‘I’m only meeting Charity, Mum, not half of Southampton, and it won’t be anywhere fancy.’ Isabel, still in her nighty, didn’t want to get into a discussion about the state of her finances at this time of the morning— any time of the day come to that.
Bab’s shot her a pursed lip look over the top of her teacup. ‘Dad and I had a good chat last night about this Wight business.’
‘Oh yes, and what did Dad say?’ Isabel squinted across the table at her mum. The sun had decided to come out, and cheerful rays of sunshine streamed into the kitchen. An excitable woof sounded from the back garden where Prince Charles was frolicking.
‘Well, once he’d finished moaning on about how he thinks he’s pulled his calf muscle after Monday night practice he said that you’re bonkers.’
‘Sounds about right.’
‘I told him, “Be that as it may you’re an adult and as such you can make your own mind up.”’
‘And what did he say to that?’
‘That he still thinks you’re bonkers. I’m having another round of toast, would you like a piece?’
‘Yes please.’
Babs got up and popped a couple of slices of bread in the toaster. ‘I always liked Charity you know even if she was a bit too heavy handed with the slap in my opinion.’
It was true, Isabel mused stuffing in the last of her toast. Her old school friend was a beautician and as such had always been a dedicated follower of the latest trends and was forever watching YouTube makeup tutorials. ‘Charity calls her look ‘photo ready’.
‘I call it tarty. Did I hear through the grapevine that she’s engaged?’
‘Mmm, I don’t know him, they met at the pub the night of my leaving drinks.’
‘Ooh, you might get to be a bridesmaid. Then you would have to do something about that hair,’ Babs said as two pieces of toast popped up.
Isabel doubted it. For one thing, it would place Charity in an awkward position having to choose between her two friends and Isabel was the one who’d been away not Ashley.
‘You know Izzy,’ Babs said pausing mid buttering of the toast, ‘it wasn’t just you I missed when you went away. I missed your friends bowling in and out of the house too.’
Babs and Gaz had always had an open home policy when it came to Isabel’s friends. Her mum would have home baking on hand to offer around, and her dad never said no when it came to ferrying them all about. It made Isabel feel a bit sad sometimes because she could see how well-suited her parents would have been to a large, noisy family but fate played them a different hand.
Charity had spent so much time at their house over the years that it was like having a sister. It was Charity who first met Ashley when they both started work at the same beauty salon. The three of them soon became firm friends. Ashley with her natural good looks was the confident one, Charity the naughty one and Isabel, well she made them both laugh and she was the one they turned to when they needed to talk. ‘You’re a faithful friend, Izzy,’ Babs would often say.
The girls enjoyed countless Friday and Saturday nights dancing around their handbags and shared annual holidays in Ibiza. They’d been there with wine and chocolate when there were boyfriend dramas, and they’d promised each other that one day when they finally found Mr Right, they’d be one another’s bridesmaids. Then, after what happened with Connor all those years of friendship had gone sour.
Isabel had met Connor when she was working for the mobile phone company. He’d come in to upgrade his plan, signing himself up for another two years. Before he left, he’d looked at her from under his heavy sweep of dark fringe and asked if she’d like to meet him for a drink after work. By the end of their first date, she was smitten. Connor ticked every box: funny, smart, kind, gorgeous but what she’d loved most about him was the way he always made her feel like she was the most interesting girl in the world. Okay, so his inability to ever put the loo seat down wasn’t all that endearing. Neither was the way he’d just kick off his smelly socks leaving them to lie about on the floor of his bedroom until he ran out of them and had to go to the laundromat. Worst of all though, was his channel surfing habit—it drove her nuts and thanks to him she’d missed some of the most crucial moments on Downton Abbey! But nobody’s perfect, and she’d loved him even if he did hate opera.
‘How’s that other one these days?’ Babs' lip curled interrupting Isabel’s reverie. ‘The one with the look of a weasel about her. Is she still with Connor?’ Connor’s name was said with appropriate vehemence.
Ashley looked nothing like a weasel; she was blonde and beautiful, but her mum was loyal. ‘Ashley?’
‘Yes her, with the squinty, mean eyes. Always did remind me of a ferret.’
‘I wouldn’t know, Mum. Aren’t you supposed to be at work soon?’ It was after 8.30 a.m.; her mum was due behind the bakery counter in half an hour.
‘Oh bloody hell!’ Babs dropped the buttery knife, ‘You’ll have to put the jam on yourself.’
Isabel got up from the table and hearing her mum thundering up the stairs, picked up the two pieces of toast, and dropped them in the bin. She’d lost her appetite.
͠
Charity forked up her salad and gazed wistfully across the table at Isabel’s bowl of nachos. The
