brother rang me and asked me for a date,’ said Gill.
‘What? I hope you told him where to get off! John’s a cheating, many-timing rat. I wouldn’t wish him on my worst enemy, let alone my new friend. He’s selfish, lazy commitment-phobic and yet women just melt. I don’t get it,’ said Lisa.
‘It’s his smile,’ said Gill. ‘He has a lovely smile.’
‘Really? I think he always looks smug. Still, well done you, for telling him to hop it,’ said Lisa.
‘I said yes, actually,’ said Gill.
‘Oh.’
Although Gill had married, divorced and had kids, she wasn’t like Lisa. Gill hadn’t been worn down with worry about school tests, hearing tests, swimming lessons and other mum stuff. She looked about ten years younger than Lisa and had a decent job as the manager at Next in the High Street.
The bad news was that she still secretly believed in ‘the one’. Even though she’d rowed with her old ‘one’ about who got the furniture.
‘I thought you were OK with this. He saidyou gave him my number,’ said Gill.
‘Well, he lied. Get used to it.’ First of many, no doubt. ‘He must have nosed through my address book while he was babysitting when I was at my night class,’ said Lisa.
‘He’s taking me to that new Italian in town,’ said Gill. She sounded happy.
‘Order something expensive,’ said Lisa. She sounded cross.
Since Lisa was fourteen, John had dated a number of her friends. It always ended badly. Lisa’s friends never wanted to admit they’d been taken for a fool or that John was a rat. So, oddly, Lisa always got the blame. She’d lost more friends through John’s romantic adventures than she cared to remember.
‘He breaks hearts,’ said Lisa.
But she knew she was wasting her breath. No one ever learnt from anyone else’s mistakes, and few of us learn from our own. Lisa was not looking forward to another friend getting hurt.
‘I don’t think you should go on the date,’ said Lisa.
Gill was huffy. ‘You need to learn to trust again. Your problem is you can no longer see chance or even goodness anywhere.’
‘That’s not true,’ said Lisa, hurt.
‘Yes, it is. Look at the way you treat Mark,’ said Gill.
‘I don’t treat Mark badly.’
‘You hardly know he’s there, Lisa! You’ve just talked about your imaginary menopause for longer than you’ve ever talked to me about Mark.’
Really? That couldn’t be right, could it?
‘You should enjoy this new love,’ said Gill.
What was she talking about? New love? What did Mark have to do with love? Mark was a fling, a stopgap, something other than Keith. That was all.
Gill had not finished. ‘And one more thing. You’d better buy a pregnancy test. Just in case.’
With that she hung up the phone.
7
17 October
Lisa’s boss and his wife had gone on holiday and left Lisa in charge of running the café. She couldn’t believe that Dave trusted her so much. When he’d dropped off the keys at Lisa’s house he had looked worried. Maybe he couldn’t believe he trusted Lisa either.
Lisa would not be working alone. Betty (who had worked at ‘N Chips’ since forever) was coming in every day to help. She was very old, so she wouldn’t be much help with serving or cleaning. But Betty was great at scaring people into buying things they didn’t really want. She told them chips were good for them. She told them they needed fattening up. People loved it. It was a gift. With Betty around they’d do a good trade.
This wasn’t a good time for extra duties at work. Lisa was in the middle of a serious ‘can-we-get-a-puppy-for-Christmas?’ debate with Jack.
‘I know dogs are for life, not just for Christmas. That’s what I like about them,’ he said over and over again.
Then he’d look sadly at the picture of his dad that he kept on his bedside table.
Lisa thought he might be messing around with this emotional blackmail stuff, but she might not be strong enough to turn him down. What if he did need a dog
‘What? I hope you told him where to get off! John’s a cheating, many-timing rat. I wouldn’t wish him on my worst enemy, let alone my new friend. He’s selfish, lazy commitment-phobic and yet women just melt. I don’t get it,’ said Lisa.
‘It’s his smile,’ said Gill. ‘He has a lovely smile.’
‘Really? I think he always looks smug. Still, well done you, for telling him to hop it,’ said Lisa.
‘I said yes, actually,’ said Gill.
‘Oh.’
Although Gill had married, divorced and had kids, she wasn’t like Lisa. Gill hadn’t been worn down with worry about school tests, hearing tests, swimming lessons and other mum stuff. She looked about ten years younger than Lisa and had a decent job as the manager at Next in the High Street.
The bad news was that she still secretly believed in ‘the one’. Even though she’d rowed with her old ‘one’ about who got the furniture.
‘I thought you were OK with this. He saidyou gave him my number,’ said Gill.
‘Well, he lied. Get used to it.’ First of many, no doubt. ‘He must have nosed through my address book while he was babysitting when I was at my night class,’ said Lisa.
‘He’s taking me to that new Italian in town,’ said Gill. She sounded happy.
‘Order something expensive,’ said Lisa. She sounded cross.
Since Lisa was fourteen, John had dated a number of her friends. It always ended badly. Lisa’s friends never wanted to admit they’d been taken for a fool or that John was a rat. So, oddly, Lisa always got the blame. She’d lost more friends through John’s romantic adventures than she cared to remember.
‘He breaks hearts,’ said Lisa.
But she knew she was wasting her breath. No one ever learnt from anyone else’s mistakes, and few of us learn from our own. Lisa was not looking forward to another friend getting hurt.
‘I don’t think you should go on the date,’ said Lisa.
Gill was huffy. ‘You need to learn to trust again. Your problem is you can no longer see chance or even goodness anywhere.’
‘That’s not true,’ said Lisa, hurt.
‘Yes, it is. Look at the way you treat Mark,’ said Gill.
‘I don’t treat Mark badly.’
‘You hardly know he’s there, Lisa! You’ve just talked about your imaginary menopause for longer than you’ve ever talked to me about Mark.’
Really? That couldn’t be right, could it?
‘You should enjoy this new love,’ said Gill.
What was she talking about? New love? What did Mark have to do with love? Mark was a fling, a stopgap, something other than Keith. That was all.
Gill had not finished. ‘And one more thing. You’d better buy a pregnancy test. Just in case.’
With that she hung up the phone.
7
17 October
Lisa’s boss and his wife had gone on holiday and left Lisa in charge of running the café. She couldn’t believe that Dave trusted her so much. When he’d dropped off the keys at Lisa’s house he had looked worried. Maybe he couldn’t believe he trusted Lisa either.
Lisa would not be working alone. Betty (who had worked at ‘N Chips’ since forever) was coming in every day to help. She was very old, so she wouldn’t be much help with serving or cleaning. But Betty was great at scaring people into buying things they didn’t really want. She told them chips were good for them. She told them they needed fattening up. People loved it. It was a gift. With Betty around they’d do a good trade.
This wasn’t a good time for extra duties at work. Lisa was in the middle of a serious ‘can-we-get-a-puppy-for-Christmas?’ debate with Jack.
‘I know dogs are for life, not just for Christmas. That’s what I like about them,’ he said over and over again.
Then he’d look sadly at the picture of his dad that he kept on his bedside table.
Lisa thought he might be messing around with this emotional blackmail stuff, but she might not be strong enough to turn him down. What if he did need a dog
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