Roxanne pulled Arabella in and held her close, so close that Arabella worried her friend might crush her. The emotion she felt caught her by surprise. Arabella hadn’t expected to make a friend inside, and she certainly hadn’t expected to feel sad about leaving. Naturally she couldn’t wait to get out of prison, but it was hard to leave Roxanne behind. She’d been Arabella’s rock on the inside, the person who had kept her on a positive path when she was feeling low about being in prison and leaving Eddie to wait for her, worried that she might come out and return to her old ways. Roxanne had been honest, often blunt. ‘Get a grip, hen. You’re in here for ten months, no’ ten years like me. Thank yersel’ lucky.’
‘Feels like you’ve only been in here five minutes and you’re off already,’ Roxanne said now, loosening her grip on Arabella and leaning back to look at her face.
‘Doesn’t feel like five minutes to me,’ she replied before she could stop the words. At least she was getting out, unlike Roxanne who still had a few more weeks to go. ‘You’ll be out with me soon enough.’
‘Aye, and the first thing we’re doing is going out and getting hammered. Understood? And I want to meet this man of yours, Eddie. He and my Jake sound like they would get on like a house on fire.’
Arabella laughed at the sly grin on her friend’s face. ‘Definitely.’
During their stretch together, Arabella had felt their friendship clicking into place. Their discussions led to her realising that they weren’t all that different. They’d both grown up with alcoholic parents – although Arabella thought that Mandy, Roxanne’s mum, sounded worse. But that was probably because Roxanne had had to put up with her a lot longer. Arabella had been removed from her own mother’s care before she was old enough to truly understand what was going on, whereas Roxanne had had to wait until she was old enough to get away from her toxic parent. They’d made light of the fact that they both had boozed-up mums and had both ended up in prison. Was it any wonder? Would that happen to their own kids, if they ever had them?
Roxanne was like the big sister that Arabella had never had. Even though there was only a ten-year age gap between them, with Roxanne being thirty-eight, Arabella would go as far as to think that Roxanne was like a friend, sister and mother figure all in one, although she’d never say the latter out loud.
‘Thank you, Rox,’ she said in a whisper, fighting back tears.
‘See you on the other side, wee yin.’
Letting go, Arabella turned and headed out of the room she’d shared with the woman she now classed as a best friend and followed the female officer along the corridor to the office at the end. She didn’t turn around, not wanting Rox to see her crying like a stupid little girl.
Arabella entered the office and sat down at the table. The female officer on the opposite side smiled across at her and Arabella felt like the weight on her shoulders was already beginning to lift.
‘Right, Arabella MacQueen. I’ve got a few things here for you to sign, just to say we’ve handed you back your possessions,’ the officer said, sliding a pen and paper across the table. Arabella didn’t bother to read it all, she simply signed her name at the bottom.
‘Do you have somewhere to go when you get out?’ The woman asked.
Arabella nodded. ‘Yes, my boyfriend is picking me up.’ Following the officer out of the room and down a series of corridors, she was led to a desk where she was handed a bag of her belongings – her mobile phone, a pack of cigarettes, a half-eaten pack of mints and a set of house keys along with a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and leather jacket. As she took the bag in her hand, the woman directed her towards a cubicle and she went inside to get changed out of her prison attire. Once inside on her own, she slipped out of the trousers and jumper and stepped into her own clothes. It made her smile how much she already felt like she was at home, feeling the familiar material against her skin.
Before Arabella could process what was happening, she was stepping through the security gate and into the open air, sucking muggy air into her lungs and smiling as she exhaled. Her ten-month stint in HMP Kirktonhill was over. She’d done it, served her time. Now she was free to do whatever the hell she wanted. And she would.
Arabella stepped off the kerb and crossed the road towards the parked car. She recognised it a mile off. Her beloved Audi TT.
‘A’right babe?’ Eddie said as he leaned against the bonnet of the car. ‘I had her valeted especially for you coming out.’
Arabella grinned ecstatically at her man as he picked her up and spun her round. Wrapping her legs around him, she pushed her lips against his and squealed with excitement. ‘God, have I missed you.’
‘A’right babe, Jesus, at least let me drive us home first,’ he laughed, putting her down on the ground.
‘Keys,’ she said, holding out her hand and wiggling her fingers.
‘Really? You’re just out the jail and the first thing you want to do is drive?’ Eddie said with a raised brow.
‘Eddie, I haven’t driven this girl in almost a year,’ Arabella replied. ‘Keys. Now.’
Rolling his eyes, he tossed the keys in Arabella’s direction and made his way around to the passenger door.
As she felt the weight of the keys in the palm of her hand, she glanced back at the prison she’d spent the last ten months of her life in. It hadn’t been too bad. She’d made friends. Acquaintances, at least. The women and the girls had respected her in there. Some more than she’d expected. And she’d made a friend for life in Roxanne.
‘What you hanging about for? You want to go back in or something?’ Eddie called out from the passenger seat.
‘Fuck that,’ Arabella said, sinking into the driver seat of her beloved car. As much as she was going to miss her buddy, she was more than relieved to be out of that place. Running her fingers over the steering wheel, she gave a pleasurable sigh. ‘Ugh, I’ve missed her.’
‘Who?’ Eddie said, pulling on his seatbelt.
‘The car, you idiot,’ she giggled, leaning over and kissing him again. He cupped one of her breasts for just a second and Arabella shivered with his touch. ‘Oi, I don’t want to have to go back in there on indecent exposure.’
‘Ha,’ Eddie laughed. ‘You’d better get a move on then and get us back to the flat.’
Turning the key in the ignition, Arabella felt the engine vibrate in her bones. It felt incredible to be free. To know that she was driving home, that she would sleep in her own bed in the arms of her man. There was nothing like a man’s arms around her.
Pulling away from the prison and out of the main gate, she turned the car onto the road before realising she didn’t know how to get home. She’d arrived at HMP Kirktonhill in a van, cuffed inside a small compartment with only a tiny square window she’d barely been able to see out of, so she didn’t know the way home. Before her sentence, she didn’t even know where Kirktonhill was, let alone the prison.
‘You’ll need to direct me to the motorway from here, Eddie. I dunno where I’m going,’ she said. Not that it mattered, she thought. She’d happily drive in any direction as long as it was far away from Kirktonhill.
Following Eddie’s directions onto the M8, Arabella headed westbound towards the west end of the city. As the car came to the brow of the hill, the city came into full view on the horizon and for a moment, Arabella was stunned. She’d forgotten how amazing Glasgow looked from a distance. She’d missed it more than she’d first realised.
‘So, how does it feel to be free?’ Eddie asked, taking a cigarette from his packet and putting the window down. Lighting it, he handed it over to Arabella, who gladly held it between her lips.
‘Fucking outstanding, Eddie. Honestly, that place was a shit hole,’ Arabella said, pulling on the tip.
‘Well I wasn’t thinking it was the Hilton.’
‘Far from it. At least with the Hilton you get a decent amount of men coming and going,’ she winked.
‘Oi, I hope you didn’t swing the other way in there because you were missing me.’
Rolling her eyes, Arabella shook her head. Not that Eddie noticed. He was too busy laughing at his own joke.
‘So what have I missed then?’ Arabella asked, putting the window down slightly and blowing smoke through the gap.
‘Nothing much.’ He shrugged, but Arabella could see a mischievous grin creeping across his face.
‘Liar. Tell me.’
‘Okay fine, there is something. It’s pretty huge but I need you to promise me you’ll stay calm when I tell you.’ His face was serious now and Arabella felt the panic beginning to build in the pit of her stomach.
‘Oh shit. What is it?’
‘I bought a hair salon,’ Eddie said, connecting his phone to the stereo as if he’d just told her he’d picked up a loaf of bread for her arrival home. Oasis began to blare from the speaker as he sat back in the comfort of the leather seat.
Arabella eyed her man, wondering if she’d heard him right.
‘What the hell would you want with a hair salon?’ she asked, turning her attention back to the road.
‘It’s for you, Arabella.’
Her stomach flipped excitedly and she shot him a look. ‘You bought me a salon?’
‘Well, aye. Let’s face it Arabella, you’re not exactly going to be people’s first choice at an interview when they see you’ve got a criminal record now, are you? I got a good mortgage rate on the place because the owner wanted a quick sale. So, if you want it, it’s yours. I was going to keep it a surprise until I took you to see it tomorrow. But you know me, cannae hold things in if they’re too good.’
‘You’ve bought me a salon?’ Arabella repeated, feeling dumbfounded. ‘So what? I’m the manager?’ she suggested. ‘Like head stylist? Ed, I need to think about this. I’ve not touched a hair on anyone’s head in almost a year. I’d barely got started at all and any skills I did have will be rusty.’
‘Look, the place is already fully staffed with a full client list so you can take your time with it without having to worry about losing money. You really won’t have anything to worry about.’
Arabella was stunned. She and Eddie had only been together three years, including the time she was inside. But in that short time, their relationship had moved quickly. Arabella had been physically drawn to Eddie and vice versa. Once the passion and fire between them had settled down, they’d decided that they still wanted to be around one another and Arabella had moved in with him.
‘Eddie, is this all legit?’ She pushed. ‘I mean, I know the business is doing well. But enough to be able to buy a salon for me?’
‘Right,’ Eddie sighed. ‘Look, I’m a business owner, Arabella. And because of that, the bank is very happy to lend me the money to start up a new business. That’s all you have to know.’
Eddie sucked on the end of his own cigarette and Arabella kept her eyes on the road. The sun was high that May morning. The month that Scotland has its summer and she was out. Smiling at the thought, her mind was still on how Eddie could afford to do what he’d done for her.
‘Are you sure?’
‘It’s not dirty money, alright? I told you, it’s all legit.’
Silence hung between them for a moment before Arabella accepted the situation for what it was. A fresh start, offered to her by the guy who’d stood by her while she served her time. Who’d stood by her from the very beginning. She struggled to believe that anyone could love her that much.
Arabella couldn’t wipe the smile off her face even if she’d wanted to. She finally had everything she’d wanted. But she still had to inspect the new place before she agreed to go ahead. If he had the savvy to buy the salon without her knowing, then he would have the savvy to sell it if she wasn’t happy. But Arabella knew herself; she would love it even if it wasn’t perfect. The salon was going to be her fresh start, her happy ever after. Did those still exist? After being sentenced, meeting Roxanne and now coming out to find that she was going to have her own business, things were almost too good to be true. Whilst in prison, she’d tried to stop herself from thinking negatively about things. But she always lost what she loved, in the end. Why should now be any different?
‘I wouldn’t do that to you, Arabella. I wouldn’t buy you a salon with dirty money. You’ve been through far too much shit in your life. I know you struggle to believe that people can love you. But they can and I do. I want you to have a good life, Arabella. And this is where it’s going to start. I promise I won’t leave you like your mum did. I won’t let you down like those so-called bastard friends did. Okay?’
Arabella fought against the tears. For once, they were happy tears. She nodded and smiled.
For the first time, she really believed that someone loved her.