Page 13 of A Smart Girl's Guide to Second Chances
‘You’ve written an actual list?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, I’ve called it my “Salad Days List”,’ I said. ‘It’s a phrase that Shakespeare made up to describe the period in your life when you’re young and it’s all meant to be pleasure and fun. And I figured... I’m young. So maybe it’s time for the fun part?’
‘You like Shakespeare?’ he asked.
‘I like lists with good names.’ I attempted a nonchalant shrug while bracing for a judgemental eyebrow raise or a flat-out laugh.
‘Can I see it?’ he asked instead.
‘Umm... okay,’ I said. I reached for my bag under the wooden bench and yanked out my spiral-bound notebook. I flicked through pages I’d furiously covered during lectures and tutorials. He didn’t even attempt to pretend not to read my notes over the table. I flicked faster – through weeks of my thoughts and analyses of the assigned readings and feedback from professors. I knew that the way I studied was over-the-top, beyond thorough, but it was how I retained information.
I finally found the list and handed him my notebook. As his eyes darted over the page I was very aware of my neat, schoolgirl lettering. I was equally conscious of the fact that I’d approached my first and last summer of freedom, the few weeks of my academic career when there was nothing left to do, like a graded assignment.
‘Find the witch in the bottle at the Pitt Rivers Museum.Drink Pimm’s at Summer Eights.Watch a celebrity speak at the Oxford Union.Play croquet,’ he read aloud. He flipped to the next page where the list continued. ‘And there’s more. This list isverycomprehensive.’
If anyone else had made that assessment I would have been sure they were teasing, but he seemed sincere. He looked up at me. ‘Can I come with you to May Day morning?’
I stared at him for a moment. While I’d been wandering the college hoping to bump into him, I’d never imagined that he’d suggest we hang out together.
‘Yeah, of course. I mean, you’re the only person I know who will already be awake,’ I said.
His face split into a grin. I smiled back.
Chapter 7
NOW
I plastered a smile on my face and walked into Nick and Stella’s house. Mum’s birthday party was in full swing, and by that I mean my extended family were all milling around the Nancy Meyers–inspired kitchen. Even though this wasn’t the house that my brother, Nick, and I had grown up in, it had a similar energy – it felt like the house was humming with warmth and care because it had absorbed all the energy of a very capable woman.
I put the cake on the bench then picked up my niece Evie, who’d been the first to notice me arrive, because nothing escaped her, ever. I spun her around, her sparkling dress twirling behind her.
‘Who invited a fairy?’ I asked. Evie was two parts exhausting to one part adorable. A few hours with her was better than any sleeping pill on earth. And yet just one of her twinkly smiles made my ovaries do somersaults.
‘I’m not a fairy, I’m Evie,’ she replied.
‘Oh, amIa fairy then?’ I asked.
‘No, you’re my grandma!’ she said. I really needed to get on to some preventative Botox. Though at thirty-three, would it still be preventative?
‘She’s obsessed with your mum, so “grandma” is her highest form of praise,’ Stella said, giving me a kiss as she scooped her daughter out of my arms.
‘I really need to up the actives in my skincare,’ I said.
‘One of the mums at Evie’s kinder offered me the name of her plastic surgeon for when I’m ready for my postpartum glow-up,’ Stella said.
‘Is that a thing?’
‘Apparently. Honestly, the only thing that has glowed about me recently is my left boob mid-mastitis,’ she replied.
I winced. ‘How is leftie?’
‘Oh, much improved. Praise be for antibiotics. And a husband who’s able to source them quickly,’ she said.
‘It’s the small things. Where is said husband?’ I asked.
‘He got called in,’ she said.
‘He’s on calltonight?’ I felt a familiar spark of irritation. Nick was an obstetrician, so was often called into the hospital at weird hours. But why hadn’t he insisted on taking the night off? Surely his mum’s birthday was enough to ring-fence some time in the roster, even if he and his wife, mother to their toddler and baby, weren’t hosting the festivities at their house.
