‘Don’t you go getting ideas. You’re as bad as my girls. I’m far too old for all that nonsense. Besides, he’s only asked me because I’ve more in common with him. Similar age. Two daughters.’
‘Both single,’ said Izzy mischievously as she took a glass from Hannah.
‘I doubt very much he’d be interested in a dull, frumpy old bat like me. Cheers, girls. Thanks for inviting me, even thought I could be old enough to be mother to the both of you.’
Hannah led the way into the other room, shaking her head at Meredith’s unflattering view of herself.
‘You’re not old,’ said Izzy. ‘Not in attitude, that’s for sure.’
‘Definitely not,’ agreed Hannah. ‘And you’re not a frumpy old bat, either.’
‘That’s what my girls keep telling me.’ Meredith took the far side of the sofa, putting her glass on the table and taking a handful of crisps. ‘They’ve been trying to smarten me up and get me to do that online dating. Don’t tell them, but I tried it once. It was awful. I got myself into such a state I couldn’t even go through with it. I got all dressed up, stood outside the restaurant for half an hour, and I couldn’t go in.’
‘Oh Merry. Why not? Was he awful?’
‘I never found out. I mean, look at me. Two stone overweight.’ She pulled a face at one of the crisps as she put it in her mouth. ‘Bags under my eyes. Grey hairs everywhere. And I meaneverywhere. Good lord, there’s no way I could ever get naked with anyone again, that’s for sure. Everything has gone south.’
‘That’s nonsense,’ said Izzy. ‘You’ve just lost your confidence.’
It was nonsense. In fact, with her rosy smiling face, clear, guileless blue eyes and soft cloud of sandy hair, she was pretty; she went in and out in all the right places and had the most wonderful curvy figure. She did, however, having appalling taste in clothes – the shapeless sweaters and baggy trousers didn’t do her any favours. Hannah was no expert but she knew Meredith would look fabulous in the right sort of dress.
‘I’m not sure I ever had any confidence. The girls’ dad, well it took me a while to see what he was really like. I was so grateful that someone was interested, I ignored the warnings. My mum, bless her, kept asking if I was sure. I tell you, by the time he cheated on me for the third time, I was sure. Sure I’d made the biggest mistake of my life but by then I had two under two, no job, and nowhere to go. I stuck it out for another couple of years but then he started getting mean. I wasn’t going to stand for that. Told my eldest Bethany that she was stupid and ugly. That was it. He might put me down but I wasn’t having him do it to the girls. And I’ve been on my own ever since. Good riddance. I don’t need a man around. I’m fine as I am.’
She took a defiant sip of Prosecco.
‘Me too,’ said Izzy, her mouth turned down. ‘I hung on waiting for someone for years. We were friends, occasionally with benefits. Stupid me, I was convinced he’d see the light one day. He did. And married a girl he’d met six months before.’
‘Ouch,’ said Hannah.
‘Yeah, left me heartbroken for a while. Now I can’t believe how stupid I was. Like Meredith said, everyone else could see it but would I listen? I thought because I loved him, he must feel like that about me really. He just didn’t realise it. Talk about deluded. Unrequited love, eh? No wonderPersuasionis my favourite Jane Austen book. Except my Captain Wentworth turned out to be Captain Knobhead.’
Hannah and Meredith burst out laughing at Izzy’s disgruntled tone.
‘I’m quite glad I’m not a romantic in that case,’ said Hannah. ‘I haven’t been out with anyone for ages and I certainly haven’t ever been heartbroken.’ Was that because she was too practical and sensible? She finished with most blokes before they were able to inflict any emotional damage; she didn’t gave them the chance. If they didn’t measure up quite quickly she didn’t see the point of keeping on seeing them. ‘I can’t see the point of going out with someone if you know they’re not right.’
‘How long do you give them?’ asked Meredith, with interest.
Hannah lifted her shoulders. ‘You can usually tell after one date.’
‘Hannah! You’ve got to give them a chance,’ protested Meredith, which was somewhat ironic given what she’d said about her ex-husband. ‘What’s the longest you’ve been out with someone?’
‘What, properly?’
‘What’s not properly?’
‘Well, you know, when you’re a teenager. I went out with Richard Bradley in the sixth form for nearly six months but only because we all ran around in the same crowd.’
‘No one longer than that?’ asked Meredith with round eyes. ‘How old are you?’
‘Twenty-seven.’
‘So what is the longest you’ve been out with anyone since then?’
‘Five months.’
‘And what happened to him?’
‘I quite liked him but he got a transfer to London and… well, there didn’t seem much point starting a long-distance relationship.’
