“No, I’m out with Sarah, sorry.”
“That’s a shame, I’ve just got a new waterbed and thought you could come over.”
“A waterbed? Are we back in the nineties?”
“I’ve always wanted one, and the nineties were cool.” He laughed. “It’s really comfy.”
“Ha, if you say so, they’ve never appealed to me much.”
“So that’s a no for tomorrow then?”
“I can’t, I’m out with Sarah.”
“You could come over afterwards? I’ll wait up for you.”
“No, I haven’t seen Sarah for weeks and weeks. I don’t want to ditch her. Another time, maybe. We’ll see.”
“Are you avoiding me? I haven’t heard from you for ages.”
“No, not at all, I’ve just been, you know, busy lately.”
“Look, you don’t need to be embarrassed.” Oh, does he really need to bring this up? Even though he’s at the other end of the phone, I started to blush. “It happens. We’re all human. I farted in the middle of a meeting once. Totally by accident. No one stopped talking about it for months.”
“Just, don’t talk about it. Please.” I put my other hand over my face as I cringed in the middle of my kitchen floor. “I’m totally mortified.”
He laughed. “Don’t be! I won’t mention it again, but seriously, I don’t care. Come over. What about tonight? I’ll be home in a couple of hours. I can send a taxi for you.”
“Not tonight, I need an early night, but another time, I will do.”
“You’ll call me? Promise?”
“I promise.”
I wasn’t sure if I meant it or not, but as our call ended, I felt happier that we’d spoken and put the farting business behind us. I have my reliable manfriend back. Today has been a very good day. All I needed now was for Bing to reappear. My eye caught something white outside, flying down the road. I ran to out the door to call for Bing but I saw it was just a carrier bag. It must have got caught in a breeze. Where is that cat?
23
Sarah and I were shown to our table by the dashing young waiter. He had olive coloured skin and smelled amazing, like aftershave and pizza. I wanted to tell him, but I’m sober so it would be too weird. That kind of revelation to a stranger can only happen when you have been drinking heavily and can get away with such a creepy comment. We had been offered a table outside where the sun was still shining, but I hate outside dining. You’re just asking for trouble with the wasps. Even though we would have been under a glass shelter, they would still be a problem. They seem to be on steroids this year, they never used to be this massive. So, instead, we had a table inside, upstairs on the balcony. It was perfect as it was far enough away from the noise of the kitchen, so we could chat properly.
“Look at your tan!” I said as we picked up the drinks menu. “You look amazing. I look like a milk bottle next to you now.”
“But look at how much weight you’ve lost, it’s you who looks amazing! Have you been dieting or something?”
“Kind of, I’ve not had a takeaway for, I don’t know how long now. I’ve actually been cooking.”
She put her menu back down on the table to take in the news she had just heard.
“Wait, you’ve been cooking? You have been cooking? Proper food?”
“Proper food, I’m quite the pro now. I’ve been making chili, bolognaise, fajitas. I even made some individual lasagnes to keep in the freezer for when I get home late and I’m too tired to make anything. And I’ve always got a bowl of salad in the fridge to pick at or have with my tea.”
“Wow,” she looked genuinely surprised. She wiped a fake tear from her eye. “That’s so grown up of you. I’m impressed! Are you thinking about hosting a dinner party with James?”
“Ha! Definitely not, but you should come over for tea some time.”
“I think I will. So, why no takeaways? Have you fallen out with them or something?”
“Erm,” I still didn’t want to tell her, “I just fancied a change. I think I was going off it. Do you remember back when I worked at Subway and for a whole year after leaving I couldn’t eat one of their sandwiches? I think it’s like that. I’ve had too many. My body wants me to take a break.”
“Well, you always looked good, but you look amazing right now. We need some wine to toast.”
The waiter came back over as though he had heard her. Dashing and attentive.
“Can I get you ladies something to drink?” he pulled out a device resembling a smartphone and waited for our order.
“Can we get a bottle of the sauvignon blanc please?”
“Of course.” He tapped the details into the phone. “Would you like some water for the table too?”
“Yes please, thank you.”
“No problem at all.” He finished his tapping and then headed down the stairs. We watched him walk across to the bar where our drinks were already being prepared.
“What happened to the old days of a pad and paper?”
“I know,” Sarah agreed, “Since when did technology take over everything? I still struggle with the concept of streaming music. I still don’t understand what it means.”
“Oh, tell me about it, did I tell you about my new car?”
“No, what’s wrong with it?”
“They don’t come with CD players anymore.”
“What? How… how do they expect you to play music? Can you only listen to the radio now?”
“I can play music, but I have to put it all on a USB thingy and then plug it in to my car. I had to get my brother to transfer all my CD’s on to my laptop and then on to the USB. Don’t ask me how he did it, I haven’t got a clue.”
“Max was telling me to get a new car a while back, he almost talked me into it. You’ve just talked me out of it.”
“You can’t get rid of Minnie!” Sarah’s Mini, aptly named Minnie, had served her well for almost ten years. It was a gift from her Grandparents for her graduation. It was originally red, but they knew she had always wanted a bright yellow car, so they had it sprayed especially for her. Her Granddad died the following year so she vowed never to sell it.
“Well, I might have to anyway. I can’t take it with me to…” she stopped herself. “Well, it might be time for a change.”
“You can’t take it where?”
“Where’s our wine?” She looked over the balcony and spied our bottle of wine sitting at the end of the bar, waiting to be brought to us.
“Sarah, where are you going that you can’t take your car?”
She looked down at her hands on the table, she was fiddling with her napkin trying to avoid my gaze. The diamond on her engagement ring caught the light and was reflecting on her face.
“Max got the news last week,” she began, she kept her head down but raised her eyes to look at me, “he has been offered the job in Canada. We’re moving there in January.”
I was stunned. I had no words. When she’d broke the news that they may have to move away, I assumed she had meant to London or Newcastle, not another country. I sat back in my seat and looked towards the window, watching people outside wafting a wasp away from their wine. People think I’m paranoid when it comes to wasps, but they’re the biggest bullies of the insect world. Many times I have been made to feel like a victim because of a wasp.
“Jenny, say something.” Now it was my turn to avoid looking at her. “Please, talk to me.”
“I didn’t realise the move meant to Canada. And I thought it would have been after the wedding. Next summer. Or the end of summer maybe. And it wasn’t final, you didn’t think he’d even take the job.”
“Because I didn’t want to upset you. It’s an amazing opportunity, he can’t turn it down. And it won’t be forever.” She reached across the table to put her hand on mine. “We’ll be coming back to get married, but he can only really come back for two weeks maximum, so we’ll need to try work that out nearer the time, and I might not be able to come back before then either depending on i
f I find a job.”
“Well,” I said, “that’s scuppered my hen do ideas.”
“What had you planned?”
“We were going to Rome.” I may as well tell her now. I had quickly managed to create a Facebook group and get everyone to agree to the plan.
“Aw, Rome! I’ve always wanted to go there!”
“I know, but it’s fine.” I tried to make light of the situation. “We can go another time, just us.”
“How much of it had you planned? I hope not too much. Had you spent any money?”
“No,” I lied, “I had only suggested the idea to people and was just researching flights for the best prices. That’s all.”
I’ll need to contact everyone on the Facebook group to let them know the plan was off. I would need to contact the airline to cancel the seats I had reserved and lose my deposit. I would need to contact the hotel in Rome to cancel the booking. And I would need to cancel the time I had booked off work. Well, the latter doesn’t matter I suppose.
The waiter returned with our wine and poured out two glasses for us, leaving the bottle in a wine cooler on the table. We hadn’t even read the menus yet, so he would come back shortly to take our order.
“I’m so sorry,” Sarah said, picking up her glass. “I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to tell you tonight when we were supposed to be out enjoying ourselves. Now it will have put a damper on the evening.”
“It’s fine,” I picked up my glass too. “I needed to find out some time. Let’s make tonight amazeballs.” We held out our glasses to each other and they clinked together. “To us.”
“To us.”
Two very large gulps of wine later, we picked up our menus to pick what we wanted to eat. I was trying to read my menu, but the words weren’t registering in my head. I couldn’t concentrate. My mind was flipping. I saw the waiter walking back towards our table to take our order, but I still hadn’t decided. If Sarah picks something good, then I’ll just copy her order.
“Have we decided, ladies?”
“Yes,” Sarah said, “I’ll have the bruschetta to start and fillet of sea bass for my main. Thank you.” He tapped her choice into his little device.
“I’ll have the same, thanks.”
“Very good, thank you ladies.” He took our menus from us and walked back down the stairs to the bar.
“Let’s have a good night, yes?” Sarah said. “Please don’t think about me moving. Let’s talk about you. What have you been up to? Any good gossip?”
*
“A waterbed?” Sarah laughed. “Who has a waterbed anymore?”
“I know!” I filled up our glasses. We were on our third bottle and trying to get it finished before heading off to the bar. Thoughts about Sarah leaving me and moving to another country were now at the back of my mind, thanks to the wine.
“You need to try it out. I bet it’s amazing. When are you going to see him?”
“I don’t know, I’m sure I will soon.”
“Have you seen much of Zack?”
“Nothing at all,” I picked up my spoon to use it as a mirror, I felt as though I had something in my teeth. “He’s not been out to our office for ages. I don’t know if he’s coming back.”
“Aw, he will! And you need to make it clear that Oliver was not chatting you up, or whatever it looked like he was doing.”
“I don’t know if I will, I think I’m fed up of trying to get him to notice me. I’m sick of going on dates with weirdos. Can’t you just find me a nice Canadian man and I can move over there with you?”
“Ha-ha, I will certainly try! Are we ready to go?”
“Let’s finish the wine first, it’s good stuff.”
We supped the rest of the wine and Sarah put the receipt from our bill in her bag. She insisted on paying. I tried to put up a fight, but she was having none of it, so we compromised, and I would buy our drinks in Circle Lounge.
We said thank you and goodbye to our dashing waiter, and I got one final sniff before we walked out the door and then in the direction of the bar. The sky was clear, but the sun was setting and there was a beautiful haze over the hills in the distance. It was very humid. I’m glad I decided not to wear tights with my dress. The extra layer would have been unbearable.
The bar was busy, so we had a bit of a wait before we were served. We decided against any more wine. In our experience, three bottles between us was our limit, so we would take it easy with some fruit cider. Very little damage could be done with Rekorderlig. Although stranger things had happened.
With our drinks in hand we looked upstairs for a table, but they were all taken, so we found a spot at the bottom of the stairs by the window. The music was loud here but we still managed to talk. Conversation had moved on to the wedding plans and how it would work planning it from abroad.
“And it’s going to be so difficult to plan the wedding from another country, so I need to do all I can before we go.”
“You can delegate jobs to me though.” I said. “If you need me to go to the venue to ask any questions, talk about the food, anything. I can do it. What are you doing about your dress?”
“I spoke to them yesterday, they were so understanding. They’ve put a priority on my dress order so it should arrive before we move. I’ll have a fitting or two done then and when I come back before the wedding next year they will do any final alterations. But I need to go the day I get back into the country so they have plenty of time to get it done before the actual day.”
“That’s really nice of them.”
“I thought so too. But it means when I get to Canada I can’t gain or lose any weight. I need to stay as I am. That will be six months of being sensible, but not too sensible that I lose anything. It’s going to be hard. What if I don’t like any food there? Or what if I like it too much and gain loads of weight? Don’t they put maple syrup on everything?”
She was starting to flap. Sarah was great at staying calm and keeping things under control, but on the rare occasion that she panicked, she would really panic.
“Stay calm, it’ll be fine! Don’t worry about the wedding, you’ll have me on this side of the pond as well as your parents to do anything that needs doing over here. And before you go, ask them to give you your measurements so you can keep try to come back the same size. Every ‘problem’ has a solution.”
“Who’s that?” She asked, looking at the crowd behind me.
“Who?” I looked back but didn’t know who she was talking about.
“Him, there. The guy with the light blue shirt. Short-ish, standing next to the guy in the red shirt.”
I skimmed the crowd and saw who she was looking at. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember his name. Where did I know him from?
“I feel like I know him from somewhere, but I can’t remember where, why?”
“He keeps looking over at you. He said something to his friend and then he looked too. Do you know them both?”
“No,” I looked again, this time at the guy in red. “Never seen him before, but I know the little guy.”
Just as I said that, he looked up and caught my eye. He smiled and waved and I automatically waved back, as you do. Then it came back to me.
“Oh, yes, I used to work with him at Provident.”
That was a very long time ago. I left there about eight or nine years ago when I decided I needed a change of scenery, and a better salary. This guy worked in a different department but was friends with a guy, Alex, who took a shine to me. I took a shine to Alex too but was dating someone else at the time.
“What’s his name?”
“I really can’t remember.”
Sarah found this funny, even more so when he and his friend started to walk over to join us. They navigated their way through the crowd and joined us at the bottom of the steps.
“Hi Jen!” he said, standing a little too close to me. “Long time no see, how are you?”
“Hi… Chris!” Finally, it came to me. Better late th
an never. “I’m great thanks, this is my friend Sarah. Sarah, this is Chris, we worked together at Provident.”
They exchanged ‘hellos’ and he then introduced his pal as Ryan. The more Chris spoke the more I remembered what he was like back when we worked together. He was friendly enough, but when he heard that my boyfriend and I had broken up not long after I left the company, he used to message me a lot wanting to meet up. He eventually got the hint and I never heard from him again.
He was still standing too close to me.
“So, are you still at Provident?” I asked him.
“No, I left that shit hole years ago. I’m at Direct Line now. It’s loads better.”
“Ah good.”
I glanced at Sarah and gave her the look. The kind of look that is only understood by best friends. The look that said, ‘we need to leave now, drink up’.
“Are we getting off soon, Jen?” she asked. “It’s time to move on I think.”
“Oh yes, definitely if you want to.”
“Where are you headed now?” Chris asked.
“Erm, well, we…”
“We’re off to Middle Bar.” He said. “Do you want to join us?”
“Oh no, we said we’d call in at…” I looked at Sarah, my mind had gone blank.
“Plummet Line.”
“Yea, Plummet Line. Sorry.”
“I’ve not been there for ages, what do you think Ryan?”
“Yea mate, lets do it.” Ryan said, a little too eagerly.
“We’ll come with you then.” Chris looked too happy and giddy.
“Oh great.” I looked at Sarah, giving her a different look. That look that said ‘bollocks’. How are we going to get away from them?
We all walked up the road together, walking past Middle Bar where we should have been losing our two shadows. We crossed the road and found our way to Plummet Line. Sarah and I never came here as it was not on our usual route of places to drink. I didn’t realise it was still open to be honest. The last time I was in this bar was for the 2010 world cup final. That was a warm day. We walked in together and Sarah pulled on my arm.
“We’re just nipping to the ladies, we’ll meet you at the bar.”
Blind Date Page 9