‘Joking.’
28
GEORGIE
DECLAN AND POPPY BACK TOGETHER!!!!! DECLAN’S MOVED BACK IN!!!!! And I have something to tell you, will call later.
Georgie was pretty sure that she knew what Beth’s text was referring to, but she still wanted to hear it.
As soon as they spoke a couple of hours later, Beth squealed, ‘I’m with Noah and I’m moving in with him.’
‘I’m so pleased for you. Noah’s lovely and sweet and gorgeous, just like you. You’re perfect for each other,’ Georgie told her. ‘I honestly couldn’t think of a better partner for you if I tried to invent one.’
‘I know.’ Bethneversounded smug, but she did today. With good reason. It wasn’t every day that you officially hooked up with your soulmate. ‘And it’s Noah’s fortieth in ten days’ time and I’m going to have a party for him here at the pub. I’m inviting all his best friends and family, obviously. Ankita and Alex. And also Declan and Poppy. Which should be okay, shouldn’t it? Like at the wedding party?’
‘Yes,’ said Georgie firmly. She was going to have to get used to being in the same place as Poppy in this weird polite-but-not-good-friend way, and hopefully one day they might even become closer again.
‘Wonderful. It’s going to be so nice, all four of us being together with our other halves.’ Okay, that was slightly cloud cuckoo land. Obviously Declan and Poppy were happily back together, thankgoodness. And Beth and Noah were very happily newly coupled up, also lovely news. And obviously Ankita and Alex were married.
But it still made Georgie sad seeing Poppy. And Noah and Raf’s whole family and a lot of their friends would be at Noah’s birthday party, and while she and Raf were now seeing each other regularly, Georgie was kind of thinking they were just having fun together for the time being, and the party would not be the best first place for them to go public as a couple. Beth’s positive thinking was one of her most endearing qualities, though.
‘I can’t wait,’ Georgie lied.
Georgie and Max stayed with Georgie’s mother and stepfather for the party.
‘Darling,’ her mum said, ‘you won’t mind, I’m sure; we’re going out this evening and the cleaner’s coming to babysit Max.’
Obviously Max would be safe with the cleaner, who he knew very well, but his grandmother had promised him a fun evening.
‘I thought we were going to play tennis at your club this evening?’ Max’s gorgeous, sweet, still-innocent, eleven-year-old face had fallen.
‘Next time, darling, and I’ll buy you hot chocolate as well to make up. How does that sound? In fact, why don’t I buy you hot chocolate at a café tomorrow morning? And maybe slip in some tennis, too?’ Max was easily bought and was smiling again. So now Georgie was going to have to choose between disappointing Max over playing tennis with his granny at her very swish club, or letting Declan down over seeing him in the morning, or getting back to Bristol later than expected and having to go straight to Max’s football match and not getting his homework or her marking done. All without mentioning Declan to her mother because she still hadn’t told her about that.
‘Granny, I have to tell you all about school this week. So many cool things happened. On Tuesday?—’
‘Darling, shh, maybe tomorrow morning. I have to get ready to go out now. We’re going for dinner with Lauren, a lovely last-minute invitation.’ Lauren was the older of Georgie’s two half-sisters.
Max looked as though he was going to cry. It was fortunate that there was no obvious weapon handy because if there had been Georgie might have brained her mother with it.
It wasshitbeing second best to your own half-sisters. It had been shit for twenty-four years now since her parents had split up, and it never got better, although she was used to it. And it wasreallyshit, beyond shit, when your beautiful son got upset by his grandmother having close to zero interest in himagain. Being second best was terrible.
Georgie was a little bit late for the party because before she left the house she spent ages listening to a practically real-time account of Max’s school football practice the day before. It wasn’t like her listening to him that evening wasactuallygoing to make up for her mother’s almost complete lack of interest, but she just couldn’t be the second adult in one evening to tell him to stop talking because she had somewhere better to be.
The party was in the pub’s garden. Beth had had the dining room on hold in case it rained but it was a beautiful cloud-free evening, and in fact fairly warm, which was actually quite rare for a June evening in the Cotswolds. Some people even had strappy dresses on, with bare shoulders on display.
Raf was waiting for her outside. He immediately slung an arm round her shoulders and pulled her in for a big kiss on the lips. Half of Georgie was swooning, because as always it was agoodkiss, but the other half was goingWhat, what, what? This was in full view of, well, everyone?
‘Let’s go for a quick walk first.’ He took her hand.
‘Okay. Although notquickquick, because of my shoes.’
‘I will bear your shoes in mind.’
As they walked slowly round the green, he said, ‘I haven’t felt this close to anyone since Anna died. I didn’t think that I’d ever have this much fun again.’
As Georgie’s lips formed into an oh, he continued, ‘We met when we were twenty and we got married when we were twenty-four. A lot of people thought we were too young but we weren’t. It was great, for seven years. And then Anna found a lump in her neck.’ He paused for a moment and then went on, his voice sounding tight. ‘And we found out that she had cancer. And she died five months later.’
Georgie squeezed the hand she was holding and he returned the pressure.
