter?"
"What letter?" Sarah asked.
"Oh it's nothing, just some junk mail. I've already binned it," Charity lied.
"No you haven't," Noah corrected her.
"Noah!"
"What? It's in your pocket," he reached out and grabbed the envelope to show her.
Charity tried to take it back but Noah was already passing it to Sarah, "you are so grounded, mister. Give it back."
She avoided looking around, she knew they were making a scene and everyone in the café would be watching them. Before Sarah could say anything, Charity held out a hand and gave her granddaughter a look that warned of unpleasant consequences if she didn't comply. Sarah gave the envelope one last glance before handing it over. Charity stuffed the envelope back into her pocket then turned and quickly left the café. She made it outside, just past the tables and chairs, before Vanessa's voice stopped her.
"Charity?"
She turned around and smiled, "hey Ness."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Just another morning dealing with teenagers."
"Nothing else on your mind?"
Charity opened her mouth to issue a denial, but remembered how much Vanessa hated being lied to. She reached into her pocket and held out the envelope.
"I must have done it the other night, I swear I don't remember doing it."
Looking confused, Vanessa took the letter and then looked up at Charity, "it's addressed to both of us, what is it?"
Charity just shook her head, unable to form the words to explain, scared of how Vanessa would react. She watched the vet read the cover letter, then the second page.
"I blame it on the whiskey," Charity added, trying to break the silence.
"Charity..." Vanessa looked over at her, the letter still in her hands.
"It just came this morning, no-one else has seen it, Noah just made a fuss because your name's on the envelope. I was going to chuck it, I know..."
"I understand, really," Vanessa folded the pages and put them back in the envelope before holding it out to Charity.
"Please don't let this make things weird between us."
"I should go."
"Ness..."
"It's fine, I get it."
"You do?"
Vanessa nodded, "I think I remember watching you fill out the request and then we drank more whiskey to celebrate."
"Wait, you remember...?"
"Only some dis-jointed images, I don't remember what you were doing just that it looked like some online form."
Charity looked down at the letter. It was confirming an appointment at the local registry office, with a separate sheet explaining what documents they would need to bring to apply for a new marriage licence since their previous one had expired. She looked back up at Vanessa, scared to ask her next question.
"Does this mean...?"
"I haven't drunk that much in a while," Vanessa quickly interrupted. "We just... it was just the whiskey."
"Oh. Right," Charity put the letter back in her pocket, "of course. Just friends."
"Charity..."
"Please don't," Charity held up a hand to stop her saying something that would hurt, "you should get back to Rhona."
"Are you okay?"
Charity shrugged, "not since you left."
Vanessa took a step forward but Charity turned and walked away, not really seeing the vet's attempt to comfort her.
Vanessa returned to the café, avoiding the stares from Noah and Sarah, and sat next to Rhona. She picked up her coffee and drank it slowly, wanting to avoid talking for as long as possible. Unfortunately, Rhona was patient enough to wait.
"So what was all that about?" Rhona asked, fully aware that Charity's son and granddaughter had sat down near them with the express intention of eavesdropping.
"I just went to make sure she was okay."
Rhona scoffed, "that's all that was?"
"We're friends now. She seemed upset."
"There's something going on that you're not telling me about. I can tell."
Vanessa's eyes flicked over to the two teenagers, then back to Rhona, her voice lowered, "later."
She finished her coffee and ordered another one, changing the topic of conversation until Noah and Sarah got bored and left.
"So, spill it," Rhona told her as they watched the café door close.
"I did something stupid."
"With Charity?"
"Not like that! Well, not that I remember. God, this is such a mess!"
"Woah, calm down Ness," Rhona put a hand on her arm. "Tell me about it, maybe I can help."
"After that night out in Hotten, I dropped you off and then I bumped into Charity. She was a little drunk, telling me how sorry she was and I just wanted to go to bed so I let her in and told her to sleep it off on the sofa."
"Was that really the best idea?" Rhona interrupted.
Vanessa frowned and Rhona held up her hands in an apology, "it was late. You didn't see how she was when she came to my mum's house, I didn't want a repeat of that. Anyway, long story short, we ended up having some whiskey and the next morning we woke up in bed together... nothing happened! I think I'd remember if it had and we were still fully clothed."
"Well is that really so bad? Part of you must still love her..."
"I was wearing my engagement ring, I don't know why she had it with her, and luckily I woke up first so I could take it off before she saw. It turns out we also went online and requested an appointment to get a new marriage licence. That's what all the fuss was earlier, Charity was trying to hide the letter from the kids but Noah saw it had my name on it too."
"Oh."
"Come on Rhona, this is where you're supposed remind me to stay away from her."
"Is that what you really want?"
"Well we can't get back together, she kept lying to me!"
"Yes that was a problem, but she also loved you and you were good together."
"Oh my god, you think I should forgive her?"
"I think you should do whatever makes you happy. Though I will advise you to stay away from whisky if you're going to see her. Who knows, maybe next time she'll convince you to run off to Vegas to get married."
"Oi, you're supposed to be my friend," Vanessa frowned at her. "Maybe it's time I try online dating again. It might help Charity move on if she knows I'm seeing someone else."
"If you think that's best..."
"Don't you?"
"I think you need to figure out why the other night happened. Unless you're planning on staying sober every night," Rhona smiled and nudged her friend to show she was teasing.
Vanessa smiled back, "you might have a point."
"Listen, why don't you come around mine tonight? The boys can have a bit of a sleepover and we can talk properly about all this."
Vanessa nodded, "thanks."
Rhona gave her a hug, "it'll be alright."
AN: I fell into the black hole that is research writing this chapter. Apparently you can't just apply for a marriage certificate online in the UK, or just turn up and ask to get married, you have to go to a registry office with loads of documents and then wait nearly a month before a ceremony - who knew? So the original idea was to have them renew the marriage licence online and get it sent through the post, but it ended up being an appointment letter instead.
