An athletic brunette jogged towards her, a high ponytail bobbing with her stride. She glanced down, flashing a smile as she bounced by. Maybe Catherine wasn’t such a shrub after all. Catherine tilted her head for a better view from which to admire the perky retreating rear of the jogger.
Another ping from her phone and she tensed, before whipping it out and muting the conversation with Jeremy, while skilfully avoiding the content of the messages.
With a snap decision, she texted Penny.
I know it’s a school night, but fancy a drink?
A little company this evening wouldn’t go amiss — less time to pick over her threadbare friendship with Jeremy and less space for Francesca to creep into her thoughts. Francesca wasn’t welcome there, or anywhere near Catherine. Full stop.
Penny:
Sure. Where, and what time?
El Vino’s? We could do dinner as well. I can head there now, if that suits you.
Penny:
Sounds great. Loz is away, so I won’t have to cook for one. Let me dig my way out of these case files, and then I’ll be on my way.
Catherine could always rely on Penny. In fact, she used to rely on her for more than just dinner and drinks. They’d enjoyed a long-term casual arrangementthat suited them both, until Penny met Lawrence and fell head-over-sensible-shoes for a man.
Catherine was happy for her friend, but the loss of Penny being something more had left her a little hollow; not in a heart-aching kind of way, more like the small grief you feel after finishing a brilliant book. And while it was a shame to lose the benefits, she’d lucked out with one of the best friends she could have asked for, even if Penny came as one of a smug-married pair now. And with Penny being a lawyer, the free legal advice came in handy, particularly with the recent Dalton debacle.
Stop thinking about them. It’s done.
The dull ache in her chest said otherwise.
OM-THE-GO
2024
Eighteen months earlier
Jeremy sprang into her office with all the ball-bouncing energy of an entrepreneur on speed.
“Don’t be annoyed with me, but I made an executive decision — I hired that consultant to revamp our website.”
Catherine shot him a withering glare over her reading glasses. “I still don’t understand why we need to revamp our website at all.”
“To increase traffic and drive engagement. Things have gone a little quiet now that the post-pandemic flow has ebbed. Maybe we need to move with the times?”
“Do you honestly think psychotherapy needs tomove with the times? People will always need the kind of help we offer, Jeremy.”
“Yes, but we rely on clients to find us, when really we could do more to put ourselves out there.” Hekneaded the back of the leather chair opposite her desk, as if he were giving it a massage.
Catherine took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. “And you think a sparkly new website will really help?”
“Yes, it will. But that’s not all.”
“Christ, there’smore?”
“This is the good bit!” Jeremy unhanded the chair and practically did jazz hands. “Colin?—”
“Colin?”
“The consultant.” He gestured for her to keep up. “He’s going to set up a feed for you on our new site so you can publish your own micro-blog.”
“I only understood two of the words you just said.” She pressed her fingers into her eyes, trying to ease the pressure building.
