Shoving her weekend bag into the rack above their seat, Rachel flopped breathlessly into the seat beside her friend. She smiled exaggeratedly, giving Jenna a proud flash of her teeth. ‘I had them done this afternoon,’ she said, ‘that’s why I was late. I thought I’d never get out of that dentist’s chair. Nearly two hours I was there with nothing to do but have a laser blasting away at my teeth. It was insanely boring!’
‘I expect that’s the longest you’ve ever been quiet, isn’t it?’
‘Oh, hello, Little Miss Snappy, what’s got into you? Bad day?’
‘Not especially.’
‘What then? Come on, I could do with a good laugh after being bored out of my mind.’
‘You’re killing me with your concern.’
Rachel laughed, and knowing that everyone jammed into the packed carriage would be deaf to their conversation – either they were talking on their mobiles or they had their ears plugged with headphones – she urged her friend to say what was bothering her. Because no amount of denial from Jenna would persuade her that nothing was wrong; she could see it in the set of her face, and hear it in the terseness of her voice.
Having known each other since forever, and with only a year’s difference in age – Jenna was thirty-five and Rachel was thirty-four – they were as close as sisters, which meant they knew each other’s moods through and through, as well as their likes and their dislikes, and what irritated them. They could also be completely honest with one another without ever causing offence. Jenna was definitely the more sensible and measured of the two of them, and hated not to be taken seriously, whereas Rachel was wildly impulsive and unguarded, and rarely took anything seriously, least of all herself.
‘Did somebody at work annoy you today?’ she pressed.
‘Kind of,’ said Jenna. ‘But it’s not important.’
‘If you don’t tell me, I won’t tell you why I had my teeth whitened. And don’t lie to me that you couldn’t care less, I can see you can barely contain yourself.’
Jenna smiled. ‘Whatever the reason, I’m sure it’s a lot more interesting than me making an idiot of myself this afternoon.’
‘Ooh, made a Charlie of yourself, did you? Sounds good.’ Rachel wrestled a bag of Haribo Tangfastics out of the jumble of her handbag on her lap. ‘I love nothing better than hearing about someone else making a fool of themselves. Makes me feel so much better about my own shortcomings.’ She shook the bag under Jenna’s nose.
‘He called me Mrs Tiggy-Winkle,’ Jenna said, after Rachel had listened to Jenna’s account of embarrassing herself. ‘I mean, come on,me,Mrs Tiggy-Winkle! Can you believe the cheek of him?’
‘Yes, I can. Jenna, you’re the prickliest person I know.’
‘I amnot!’
‘There you go, defensive prickles out with hardly a prod from me. You do it all the time. But what annoyed you most about the guy? Was he hot? Was that it?’
Jenna helped herself to another sweet. ‘I didn’t notice what he looked like.’
‘Yousodid. That’s why you’re annoyed. You failed to make a good impression on him. That’s the rub of it, isn’t it?’
‘I had no intention of making a good impression on him. Anyway, haven’t you forgotten, I took a vow of no more office relationships after Giles?’
‘Well, if you ask me—’
‘Something I’d never do,’ Jenna cut in.
Rachel tutted. ‘But if you did, I’d put to you the question – why are you so bothered by what he called you?’
‘I’m cross because I behaved like such a cliché, like one of those pathetic girls in rom coms who meets an attractive man, takes a dislike to him and then surprise, surprise, falls for him. It’s the plot of far too many books or films.’
Rachel laughed. ‘I’ve heard you say some crass things over the years, but that’s award-winning. I notice you used the wordattractive, so using our unfailingly accurate hot-ometer, and assuming Kit Harington and Tygh Runyan are still scoring an outright ten, what does this guy score?’
‘I don’t know.’
Rachel gave the bag of Haribos a shake. ‘No more sweeties until you’ve rated him.’
‘If it’ll make you leave me alone – a seven.’
‘Are you sure?’
Jenna rolled her eyes. ‘At a pinch an eight. And I mean, a pinch.’ She indicated just how small a pinch with her thumb and forefinger.
