I am wearing my trademark jeans, tucked into long boots and a chiffon blouse, with a short leather jacket over the top and I feel good. I've dropped a few kilos these past few weeks, what with all the tension at home but weight loss for a woman, caused by whatever reason, generally makes us feel good.
Jo picked me up earlier in the cab and as we walk into the pub we can already see Jemma and Lulu sitting at a table in the corner. They have wine chilling in a bucket with our glasses standing to attention and waiting to be filled. After kisses all round, I pour myself and Jo a drink, clink glasses with everyone, say cheers and take a very large swig. “Shit I soooo need this”
“You okay?” asks Jemma, “You look very tired and you’ve lost more weight”
Jemma is my closest friend and never misses a beat when it comes to how I look and how I might be feeling. She has been seriously on my case these past few months, asking if everything is okay with me. So many times I have come close to telling her everything but Jason and her husband Max are pretty good mates and I know that once Jemma is made aware of what’s going on, there will be no going back.
“Yeah, I'm fine”.... Not wanting to dampen the mood by telling them about my woes.... “Just had a shitty week”
“Why, what’s happened?” She’s not going to leave it is she? I notice Lulu and Jo observing us and I get the distinct feeling, this night has been organized to get to the bottom of what is going on with me.
I love my friend’s dearly but I do not want to be discussing my marriage or the demise of it, in all its unfortunate details tonight. Tonight is about kicking back and having some much needed fun. Tomorrow will be the day, Jason is off playing golf early tomorrow so I will round them all up and let them know things are over between myself and Jay. I am still undecided as to whether or not to tell them all of the details, I really do not want their pity, I don’t want anyone’s pity!
We sit and we chat and we catch up with what is going on in each of our lives. All of us apart from Jo are married with children. Jo has a thirty year old son; Sean. This is unbelievable really, as she has only just turned forty five herself. Yep, do the maths; her parents were thrilled when that news broke. Her boyfriend’s even less so. She had never married Sean's father and never really had any kind of relationship with him, his parents refused to let him have any contact with her or the baby and sent him to live interstate.
She has lived with a few men over the years but is single right now. It’s been around ten years since she had thrown out the last man to share her home. She runs her own very successful accountancy firm and unfortunately seemed to attract complete losers for a while, She had eventually seen the light with the last bloke she had lived with when she noticed the online shopping he was doing with her credit card was either on porn sites or buying sex toys. This would have been fine, except she had never got to watch the porn and the sex toys hadn’t been for her! She was happily single now and would just pick up a one night stand if she ever felt the need for sex. The men in question were generally boys, as in her words they were dumb and grateful and didn't want anything other than sex from her. Whatever works, I’ve always thought. Feeling just a little bit jealous of the freedom she has.