Page 52 of Try Hard
I wasn’t sure that was true. Sure, I was a senior writer, and I had gotten lucky with attention on my pieces, but everyone was replaceable at the end of the day. That was the corporate world.
When I didn’t offer any more commentary or information than a quick nod, Mum sat me down, and started making tea.She gave me a moment as she filled the kettle and pulled out two tea bags before she turned back to me and smiled. “So, how was the party?”
I almost laughed at the flashback to being a child attending my classmates’ birthday parties, returning home with a party bag and a piece of cake wrapped in a colourful napkin. “Busy. Seems like Kim’s wedding is going to be a big one.”
“Oh, yes?”
If I ever got married, she was going to be disappointed by the wedding. She looked positively overjoyed.
I hummed and leaned my chin on the back of my hand. “Tanika was saying there’s like nineteen bridesmaids, two maids of honour. Over two hundred guests.”
“Tanika was there? Oh, what a sweet girl. How’s she doing? We haven’t seen her for a couple of years. Remember the last time she came over here? Oh, it was so long ago.”
I didn’t really remember it, no. Studying for exams, or celebrating them being over, or something similar, I imagined, but I couldn’t actually place it. Odd, really, since she hadn’t spent that much time over here, but it was two decades ago, and a lot had happened since then.
“How’s her husband?” Mum asked as she poured the water into the waiting mugs. “He’s a sweet man. We’ve only met him the one time—ran into them at the market—but I could tell he was a good one. Much better than the guy she was with before him.”
I nodded sharply. “That’s what I hear.”
Mum hummed, stirring the mugs and adding milk to her own. “So nice that everyone from your cohort is getting married and being happy.”
Ah.I knew this line of thought. “Indeed,” I said, watching her pull the biscuit tin out and bring it over to me before returning for the teas. I’d have offered to help, but she never let me.
“Any chance Eve was there?” she asked, her voice purposefully and transparently light when her back was towards me.
I waited until she turned around and was walking towards me—a touch longer than she’d normally wait, obviously hoping she’d be able to conceal her reaction. “She was, actually.”
“Ah,” she said, working hard not to stumble or smile too widely.
“Yeah. Whole group of us from school.”
“It sounds like it,” she said, sitting down with me and waving off my thanks for the tea. “Have a biscuit.”
Not one to argue with her in this mood, I pulled the lid off the tin. However, I could feel her getting more and more antsy as I took my time choosing one. Finally, I plucked a biscuit from the container and looked up at her.
She smiled. “Was it nice to see her again?”
“After yesterday, you mean?”
“Yes.”
I bit down on my amusement. “It was nice to know someone there. You know, someone I’ve seen more recently than two decades ago.”
She sat up taller in her seat, leaning towards me across the table, and she snatched up a biscuit with alarming speed.
While Fuad survived on gossip, it seemed my mother had been starved of the stuff.
“So, you spent a lot of time with her?” she asked eagerly.
“A decent amount,” I offered, wondering how much detail I wanted to get into, but, if not with my mum, then who? “Kim’s new cousin-in-law was… excited to claim Eve’s attention.”
“A challenger? For her affections?” She clasped her face in her hands. “Oh, my!”
I laughed in disbelief. “Mum, it’s not the Middle Ages.”
“Maybe not, but this is serious, Fia. If there’s someone vying for her attention, you’ve got to put yourself out there, let her know how you feel.”
“And how is that?”
