Chapter 13
‘All these years, I never thought I liked Guinness … ’ said Graham, as we walked away from the Storehouse.
‘I know, me too,’ said Caz. ‘It’s a revelation.’
‘It doesn’t taste like that in London,’ said Noah. ‘That was different.’
‘Yeah, yeah, Guinness is great, blah, blah, blah.’ Amy was still a little bitter that she couldn’t get involved like the rest of us.
‘After the baby’s born I promise I’ll bring you some tins,’ I said, and she pulled a horrified face.
‘I don’t think I mind missing out that much. I’ve got a bigger list of alcohol I want after the birth. A good bottle of Rioja for starters.’
‘Rioja, noted.’
‘Don’t be fooled by the baby-kicking routine,’ Paul said, slipping his arm around her shoulders. ‘She just wanted a comfy seat.’
‘I did get an incredible view over the city.’ She gave me a little wink.
We were huddled on the street in front of the Storehouse, and it was freezing.
‘What’s on the itinerary now?’ asked Graham.
‘I feel like I’ve brought my PA on holiday.
It’s amazing. Makes me feel like I need one for the rest of my life.
Fancy taking up the position?’ He looked at me as he spoke and I gave him what Noah would call my murderous look.
He laughed. ‘I’ll take that as a no then. ’
‘Not unless you can give me the same sort of return I’ll get from Mags’ company.’
I joked, but in truth I hadn’t made my final decision about leaving. I’d written my resignation letter a million times in my head, but I didn’t know if, when the time came, I’d have the balls to actually type the words, let alone hand it to my boss.
‘Fair enough,’ he said. ‘So, Amy, where’s next?’
She pulled out her phone and brought up a list.
‘We should probably head back to the hotel, get ready for dinner.’
‘Code for Amy needs a nap.’ Paul coughed.
‘I don’t usually hear you complaining.’
‘Well, every man and his dog keeps telling me to bank my sleep whilst I can.’
‘Ah, come on,’ said Noah. ‘We’ve got a while until we go out tonight. I bet we could stop off for a cheeky little drink. Somewhere with comfortable seats for Amy.’
‘And a view?’ she said.
‘Demanding much? OK, with a view. I’ll see if I can Google something.’
He pulled out his iPhone and tapped away before telling us we were better heading closer to the hotel.
I watched Caz holding hands with Bertrand. It was weird to see her with someone other than Nick. We’d got to know him so well over the years. But Bertrand seemed nice. He was younger than us, and a little blunt at times, but he clearly adored her.
I turned to make sure Mum was OK. She had her arm looped through Amy’s, looking perfectly happy.
‘This is fun,’ said Graham, lowering his voice to me. I snapped my head round and smiled at him.
‘You say that like you’re surprised.’
He pulled a face. ‘I guess we haven’t spent that much time all together. And at your dinner party, everyone seemed a bit more … uptight?’
I thought back to the first time he’d met my friends and I guess things were a little off that night.
Amy was in the early stages of pregnancy and, whilst I had been sworn to secrecy, no one else knew.
She’d spent most of it swapping her wine glass with Paul’s and scraping extra food onto his plate as she was too sick to eat it.
The result had been Paul absolutely hammered, slurring about the most random topics.
Mags and Noah had arrived late and both looked exhausted.
And Caz had bailed on the whole thing, shocking us all by going to Paris to meet Bertrand instead.
‘Yeah, that was an odd night, but this is a much better representation of what they’re usually like.’
‘What a relief; there’s nothing worse than when you don’t like your partner’s friends.’
Up until that point I’d always thought of it as the group putting the new partner on trial, rather than the other way round.
The best bit about being on the group trip was that a twenty-minute walk went by in the blink of an eye with so many people to chop and change talking with.
‘So, Graham,’ said Paul, sidling up to us, ‘Lucy says that you support Spurs?’
I watched the two of them walk away, not too sure that it was such a good idea for them to talk about that. Paul was still holding a grudge about the former Portsmouth manager and many of the players defecting to Spurs that signalled the downfall of the club.
‘What are those two talking about?’ asked Noah, taking Graham’s place next to me.
‘Graham’s a Spurs fan.’
Noah pulled a horrified face. ‘It was nice knowing him. Even if it was only temporary.’
I laughed, but I was a little worried that it might destroy the harmony that we’d built up as a group this afternoon.
‘I was thinking that whilst we’re here we should do a little sightseeing.’
My brow wrinkled a little. ‘Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?’
‘No, I mean just us, um, two. It’s sort of our tradition on our leap year birthdays. Our trip around Calais and then our morning in London.’
I nodded; two of the highlights of my last big birthdays.
‘Um, yeah, that sounds fun. I know Graham wanted to go for a run tomorrow morning. He’s training for the London Marathon and he needs to get his miles in.’
‘Wow. Good for him and, I guess, good for us. I’ll obviously have to run it past Mags when she gets here; we all know she wears the trousers.’
‘We do.’
Noah laughed.
‘It’ll be nice to spend some time together,’ I said. I couldn’t remember the last time that Noah and I had done anything just the two of us. Since he’d moved in with Mags, I’d seen more of him than I ever would have done normally. But Mags was always there, and if she wasn’t, Amy and Paul were.
‘It will.’
‘So where are we going to go then? Do you fancy an art gallery or a walking tour?’
I looked up at the blue sky. It was cold and crisp and somehow it made the sky look bluer than in London. If it wasn’t for the biting wind I could have been lulled into thinking it was a spring afternoon.
‘I’ve got something in mind; it’s a surprise.’
‘A surprise? I’m not really good with those.’
‘Well, learn to be.’ He wiggled his eyebrows in a way that made me laugh.
The others had stopped up ahead, having found a pub that ticked many of the boxes, and, with a view over a park, it almost ticked Amy’s too.
Noah held the door for me.
‘Why thank you, kind sir,’ I said, with a little curtsey.
‘You’re welcome.’ He nodded back. ‘Why is that you’re the only person that can get away with saying stuff like that?’
I shrugged. ‘I think most people are far too cool.’
‘That must be it.’
The pub was busy, but it was large enough that we found a table near the back that could just about accommodate us.
Graham and Paul, still arguing about football, found their way to the bar, and Noah went over to act as referee. Bertrand was about to sit down next to Caz but she suggested he join the boys.
‘Everything OK?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, fine. I’m just encouraging him to branch out a little.’ She smiled. ‘I want him to get to know them and there’s no chance if he’s always cuddling up to me.’
‘True.’ I nodded, watching him at the bar, where he was hovering on the periphery.
‘So, are we going to play some sort of drinking game?’ asked Mum, slipping off her big winter coat.
‘Um, no, not if you want any of us to make it to dinner. Those days are long gone,’ I said. ‘Plus, I’m not sure how many drinking games you can actually play with an Irish coffee.’
‘Shame. I always thought they looked fun.’
‘Don’t worry, Mrs A, when Lucy gets married and I’m planning the hen do, we’ll do drinking games a plenty,’ said Amy, patting her on the arm.
‘Hey, don’t be holding your breath thinking that any hen do is going to be forthcoming.’ A cold sweat broke out on my forehead. Inviting Graham on the trip had been enough of an agonising decision.
‘Yeah, too right,’ said Mum, looking over the bar. ‘You don’t want to be rushing into anything.’
‘Oh, I wish you were my mum.’ Caz sighed. ‘All she talks about it is me hurrying up and getting engaged or I’m going to be left on the shelf.’
‘That sounds like my mother, and I sometimes wonder where I would have been in my life if I hadn’t listened.’
It’s funny, I’d never really thought what Mum’s life would have been like if she hadn’t married Dad.
‘But then you wouldn’t have had Lucy.’ Tears started to form in Amy’s eyes.
‘You’re right, my life would have been empty without her. Those pregnancy hormones, huh, they’re a bitch.’
‘The worst.’
Mum squeezed her hand.
‘Of course I’d always want to have had Luce. I just mean, that I wish there hadn’t been that pressure to settle down. But back then, I was a complete hopeless romantic anyway. Given the choice I probably still would have thought your dad was Prince Charming.’
‘Speaking of Prince Charming,’ said Caz, ‘are you still dating?’
Mum shook her head. ‘I gave up on that. Honestly, the amount of baggage and hang-ups people had. Me included.’
She smiled and shrugged. ‘I’ve realised I quite like being on my own. Doing my own thing. I’ve got friends who are still married and now they’re coming up to retirement, they’re dreading having to spend time with their partner.’
‘I’m dreading Paul’s paternity leave; he’s going to be fussing all over me.’
‘Oh, you’ll be glad of him being there, believe me,’ she said. A look of panic flashed over Amy’s eyes and Mum squeezed her hand again.
‘But don’t you miss having someone?’ Caz’s voice was a little hollow and I wondered if there was more to the question. There so often was with Caz. Unlike Amy, she didn’t give you a running commentary on her thoughts and feelings; you had to wait until she was ready to share.
‘No, I’ve made some friends at my allotment and believe me that gives me enough of a male fix. Plus, I’ve always got my friends in the bottom drawer of my bedside cabinet.’
‘Mum,’ I practically shouted.
Caz snorted with laughter and Amy’s cheeks flushed.
‘What did we miss?’ asked Graham, putting down the drinks.