Page 36 of A Wish For Wilma
Despite Jinnie’s protests — ‘I’m the one who’s preggers, not you’ — they all ordered mocktails.
‘Solidarity, buddy.’ Hannah raised her blueberry ginger fizz. ‘To friendship, happiness and babies. Lots and lots of babies!’
Jinnie clinked glasses with everyone. Little did they know there was a virtual baby boom back home. Herself, Angela, and Aaliyah, even if she’d missed out on his baby years.
‘So, how are you all doing?’ Jinnie sat back, feeling completely at home in the chic surroundings of The Crooked Cauldron. Recommended by Jo and Harvey, it ticked all the boxes. A charming ambiance, menu choices to please everyone and a volume level that allowed conversation.
‘More to the point, howyoudoin’?’ Hannah channelled her inner Joey fromFriends. ‘That is one gorgeous dress you’re wearing. Cliché alert, but you’re radiant, hun. I can’t achieve that even with my arsenal of highlighting creams and concealers. Maybe I need to get up the duff too!’
Jinnie laughed, the tension that had built up in recent days unfurling like an opened umbrella.
‘Are you with someone now?’
Hannah honked and thumped the table with both hands. ‘Sweetie, we split up last week. Ah, you’re so out of the loop. I was dating Gaston — yes, likeBeauty and the Beastand equally thick — but I made the mistake of focusing on his biceps rather than his intellect. Nope, the chances of me procreating are as likely as Scotland winning the football World Cup.’
As their waiter hovered, iPad in hand, to take their food orders, Shalini gave a gentle cough. ‘Gillis proposed to me. Don’t get too excited, though. I said no.’
‘Because?’
‘Because he never wants to watch the same shows as me. He lolls around after work, adjusting his tackle in his hideous trackie bottoms, and moans all the time about needing to get fit. Ironic, as crawling onto the sofa amounts to his total workout. I’ve seen the future, and it doesn’t give me the Disney feels.’
Jacqui and Shona nodded sagely. Jinnie knocked back her Virgin Mary cocktail.
‘Do you need a few more minutes?’ The waiter gave off acould you just make a decisionvibe. They barked out their orders and discovered they’d all chosen the same dish: chicken Milanese with parsley, crushed potatoes, grilled vine tomatoes and a spinach and basil pesto cream.
‘Jeez, we’re an imaginative bunch, aren’t we?’ Hannah asked for a gin and tonic, grimacing at her fall from grace.
‘Great minds think alike,’ said Jacqui, requesting a small glass of white.
‘Fools seldom differ.’ Shona asked for the same. ‘So much for solidarity. Still, we’re here, the night is young and our bestie is back in the building!’
The evening passed in a haze of banter, drinks and food as good as promised. Her friends gushed over her dress — ‘who knew you could look like a goddess with a bump!’ — and Jinnie swatted away negative thoughts. The girls were back in town, and Sam would pick her up when she sent the word. She sent the word shortly after:Help! Xx
‘Aww, do you have to leave so soon?’ Hannah hiccupped, three gins in, her eyes glazed.
‘Stay!’ Jacqui had unearthed a flask from her handbag and kept pouring something viscous and no doubt lethal into her water glass. ‘Finn’s on a team-building trip, so you can bunk up with me and we’ll put the world to rights.’
Jinnie’s world bore no resemblance to theirs. Pregnancy aside, they could never understand how her life had stuttered off course. To explain would lead to psychiatric assessment. No, first incredulous looks. Then murmurs: ‘She’s lost the plot. Off with the pixies. Barking mad.’
‘Sam’s here!’ Jinnie slapped a generous amount of money into the kitty, enough for the meal and more. ‘He’s waiting outside if anyone needs a lift.’
Four heads swivelled from side to side. ‘Not leaving yet.’ Hannah, gin-goggles firmly in place, gave a come-hither look at their waiter. He reeled backwards and sought refuge in the kitchen.
Promising to keep in touch more often, Jinnie left her friends amping up the volume. She hurried towards Sam, leaning against his car with the killer smile which still turned her insides to jelly.
‘Not up for a wild night, I take it?’ Sam helped Jinnie fasten her seatbelt before strapping himself in.
‘I couldn’t keep pace with them even if I wanted to,’ said Jinnie, cranking up the heating. ‘It was great to see them, but now I just want to crawl into bed and sleep for twelve hours.’
‘Here’s hoping Aaliyah doesn’t keep you awake,’ said Sam. ‘After her bath, she spent a good half hour hurling abuse at Dhassim’s lamp. She sent a few choice words in my direction, too.’
‘What a cheek!’ said Jinnie indignantly. ‘She has no right to be rude to you. If anyone deserves an ear-bashing, it’s me.’
‘You deserve no such thing,’ said Sam. ‘The more I think about it, the more I see that they’d already planned to return, either to see DJ or just to throw a spanner in the works. Neither copes well with boredom, so I reckon we’re stuck with them for a while.’
‘Marvellous.’ Jinnie sighed with gusto. ‘I hopea whiledoesn’t mean the next three months. I have absolutely no desire to give birth surrounded by Dhassim, Aaliyah and DJ.’
‘Hmm. The three not-so-wise men, or rather, men and woman.’
