Page 35 of A Wish For Wilma
Put like that it sounded absurd, but stranger things had happened. Far,farstranger things, when you considered their own current predicament. ‘Ignore me. None of our business, and you know what they say about opposites attract…’
‘Which reminds me that our genie pals are probably still hurling abuse at each other. Hopefully they haven’t moved on to plates or sharp objects.’
The house was eerily quiet when they returned. For a moment, Jinnie panicked. Had they gone out? As far as she knew, they didn’t possess DJ’s shape-shifting ability and might be recognised by someone. Then she heard the bath taps running upstairs and the sound of the toilet flushing.
‘I’ll just hang these up and send a message to the girls.’ Leaving Sam to sort through some post, Jinnie tiptoed upstairs. Pressing her ear against the bathroom door, she heard a muffled sound. Stifled laughter, or someone crying?
Jinnie tapped on the door, gently at first then with more force. ‘Are you OK in there?’ There was no reply, but the water flow ceased.
A few seconds later Aaliyah opened the door, her face a streaky, blotchy mess. ‘He’s left me!’ She swiped at a trail of snot with the sleeve of one of Jinnie’s blouses.
‘Oh, Aaliyah. DJ hasn’t left you: you’ll be reunited once he’s granted my gran’s wish.’Which could be today, tomorrow or in a month’s time, but best not dwell on that.
Aaliyah swiped again. Jinnie vowed to bin the blouse at the first opportunity. ‘Not my gorgeous boy! His stupid, arrogant, hare-brained, useless lump of a father!’ Aaliyah’s puffy eyes blazed so hard that Jinnie feared they’d set light to the carpet.
‘Erm, he’s left youhow, exactly?’ Jinnie pictured Dhassim storming off on the train to Edinburgh — a trip they’d made together a long time ago — and booking himself into a plush hotel. Both would be difficult to achieve without cash or credit cards.
‘He got the hump when I accused him of not paying me enough attention. It’s allme me mewith Dhassim. Only ever thinks about himself.’
‘Aaliyah, you haven’t answered my question. Where is he now?’ Jinnie tried to wriggle past Aaliyah, in case it was all a wind-up and the two of them were about to explode into laughter at her gullibility. She half-hoped to see Dhassim languishing in the bath, preferably with sufficient bubbles to cover his modesty.
‘Back in his lamp.’
Right.Of course he was. At least he wasn’t terrorising tourists in the Scottish capital or causing chaos in Cranley.
Aaliyah continued to block the doorway. They faced each other, Aaliyah marginally less tearful and Jinnie totally perplexed.
‘Forgive me for saying this, Aaliyah, but you two haven’t exactly been acting like love’s young dream lately.’More like two scrapping ferrets in a sack — if ferrets actually did that.‘Your description of Dhassim doesn’t sound like an ode to coupledom.’
‘Oh, and you and Sam are utterly perfect in every way? Pet, when you’ve been together as long as we have, the rough outweighs the smooth. Yes, he’s a useless lump, but he’smyuseless lump.’
When Aaliyah calmed down and insisted that she needed a long hot bath to soak away her worries, Jinnie retreated to the bedroom. She slid a couple of too-tight shirts off their hangers and replaced them with her new purchases.
The whole lamp/genie conundrum made her head hurt. Once upon a time — a worthy opening to a fantasy world — it had taken a few rubs to set things in motion. Now, they seemed to come and go as they pleased. No moreRub a Dub Dub. Thankfully there was only one person in the tub — not that Jinnie fancied hopping in with Sam to make up the numbers.
Needing to keep a hold on her sanity, Jinnie took out her phone and searched for the WhatsApp group chat. She cringed at the last message she’d sent:
Totally smitten with my man and my baby-in-the-making! Who’d have thought it? Big hugs to all and see you asap xx
She’d sent that two months ago. Various replies had popped up, with suggestions of meeting up and colourful emojis filling the screen. Jinnie had answered none of them.
Real friends are always there. Just because you’ve been a crap one doesn’t mean they’ll ditch you forever.
Jinnie clicked on each of her friend’s profiles. Hannah, always flitting from one man to the next. Shalini and Jacqui, still — she assumed — with their boyfriends. Shona, quieter, with her cards close to her chest. They worked well together because of their differences. Did they view Jinnie as an outsider now? There was only one way to find out…
CHAPTER24
‘You daftie,of course we’re not mad at you!’ Hannah clamped Jinnie to her chest so hard that Jinnie feared she’d suffocate.
‘Well, I am, just a bit,’ huffed Shalini, checking out her reflection in a pocket mirror.
‘Oh, Shalini, I’m so sorry.’ Jinnie’s lip wobbled and she didn’t trust herself to say any more.
‘Come here, you idiot.’ Shalini shoved Hannah aside and took over clamping duties. ‘I’m just winding you up. We’ve all missed you like crazy. The gang’s not the same without Jinnie, right?’
Jacqui and Shona nodded in agreement. ‘As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder,’ said Shona, beckoning to a waiter.
‘Or on the flip side, out of sight, out of mind.’ Jacqui added her tuppence-worth, her broad grin suggesting that Jinnie’s absence hadn’t dented their bond.
