although I did nearly give them food poisoning which added a very small frisson of excitement. Then today I thought we were going to have a nice family day but it’s ended up being a day of sport watching and beer drinking with good old Ted.’ This last bit she said in a hushed tone.
‘All sounds joyous,’ laughed Esther, slipping off her jacket. She looked great as ever, but today she also looked tired. Under all those freckles she was pale, though as ever her naturally strawberry blonde hair was shiny and brushed and no matter how tired she’d always look attractive. She’d aged really well and always dressed in a way which made other women want to know where her clothes were from. She always bothered to add accessories and put outfits together in a way that told you she hadn’t just picked up whatever was on the floor and thrown it on. Today her printed scarf and Alex Monroe gold bumblebee necklace were the items Jennifer was coveting.
‘Sounds like you need a good night out with the girls.’
‘I do,’ agreed Jennifer. ‘You know we’re going out on Tuesday don’t you? Only to the Hare and Hounds but perhaps then we can get our diaries out and arrange something proper. Something which involves cocktails and dancing. Love that scarf by the way.’
‘Thanks, it’s River Island and yeah, I do know about Tuesday, although I’m not a hundred percent sure I can come yet,’ said Esther. ‘I still need to get a sitter sorted out.’
Jennifer suspected at that point she definitely wouldn’t be coming then. Such a shame and it grated ever so slightly that she wasn’t making it a priority.
‘Tea?’
‘Yeah please.’
‘Anyway, enough of my boring weekend, how’s yours been?’
‘Not bad actually,’ said Esther, a sly grin lighting up her face.
‘Go on,’ said Jennifer getting mugs out of the cupboard, happy that her friend was round. Her proper friend. It had restored her equilibrium.
‘Well, Jason and I are pretty skint at the moment and we’ve been in loads, but on Friday my mum babysat so we went out and got hammered. I’m talking properly pissed and when we got home and Mum had gone, we ended up…’ Esther grinned and started shaking her head ‘…doing it in the hall. And then we actually did it…’ again she had to stop while she snorted with laughter at the memory ‘…in the downstairs loo.’
‘You are kidding me,’ said Jennifer, full of mixed emotions. She was deeply impressed, terribly envious and strangely proud to hear that people were still having wild sex with their husbands, even if she wasn’t.
‘I’m not,’ said Esther, giggling. ‘It was hilarious. You know the type of sex you have where afterwards you’re almost a bit embarrassed.’
‘Wish I could remember,’ said Jennifer drily, grabbing the milk out the fridge. ‘By the way, they are brilliantly quiet up there aren’t they? Thank you so much for coming round and saving our day.’
‘Pleasure,’ said Esther. ‘Thanks for saving me from hours more of pushing Sophie on the swings.’
‘No worries,’ said Jennifer dolefully, her mind still on Esther’s exploits. ‘Do you know the last time I can remember feeling faintly embarrassed after sex was probably with Tim.’
‘Really? Why? What did you do?’
Jennifer grimaced. ‘You don’t want to know.’
‘Er, well that’s where you’re completely wrong.’
Jennifer wrinkled up her nose, embarrassed ‘Let’s just say he was quite kinky and leave it there shall we?’
‘No way!’ protested Esther. ‘I’m sorry but you have to spill the beans now, Missy. If you don’t I’ll end up imagining all sorts of things that are probably far worse than the reality.’
Jennifer sighed, knowing she was beaten. ‘OK, but tell anyone this and you’re a dead woman.’
Esther pretended to pull a zip across her mouth.
‘OK, so basically, towards the end of our relationship Tim was only really up for it if I was…um, pretending to be someone else.’
Esther’s eyes widened. ‘You mean he liked role play?’
Jennifer nodded, went red and chewed on a fingernail. Liked was an understatement.
Esther laughed heartily. ‘Oh god. I think I can vaguely remember you saying something about that at the time.’
‘Hmm,’ Jennifer said, wrinkling up her nose ‘Anyway, maybe I should have just put up with his weird ways. Let me show you something.’ She hurried into the front room and returned with the Rich List.
‘Bloody hell,’ said Esther, wide-eyed once she’d been shown the relevant bit. ‘That is a sick amount of money. God, I can’t tell you how much we could do with just a little bit of that. Things are really tight at the moment to the point where we’re struggling some months to make the mortgage payments. I certainly shouldn’t have treated myself to this scarf I can tell you. I feel guilty every time I put it on. Can’t you phone Tim and ask if we can have some?’
‘I wish,’ said Jennifer.
‘That could have been you,’ said Esther.
‘Well, I don’t know about that.’
‘It could. Don’t you remember how gutted he was when you broke it off? You could be that rich.’
‘Ooh listen to you, last of the feminists. I’d prefer not to be sponging off Tim Purcell thank you very much. Though, having said that, I’m not totally sure what the difference would be to how my life is now. I hate being so bloody dependent on Max these days. In fact I’ve been thinking recently about retraining in something in an attempt to improve my pathetic earning potential.’
‘Like what?’
‘Dunno, haven’t got that far yet,’ admitted Jennifer flatly. ‘Any ideas are very welcome.’
Esther giggled suddenly. ‘So, hypothetically, if you had stayed with Tim, do you think you’d still be friends with us lot now?’
‘Course I would,’ said Jennifer, insulted. ‘What do you take me for? Although I’m not sure Karen would have been popping round the mansion that often. She hated him didn’t she?’
‘She did,’ confirmed Esther. ‘I always thought he was OK though. He was so clever wasn’t he? Had an answer for everything. Oh and I’ll never forget that party he threw in your house that time. The one where Karen shagged Pete for the first time. It was awesome. Maybe even the best party I’ve ever been to.’
‘God that party was fun wasn’t it?’ agreed Jennifer. ‘Or are we looking back through rose-tinted glasses?’
As her mind returned to Tim, for once she allowed herself to be transported back to how life had been then, all those years ago. She always pretended she couldn’t care less, but in truth, being permanently reminded by the business section of the papers that one of your exes was doing amazingly well in life was a little galling.
And deep down she knew it probably could have been her enjoying the fruits of his labours, if she’d stuck with him. If she hadn’t let her concerns that he didn’t love her as maybe he should overwhelm her. Or, more to the point, if she hadn’t decided that despite his protestations, he cared more about work than any living human being, and that that in itself was a problem she’d never be able to overcome.
Still, that was all firmly in the past and besides, she suspected that no amount of riches would ever have made up for the fact she’d spent much of their time together dressed as a police woman.