Life and Soul of the Party Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’m pretty pessimistic about it all.’
    Vicky disagreed. ‘I love the idea of being handed a clean slate every year and setting myself a whole new set of goals.’
    ‘There speaks Wonder Woman,’ I replied. ‘So what’s your goal for this New Year then, Vick? Something involving those cookbooks of yours. Maybe it’s time you finally applied to appear on Ready Steady Cook. You’d be ace on that.’
    ‘Cheeky cow! No Ready Steady Cook for me.’
    ‘Well then, you should have another baby,’ suggested Laura. ‘You and Chris make great babies, it’s a proven fact. William is quite possibly my favourite human being on the entire planet.’
    ‘Well, I’m afraid you’re not his.’ Vicky gave me a wink. ‘Before we came out tonight it was Auntie Mel this and Auntie Mel that. I think he’s got a massive crush on you, Mel.’
    ‘Fine by me,’ I replied. ‘What is he, four? I’m more than willing to hang on another twenty-six years for the right one.’
    ‘That is so wrong on about a million different levels,’ groaned Vicky.
    ‘So, are you going to have another baby then?’ Laura was probing.
    Vicky shook her head. ‘I’ve only ever wanted one.’
    ‘Looks like you and Cooper will have to take up the slack then,’ I said to Laura.
    ‘Cooper would have kids at the drop of a hat if I let him,’ she said despairingly. ‘Your William’s such a walking advert for procreation that I’ve lost count of the times Coop’s dropped subtle-as-a-brick hints like, “How great would it be to have one of those around the house?” and I’m like, “Are you insane? I can barely look after myself let alone another human being.”’
    ‘So you don’t ever want kids then?’ asked Vicky.
    ‘There’s too much I haven’t done for me to even think about any of that. In fact if there’s one resolution I do want to make this year, it’s to go travelling. I want to see a bit more of the world. I want to spend time in a place where it isn’t always raining. I want to live a little. Do you know what I mean?’
    I nodded. ‘You and Cooper should definitely do it. Grown-up gap years are all the rage for the discerning thirty-something.’
    ‘Tell that to my boyfriend. If it wasn’t for the fact that he’s making us save up a stupid deposit for a stupid house I’d do it in a heartbeat.’
    Vicky sighed. ‘You know you really shouldn’t give him such a hard time. Cooper’s just doing what Cooper does. He wants the best for you both.’
    Laura shrugged and fingered the label of the beer bottle in front of her. ‘I don’t know, maybe he does. But why does he have to be so boring about it?’
    ‘Look.’ Vicky tried to lift the mood around the table. ‘Let’s not get depressed. It’s New Year’s Eve and we’re all together so let’s just enjoy ourselves.’
    Chris
    It was just after nine by the time we left the Old Grey and made our way to Sharon and Ed’s. On the way I tried Paul’s mobile a couple of times but kept getting his voicemail. This was one hundred per cent typical of Paul. He never returned people’s calls if he could help it and when you had a go at him he’d just look at you as if you were acting like some kind of girl making a big deal out of nothing and say: ‘I’d let you know if I wasn’t coming, wouldn’t I?’
    Whilst hitting redial I thought about how long Paul and I had been friends. We first met through mates of mates one summer night outside The Black Horse in the days before they knocked down Shambles Square and moved it over the road. I was in the second year of my law degree and I’d just finished my exams – a whole bunch of us had been sitting drinking on the benches outside the pub since late afternoon. Heading up to the bar to get a round in I’d ended up standing next to Paul. We were both quite drunk by this point in the evening and out of nowhere Paul turned round and told me a joke about a nun and a polar bear that was so ridiculously puerile that even thinking