Fourteen
Jenny stared at herself in the mirror for a long time as she lightly dusted the powdered foundation across her face. Beth had called and suggested going out for dinner, and considering she’d just had her hair done and it would be completely wasted sitting at home in front of the TV, she’d accepted. It was hard to believe the difference a hairstyle could make. She loved the new blonde highlights and darker base Laurel had talked her into this time and her work as a stylist was second to none. She’d cut Jenny’s long, boring hair above her shoulders and it had sprung into its natural curls once the weight of the length had come off. Then she’d reshaped it to create this bouncy, wavy beach style, longer at the front so Jenny could still pull it back or tuck it behind her ears with a slightly off-centre side part. She looked so … different. Was this really the mum of three and grandmother who’d been content to live like a hermit for the last two years?
She reached up and touched a curl Laurel had expertly created with her hot wand and that Jenny probably had no hope of ever recreating later and felt a rush of uncertainty come over her. What was happening to her life? Everything felt so different now, yet only a few weeks earlier she’d been blissfully unaware of any of the tribulations that came with entering the dating world. This wasn’t her. She wasn’t ready to make changes to her life.
Panic began to stir inside her, and she thought about grabbing a tissue and wiping away her make-up, but Brittany calling from downstairs for her to hurry up ended any thought of that.Just suck it up, she told herself.It’s only a big deal if you make it into one.
‘Holy cow!’ Brittany breathed as Jenny came down the stairs. ‘Mum! Your hair!’
Jenny nervously went to touch it, eyeing her daughter’s shocked face, before she saw a huge grin spread across it. ‘Is it okay?’
‘It’s amazing! I love it. We need to do new profile photos,’ she said, digging in her handbag, presumably for her phone.
‘No more profile tampering!’ Jenny said firmly. ‘I mean it, Britt.’
‘Fine,’ her daughter mumbled, dropping her phone with a roll of her eyes.
‘Can we go out for dinner and forget everything to do with dating? For just one night, please?’ Jenny asked, pinning her daughter with a stern glance.
‘Okay,’ Brittany said, holding her hands up in surrender.‘Although if you ask me, it’s a perfectly good waste of a photo opportunity.’
‘I didn’t ask you,’ Jenny said, picking up her handbag and the car keys. ‘Let’s eat. I’m starving.’
The Coach House was bustling as usual, and Jenny was relieved to discover that Beth was already there and sitting at a table she hadn’t sat at yet. She shook off the memories of the dates and reminded herself of the rule she’d just given her daughter: no date talk.
Cassie passed by them on her way out to the kitchen with an order, and Jenny smiled a greeting. ‘I think I’m safe tonight. No dates,’ Jenny assured her.
‘That’s a shame. I’m sure there’s still some good ones out there somewhere though.’
‘I’m sure you’re right,’ Jenny agreed, but was happy not to be going through the nerve-wracking experience of making small talk with a stranger again.
Cassie exchanged a quick hug with Brittany, promising to catch up in her break a little later.
‘It’s nice you two have caught up again,’ Jenny said after Cassie left.
‘Yeah, it’s nice to have her back home. I didn’t realise how much I missed having an old friend around.’
‘So explain to me how you think I need setting up with a man but you apparently don’t?’
‘Because I’m busy working and raising a baby. I don’t need some guy coming in and changing how I do things.’
Jenny realised how hard it had been for her daughter, bringing up a child on her own, juggling work commitmentsand sleepless nights with teething and temperatures. It’d been hard enough doing it when Jenny had been married. At least Austin had been contributing financially, even if he had rarely been home when things like that happened. She understood her daughter’s concern. Brittany and Sophie were a unit—they’d developed a bond. Bringing a partner in now would be life-changing. Fitting another person into the dynamics—someone who might have different opinions on how to raise a child—dividing herself between her child and a new man, would bring Brittany some challenges for sure. ‘Just don’t forget you have to be happy too.’
‘I’m happy. I just don’t think it’s realistic to believe there’s a guy out there willing to take on a mum and a baby that isn’t his.’ Brittany shrugged, looking down at Sophie, who was busy looking around curiously.
Brittany and her boyfriend had been living life to its fullest potential—drinking, dancing, nightclubbing the weekends away, hungover on Sundays, a part of the whole smashed avocado in a yuppy cafe for breakfast set. Until Brittany found out she was pregnant. Tye didn’t want to give up his lifestyle and had given Brittany an ultimatum—him or the baby. She hadn’t heard from him since.
‘I don’t believe that’s true. Tye was immature and selfish—that was his nature and, sadly, he showed his true colours when you needed him the most. There’s someone out there who’ll love everything about you. Including Sophie. Just don’t shut your heart off to an opportunity.’
‘I won’t,’ Brittany said and sent her mother a small smile. ‘I just want to concentrate on Sophie and me right now.’
‘And that’s fair enough,’ Jenny said, giving her daughter a hug, feeling her heart swell with love and wondering how she’d managed to raise such awesome, strong kids.
‘Just us tonight?’ Beth asked when they sat down.
‘Yeah, Chloe is working and Savannah is … out.’ Jenny shrugged. Her daughters were at an age where, apparently, they no longer had to inform their mother where they went or when they’d be home.
‘And I’m only here for dinner then I’m heading home. This one hasn’t had a sleep today,’ Brittany said as she sat the squirming two-year-old on a chair and brought out some pencils and a note pad.
