Jenny closed her eyes for a moment to gather herself before reaching for the cubicle’s door latch. That was the craziest idea she’d ever—
‘Poor Jenny,’ a woman’s hushed voice was saying as the door opened again and someone came in. ‘Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be with your ex-husband strutting about with a child on his arm? I’d be humiliated.’
‘Just horrible. I mean, she’s trying to move on from the whole thing,’ a second woman said, dropping her voice. ‘I heard from Vince the other day she’s been spotted in here with at least five different men.’
What? Oh, for goodness’ sake.
‘Mind you, they all looked much older, poor dear, and here’s her husband running around with a woman the same age as his own children. It’s disgusting. Can you imagine having to stand by while your husband flaunts his affair in front of the whole town like that?’
The women tsked and made a variety of other suitably pitying sounds, each one slicing through Jenny’s pride like a scalpel.
She wondered why she was hiding in the cubicle, listening to these silly women. She didn’t want their pity.
As the doors either side of her closed, she opened hers, washed her hands and went back out to the party.
She’d worked hard to move on with her life. It hadn’t been easy to accept that, at forty-eight, she’d effectively been traded in for something newer. And yes, her confidence had taken a beating over that, but it had been two years ago. She’d since rebuilt her life and she was happy with what she’d achieved.
The conversation repeated inside her head once more. They thought she could only attract older men? She could still pull a younger man in if she really wanted.
Jenny straightened her shoulders, her cheeks still sporting spots of indignation, and marched across the room.
Nick had just placed a fresh platter of chicken wings on the table and was turning to leave with an empty tray when Jenny stopped in front of him. She didn’t give him time to react—or herself to change her mind—before reaching up and kissing him, right there in the middle of the pub.
She pulled away, instantly regretting her rash behaviour. He looked down at her, seeming to search her eyes for something—most likely checking to see if she was intoxicated or just plain crazy. Shame filled the void that the anger that had driven her earlier had left.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, before stepping back.
He put an arm around her waist to stop her retreat. ‘Can’t say I am.’
‘I shouldn’t have done that.’
‘Well, it’s too late to take it back now. May as well make the most of it.’ He grinned, leaning down to kiss her again.
Okay, this is getting a tad out of hand.She hadn’t thought her actions through past planting a kiss on him to make a point—a point she wasn’t even sure she was making to the relevant people. She’d allowed herself to be riled up by stupid pride. But this kiss was …
‘I think we’ve made the most of it now,’ she said, her voice not quite as steady as she would have liked when he lifted his head and allowed her to move out of his reach.
‘Happy to help.’
‘Right,’ she said with a quick nod. ‘I’ll let you get back to work.’
He gave a small chuckle before making his way towards the kitchen with his empty tray, leaving Jenny to navigate her way to where Beth was sitting at a table, grinning at her like the Cheshire bloody cat.
‘Donotsay aword,’ Jenny warned her, pulling out a seat across from her.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud,’ Beth said, before taking a sip of her cocktail. ‘And that’s all I’m going to say.’
Jenny had no doubt there would be more said—lots more—but she also knew her friend would wait until they were alone before she made her tell her all the nitty-gritty details. Maybe between now and then a major natural disaster would occur and Beth would forget all about it.
