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‘I’m going to say something and I don’t want you to get cross with me, OK?’ Bridget looked at Stella. ‘You can’t just sit here waiting for that to happen.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’ve put your life on hold for the last month or so and still there’s been no word.’
Stella grimaced. ‘Thanks for reminding me.’
‘No, I don’t mean… What I mean is, do you think it’s time we started thinking about what life might look like without him. Because say he does want to come back, would you want him to? After doing this, I mean?’
There was a pause. Stella took another sip, then shrugged her shoulders. ‘I honestly have no idea.’
‘You’re living your life in a holding pattern, waiting for Simon to call you. And that call might not come, darling. I’m sorry to have to say it out loud.’
‘I know.’ Stella put her glass back on the table. ‘Bridget, believe me, I know. It’s all I think about, every single bloody second of the day. I just want to know why.’
‘Well, we love you and we think it’s time we started making plans of our own, not right now, of course, but soon. Put in a weekend where we go away, just us girls.’
‘Book club?’
‘Exactly.’ Bridget smiled.
‘Why do I get the feeling you lot have already got a plan?’ Stella managed a small laugh.
‘We might have talked about something. We just thought you could do with a complete change of scene for a few days, go somewhere where you don’t have to think about anything but having a nice time.’
‘And where, exactly, were you thinking?’
‘Florence.’ Bridget grinned at her friend. ‘A Room with a View, remember?’
Stella smiled. ‘Our first book.’
‘Technically, our only book.’ Bridget laughed. ‘But we did always say how one day we’d all go. And that was meant to be before anyone got married. That was before you had kids, and before I seemingly forgot to have kids.’
Stella squeezed Bridget’s hand. Bridget had been trying to conceive for a while, having finally talked Neil round to the idea of starting a family together, enduring rounds of IVF over the last couple of years. Nothing had worked, and as time had gone on, Bridget had talked about it less and less, until one day she had declared herself quite happy without children as long as she could borrow her friends’ to hug as often as she wanted. Of course, they all knew Bridget was covering a deep well of sadness, but over time she had taught herself not to peer down into it too often.
‘It’s a lovely thought, but I’m not sure a mini-break to Florence is going to help me right now. And anyway, I can’t leave the children. Not at the moment, it’s too soon.’
‘We’re not thinking right now, but perhaps in a couple of months’ time. Let’s just find a weekend and put it in the diary, then we’ve got something to look forward to. It might all be different by the time we go, anyway.’
‘You mean he might have reappeared? I’m not so sure.’
‘He might. But I’m not going to let you just plough on regardless. You’ll need a break at some point and Florence is the perfect place to have it.’
Stella sighed. ‘I did love that book. And the film. Haven’t seen it for years.’
‘So, is that a yes?’ Bridget looked at her hopefully.
Stella knew from her friend’s face they’d clearly discussed it in detail. She found herself nodding, partly because she was too tired to argue. ‘Yes, it’s a yes.’
‘It’s a yes!’ Bridget exclaimed, jumping up on to her feet. ‘Wait until I tell the girls.’ She reached for her phone and tapped out a message on the group chat. ‘I’m not saying a holiday is going to fix everything, of course it’s not. But it might just give you some space and time to think about things when you’re not so close to them, you know? Failing that, we’ll just fill you up with ice cream and negronis for a few days.’
Stella’s phone pinged. Her hand shot out to pick it up, but, of course, it was just the notification from Bridget.
She said yes!!
A string of heart and pizza emojis from Lucy followed. Then came a reply from Sarah:
CAN’T BLOODY WAIT X
