‘Yes, I’d probably keep losing my balance and falling on my face, and that really isn’t a good look, is it?’ They laughed aloud.
‘Saying that, I’d rather your curves than my washboard look.’
‘Oh, Vic. You can wear anything and look good in it. And you have the hair of a Greek goddess.’
‘We women are never happy, are we?’ Vic sniffed. ‘I have the metabolism of a marathon runner so can eat more or less what I want, but these bits of bone sticking out, around my shoulders… they just look…’
Mandy gave her friend a stern look.
‘OK… I’m shutting up now. Saying that, I do wonder if when I get older and it all slows down, I’ll become short and fat like a little piglet.’
‘I thought you were shutting up,’ Mandy replied dryly, and they both laughed. The frosty-looking man on the row of seats next to them got up and moved down to the next carriage. Trying not to laugh again, the two women raised their eyebrows at each other.
Mandy grinned. ‘I’m so excited. A night away with my besties – what’s not to like! Orla is running late, so is meeting us at the hotel. There’s a story to her tardiness, apparently.’
‘Of course there is.’ Vic had a flashback to the day she had met the feisty Irishwoman who had arranged a hospitality event for some of Glovers’ customers when she had first joined the company. ‘Ending with the words, “He was quite the ride,” no doubt.’ Grinning, Vic pulled two miniature bottles of Chardonnay and some plastic glasses from her bag. ‘Let’s start as we mean to go on, shall we?’
Mandy waited for the train to pull out of the station, then carefully filled her glass. ‘The best news is thatmy future mother-in-law and sister-in-law have bad colds, so they’re not coming. Well, that’s what they said, anyway.’
‘What about your mum?’
‘Sore point. Church has taken over – again! Said it’s not worth her coming for one night as she’s got to be there on Sunday as she forgot it’s her turn to do the flowers. So, it’s just me, you and Orla. I really couldn’t face inviting anyone from work.’
Vic laughed. ‘Sing Hosannah!’
‘Don’t, I’m already coming out in hives, as Mother’s only gone and put me up for the “Silent Night” solo at the annual carol service.’ Mandy put her hand to her forehead in mock horror. ‘I might get my Steve to extend the honeymoon, so we miss the whole shebang.’
‘Don’t remind me about Christmas.’ Vic sighed. ‘I’m dreading this year, to be honest. Mum’s on one at the moment. It sounds like Albie’s gambling is out of control and I won’t even have Nate to pacify me, as he’s off up to the Lakes to spend it with his dad and brother.’
‘Oh, Vic. I’m sorry.’
‘Nothing to be sorry about. The facts are that my dear mother is an alcoholic and won’t get any help, and my brother is bleeding her dry. Nothing’s changed. Or maybe I have?’
Mandy tutted. ‘Poor Kath. And what do you mean, you’ve changed?’
‘It’s just you getting married all of a sudden has made me look at myself and what I want out of life.’
‘Oh, Vic. It’s hardly sudden, is it? I’ve been with Steve for ten years, so we’re practically married anyway.’
‘I know, but…’
‘Is everything OK with you and Nate?’
Vic bit her lip. ‘We’re just ticking along as usual, but I suddenly feel like I do want to do so much more with my life. It’s a weird dichotomy because I reckon I could take my artfurther, but I also think I want kids – but I don’t know if that’s because society makes me think Ishouldhave kids. And if I don’t have them, would I feel I’ve missed out on something? Or maybe I want them just because I don’t want to be alone when I’m old.’
‘Wow, that’s cheery – and a lot to take in.’ Mandy raised her eyebrows.
‘I’m just trying to keep it real.’ Vic shrugged. ‘But it’s a fact, our bodies have a best-before date when it comes to babies. I’m thirty-five, Mand, and stupidly assumed that things would work out on their own, that life would work out without any prompting, but it doesn’t, and it hasn’t yet… And I’m at a bit of a crossroads, if I’m honest.’
‘Hmm. I’ve been feeling similarly,’ Mandy acknowledged. ‘Kids has always been our next step and I want them to have the same surname, hence the big day.’
Vic laughed. ‘Who says romance is dead, eh?’
‘Joking aside, mate, have you spoken to Nate about how you’re feeling?’
Vic groaned. ‘His idea of the perfect life would be not working and living in a tent, foraging in the middle of the Outer Hebrides. Don’t get me wrong, I do love him, and I do love the freeness of him.’ She giggled. ‘Remember when we first met and he convinced me that wild camping in the Lake District would be amazing? I was too scared to go outside the tent in the middle of the night to wee, so I had to crouch over a bucket in the corner of the tiniest tent on earth.’
Mandy laughed. ‘Yes, and the walk you did on the South-West Coast Path where he had to literally drag you up the steep bits by the waistband of your jeans as you’re so scared of heights.’
