and making them see the world in a different way.
‘So, anyway, enough about me,’ Elaine said crisply. ‘We haven’t really had a chance to talk properly about you.’ She’d assumed a more serious expression than her usual mischievous smile and her pale blue eyes were all squinty, which meant she was in perceptive mode. Hope immediately squirmed on the hard wooden bench. Elaine in perceptive mode could be a real pain in the arse.
‘Nothing much to say,’ Hope demurred, still wriggling uncomfortably. ‘I went home for a week, because my dad had taken my baby brother camping, so I had loads of quality time with my mum.’
‘And how did that work out for you?’
‘Oh, it was just great,’ Hope said. ‘My mum tried to force me into having my hair combed out and trimmed because she said it was riddled with split ends, and then she spent the rest of the time dropping hints about how she’d like a grandchild before too long.’
‘She has grandchildren, doesn’t she?’
Hope nodded. ‘She has five of them.’ Two of her older brothers, Matthew and Luke (and their respective wives), had obliged, but as far as her mother was concerned, being the paternal grandma wasn’t a patch on that blissful day when Hope started birthing babies. ‘But she says it’s not the same when she’s only a mother-in-law and the other grandma has first dibs.’
Elaine held a limp hand to her forehead. ‘Dear God, I dread the day when one of mine comes home pregnant. Probably be the end of the week, the way those two carry on.’ She poured what was left of the bottle of rosé into their glasses. ‘So, am I going to have to beat it out of you? What’s really up with you? You look like you’ve had at least three root-canal treatments.’
Did she? Hope had thought that she’d handled the aftermath of the weekend’s events with considerable aplomb, and huge amounts of Touche Éclat to hide the effects of the intermittent crying jags and sleepless nights, but apparently her efforts had all been in vain.
‘Jack and I have been going through a bit of a rough patch,’ Hope said delicately, as if she was the kind of girl who kept her own counsel and didn’t blab her deepest, darkest secrets to all and sundry.
Unfortunately, Elaine knew her much better than that because she raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips as she processed that little nugget of information and then nudged Hope’s ankle with her toe. ‘Do tell.’
Hope told, and Elaine listened avidly, leaning forward so she didn’t miss a single word. Hope hadn’t planned to over-share to such an alarming degree, but the events of Saturday night had been weighing so heavily on her that it felt as if she couldn’t even breathe. Simply telling someone else lightened the load by a few kilograms.
‘I can’t bear to be inside my own head at the moment,’ she admitted to Elaine, when she got to the end of her confession. ‘I still can’t quite believe Jack when he swears it was just a drunken one-off. But if that is all it was, then I made a complete tit of myself in front of everyone over nothing, and I had a big, fat, ugly cry in front of Wilson who was really scathing and … and … and I just wish I wasn’t still so furious with Jack, but I am!’
‘You have every right to be furious with him and to threaten to cut off his willy with your bread knife,’ Elaine told her, without the usual twinkle in her eye and as if she was deadly serious about revenge castration. ‘Even if it was just a one-time deal, it was still prolonged kissing and groping. And as for that Wilson, he sounds like an utter prick. Anyone who wasn’t made of stone would have cried in those circumstances, so I don’t know why he had to be so rude to you.’
‘Well, I was rude to him too, Elaine. I do feel a bit guilty about that,’ Hope admitted.
Elaine sniffed. ‘As for Susie, didn’t she get the memo that your best friend’s boyfriend’s dick is completely off-limits? I always
‘So, anyway, enough about me,’ Elaine said crisply. ‘We haven’t really had a chance to talk properly about you.’ She’d assumed a more serious expression than her usual mischievous smile and her pale blue eyes were all squinty, which meant she was in perceptive mode. Hope immediately squirmed on the hard wooden bench. Elaine in perceptive mode could be a real pain in the arse.
‘Nothing much to say,’ Hope demurred, still wriggling uncomfortably. ‘I went home for a week, because my dad had taken my baby brother camping, so I had loads of quality time with my mum.’
‘And how did that work out for you?’
‘Oh, it was just great,’ Hope said. ‘My mum tried to force me into having my hair combed out and trimmed because she said it was riddled with split ends, and then she spent the rest of the time dropping hints about how she’d like a grandchild before too long.’
‘She has grandchildren, doesn’t she?’
Hope nodded. ‘She has five of them.’ Two of her older brothers, Matthew and Luke (and their respective wives), had obliged, but as far as her mother was concerned, being the paternal grandma wasn’t a patch on that blissful day when Hope started birthing babies. ‘But she says it’s not the same when she’s only a mother-in-law and the other grandma has first dibs.’
Elaine held a limp hand to her forehead. ‘Dear God, I dread the day when one of mine comes home pregnant. Probably be the end of the week, the way those two carry on.’ She poured what was left of the bottle of rosé into their glasses. ‘So, am I going to have to beat it out of you? What’s really up with you? You look like you’ve had at least three root-canal treatments.’
Did she? Hope had thought that she’d handled the aftermath of the weekend’s events with considerable aplomb, and huge amounts of Touche Éclat to hide the effects of the intermittent crying jags and sleepless nights, but apparently her efforts had all been in vain.
‘Jack and I have been going through a bit of a rough patch,’ Hope said delicately, as if she was the kind of girl who kept her own counsel and didn’t blab her deepest, darkest secrets to all and sundry.
Unfortunately, Elaine knew her much better than that because she raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips as she processed that little nugget of information and then nudged Hope’s ankle with her toe. ‘Do tell.’
Hope told, and Elaine listened avidly, leaning forward so she didn’t miss a single word. Hope hadn’t planned to over-share to such an alarming degree, but the events of Saturday night had been weighing so heavily on her that it felt as if she couldn’t even breathe. Simply telling someone else lightened the load by a few kilograms.
‘I can’t bear to be inside my own head at the moment,’ she admitted to Elaine, when she got to the end of her confession. ‘I still can’t quite believe Jack when he swears it was just a drunken one-off. But if that is all it was, then I made a complete tit of myself in front of everyone over nothing, and I had a big, fat, ugly cry in front of Wilson who was really scathing and … and … and I just wish I wasn’t still so furious with Jack, but I am!’
‘You have every right to be furious with him and to threaten to cut off his willy with your bread knife,’ Elaine told her, without the usual twinkle in her eye and as if she was deadly serious about revenge castration. ‘Even if it was just a one-time deal, it was still prolonged kissing and groping. And as for that Wilson, he sounds like an utter prick. Anyone who wasn’t made of stone would have cried in those circumstances, so I don’t know why he had to be so rude to you.’
‘Well, I was rude to him too, Elaine. I do feel a bit guilty about that,’ Hope admitted.
Elaine sniffed. ‘As for Susie, didn’t she get the memo that your best friend’s boyfriend’s dick is completely off-limits? I always
Similar Books
