Libby laughed, but at the same time she tried to think. The two women knew a lot of the same people and that didn’t help. ‘Maybe when the shop opens there will be a steady stream of single, available and attractive men coming through the door. I can offer a discount if they take you out.’
‘It’s books you’ll be selling, I’d say you’re more likely to get a steady stream of old ladies, and mums looking for something for their teething toddlers to slobber over.’
‘Now now,’ said Libby. ‘Readers come in all shapes and sizes, and ages and marital statuses! And don’t forget the writing nooks,’ Libby added, defensively. ’We might get a real arty type in, all poetic and beardy and ridey.’
It was Jess’s turn to stifle a laugh. ‘Knowing my luck, if you got one like that he would have some unsavoury habits, like writing sci-fi erotica, or not washing or something.’
‘Well, I can’t help you if you’re going to be fussy.’ Libby laughed, suddenly putting her hand to her tummy as it rumbled loudly. ‘Time for tea and sandwiches, I think,’ she said. ‘This spot will do nicely.’
Jess nodded in agreement and pulled a picnic blanket from the bag and spread it on the lush green grass. Reaching in to her insulated picnic bag for the flask of tea, she swore. ‘Oh for the love of God, this is just great.’
Libby, who was now feeling almost faint with hunger, had a feeling this ‘for the love of God’ was not a good ‘for the love of God’. Her fears were confirmed when Jess lifted one sodden hand out of the insulated bag.
‘I mustn’t have sealed the flask properly,’ she said, reaching in and picking out sandwiches which had turned to mush in their kitchen paper wrapping. ‘I don’t think these will be edible – and what’s left of the tea – which can’t be much given the crumby tea soup in the bottom of this bag – has gone cold.’
Knowing that Jess was feeling a little emotionally fragile that day anyway, Libby plastered a ‘ah well, never mind’ smile on her face, even though she felt a little emotionally fragile herself at the thought of the lost lunch. ‘We’ll just eat something else,’ she said. ‘It’s okay, Jess. Don’t worry about it. It’s the gesture that counts.’
‘Not when we’re starving with hunger,’ her friend countered. ‘But I suppose we could always go to the pub for lunch? Just think of it – something warm and tasty and a dirty big chocolatey dessert after?’
‘Are you feeling quite well?’ Libby asked. ‘Lunch and dessert?’
‘Pre-menstrual,’ Jess said. ‘I might even have a starter. Don’t judge me!’
Ah, so that explained Jess’s extra emotional behaviour.
Jess blinked her large, blue eyes and a single, self-pity filled tear rolled down her cheek. While Libby had hoped not to darken the door of The Ivy Inn again until her wet T-shirt introduction had been well and truly forgotten, she thought of how Jess’s face had lit up on seeing Noah the day before. And, if she was honest, she also thought about how hungry she was.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Let’s go and get fed.’
Jess smiled so brightly that Libby couldn’t help but smile too as they packed up the wreckage of what had been their lunch and started to walk back down the hill towards Ivy Lane.
7
The Outsiders
The buzz of conversation and the delicious aroma of lunch greeted the girls as they walked into the bar. Unlike the day before, the bar was completely packed – with each and every table filled with happy punters enjoying their day off.
Libby looked to Jess and shrugged her shoulders. ‘Seems we won’t get a table,’ she said, partly relieved that she had a legitimate reason to leave and partly disappointed because the food smelled so incredible.
She noticed Jess was looking all around, standing up on her tiptoes to add some height to her 5’4” frame so that she could see as much as possible. ‘Looks like that table over there is almost finished,’ she said, nodding to a family of four who were tucking into bowls of ice cream. ‘We could just take a seat at the bar and wait? Or eat at the bar?’
At a prime spot to make small chat with Noah, Libby realised. Even though Libby didn’t want to – Jess had already grabbed her by the arm and was dragging her towards the bar, where, to her huge relief, Noah was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, two women, neither of them Jo, were serving; smiling and chatting happily with customers. Libby relaxed a little and pulled herself up onto a bar stool, while Jess ordered two glasses of red.
‘This will have to be it,’ Libby said, clinking her glass with her friend’s. ‘We’re both driving.’
‘More’s the pity,’ Jess sighed. ‘When was the last time we had a nice afternoon drinking session?’
Libby tried to think back – it had been a while. Possibly even pre-Ant, she thought with a degree of shame. Had she become one of those friends who suddenly became unavailable when there was a man on the scene?
‘When the shop is up and running, we’ll make it a priority,’ she said.
‘Or just get a taxi next time we finish working across the road? In a few weeks you will be living there anyway – no excuses then.’
‘I suppose,’ Libby conceded – but also wondered how she would balance Ant’s need to have her each and every weekend to himself, Jess’s increased loneliness and the work that needed to be done in the shop. Taking a large gulp of her wine, she vowed to actually put all of it out of her mind to enjoy her lunch and this time out with her best friend. Living in the moment – isn’t that what it was called? It was something Grandad Ernie had tried to encourage her to do.
‘Most of us never know what’s coming, petal,’ he had told her. ‘So make the most of every moment. Don’t waste them worrying about the next.’
‘Let’s choose what to eat before I faint with hunger!’ she said to her friend.
Jess lifted the menu from the bar and scanned it. ‘It all looks so good, I’m just not sure what to choose.’
‘I’d definitely recommend the warm chicken salad, followed by the chocolate fudge brownie with home-made vanilla ice cream,’ a deep voice said from behind them.
Libby jumped – and her glass wobbled perilously close to the edge of the bar. Noah’s hand reached out and steadied it.
‘Sorry,’ he said with a smile. ‘Didn’t mean to startle you.’
‘It’s in danger of becoming a habit,’ Libby said drily.
He laughed. ‘I suppose so. I’ll try harder. Sorry. Another hectic day?’
Libby was suddenly acutely aware that she probably looked almost as dishevelled as she had the day before. At least she wasn’t soaked through this time.
‘What gave it away?’ she said, forcing a smile. ‘The dust in our hair, the dirt on our clothes?’
‘Maybe the grotty smell,’ Noah said, and Libby blushed. Between the dirty carpets and the sweaty lifting work, she probably did smell less than fragrant. ‘Oh, I’m only teasing,’ Noah said. ‘Honest. You don’t smell that bad.’ He laughed and Jess laughed too. One of those forced laughs that was a little bit too enthusiastic and screamed that she clearly fancied Noah and his sense of humour. It reminded Libby that she hadn’t introduced them yet.