Page 126 of Good Sisters

30. Sophie

Julie had arranged for us to meet for a drink. She hadn’t been herself at Louise’s meet-Marco-in-Dublin event and I was worried something was wrong. I arrived five minutes early and was surprised to see Gavin already sitting at a table, drinking a pint of Guinness.

‘Hi.’

‘Hi,’ he said, his mouth ringed by Guinness froth. ‘God, this tastes good.’

‘Thirsty?’

‘Wrecked and badly in need of a night out and adult conversation. I love Lemon but being on my own with her all day when she’s up half the night is beginning to grind me down. Shania’s travelling a lot, so it’s just me and the baby. The minute she got home tonight I ran out the door.’

The waitress came over to take my order. As I was ordering a glass of red wine, Louise marched in, sat down and barked, ‘White wine, Pinot Grigio, not too dry, large glass.’

The waitress scurried off. Sometimes my sister was just a little too curt, but I wasn’t going to tackle her on it in the mood she was in.

‘Tough day at the office?’ Gavin asked.

‘It wouldn’t have been if Zoë hadn’t fucked up yet again by ordering pulled pork sandwiches for a working lunch with my Muslim client.’

‘Oh, no!’ I gasped.

‘Oh, yes,’ Louise said. ‘I was mortified.’

‘To be fair, at her age I probably could have made that mistake.’ Gavin held his hand up.

‘First of all, I told her he was Muslim and to order the lunch accordingly. She constantly bangs on about being woke and sensitive to sexual preferences, minorities, ethnicities and cultures, but when it comes down to it, the only person she gives a flying fuck about is herself.’

Our drinks arrived and while Louise drank deeply from her glass, I let her cool off as I turned back to Gavin. ‘The days with a newborn can be long. You should bring Lemon to those baby-group, happy-clappy things. At least you’d get to interact with other parents.’

‘I’ve tried that, but I’m the only dad and the mums or nannies are all in groups. I end up on my own, like some kind of freak of nature. I’ve tried chatting to the mums but they either think I’m hitting on them, am a loser or I don’t get it because I didn’t give birth or breastfeed.’

Louise, who had polished off her wine in about three gulps, snorted. ‘Welcome to the real world. When I became the first female partner in my law firm in London, I had to deal with all the male partners thinking I didn’t belong, wasn’t smart enough, strong enough or ballsy enough to walk among them. I had to fight my corner every single day and prove myself until they finally accepted me and then, when I became more successful than they were, most of them felt threatened by me. It’s never easy to be a minority, but you have to tough it out to break down barriers.’

Gavin put down his pint. ‘Jesus, Louise, I just want a bit of mindless chat and a coffee with other stay-at-home parents. I’m not looking to change the world. And how thick were the male partners in your firm not to see you were a ball-breaker from the first time they met you?’

‘Not thick, just blinded by their own egos.’

Julie hurried across the bar and sat down with us. She ordered a bottle of wine and took off her coat. She seemed distracted.

‘How’s Lemon?’ she asked Gavin. ‘Sleeping any better?’

Gavin shook his head. ‘Not great. I was up half the night with her. Thank God Shania came back today.’

Julie laughed. ‘Get used to it. I survived on three hours’ sleep for years.’

‘Jeez, Julie, you remind me all the time. I’m doing my best, it’s just hard sometimes, that’s all. A bit of sympathy wouldn’t go amiss.’

Julie looked at me, eyebrows raised.

‘He’s grumpy because the baby-group mums don’t include him and he feels marginalized,’ I explained.

‘Hashtag leperdad,’ Louise said, laughing.

‘Welcome to my world,’ Julie said. ‘And it’s not just because you’re a man. The other mums sprinted away from me because I had triplets and no one wanted that chaos near their babies. It was bloody lonely for me too. If it wasn’t for Marion, I don’t know what I would have done.’

‘To be fair, Julie, the triplets were kind of wild.’ I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. ‘If I’d met you in a baby group, I’d probably have run away too.’

Julie flinched, her face flushed with emotion. ‘Really, Sophie? Well, you would have been very bloody foolish because my boys are the very people who are putting themselves on the line to defend your daughter right now.’

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