‘I can’t believe it, Amy!’ Jess was incredulous when she returned from yoga in the parish hall to discover that Amy had been asked, but yet refused, to move back in with Daniel.
‘Do you think that I’ve gone mad?’ Amy asked, in a quivering, small voice. ‘I don’t know what possessed me, but I just knew that I couldn’t move back the way things are now, with Daniel thinking everything is OK again, when it isn’t.’
‘I can’t believe that you didn’t cave in,’ Jess said, seeing a side to Amy she had never known existed.
‘I was tempted. I really was . . . I love Daniel, you know I do, but I’m not sure that he loves me enough,’ Amy said in a small voice. ‘I couldn’t bear that. Imagine how bad it would be if I went back and it didn’t work out. Jess, I’m not sure that I could take it.’
Jess knew just how fragile Amy really was, but yet some kind of miracle had happened and she had managed to retain her composure around Daniel, and to think clearly.
‘I’m so proud of you,’ Jess said, giving Amy a big hug.
‘Do you have any wine?’ Amy asked. ‘I think I need a drink.’
‘Sure, there’s a Prosecco in the fridge and a Shiraz in the press.’
‘Prosecco, please.’
They stayed up late talking, wrapped in the big brown rug. Finishing the Prosecco, they opened the Shiraz as Jess drunkenly demonstrated to Amy the two new yoga positions she had learned: the Cobra and the Bull Frog.
‘You have to stick your tongue up towards your nose and stretch it up and down like a snake!’
The two of them collapsed in a heap of giggles as they squatted on the floor.
‘Maybe I should take up yoga, too!’ teased Amy.
‘No, you’d make me laugh too much.’
An hour later at 2 a.m., they went to bed, having talked and talked about Daniel and Amy’s relationship from every angle.
‘I promise I’ll try and get a place of my own,’ slurred Amy.
‘You have a bed here for as long as you need it,’ Jess insisted. Although she loved her own space in the cottage and the spare room was tiny, she didn’t want Amy to go back to live with Daniel just because she felt she needed somewhere to stay.
Jess was suffering, totally hungover, the next morning, and even after a blasting hot shower to wake her up and revive her felt like she had been eating a bag of feathers all night. She felt ill when she opened the fridge, and just managed a cup of tea and two dry Ryvitas. She couldn’t believe it when she checked in on Amy in the spare room and discovered that she was already up and gone to work. Her mug and plate were packed in the dishwasher.
Somehow Jess managed to drag herself to school. Second class would definitely be having Reading Time today, Art Time and anything quiet that she could think of. Trying to keep a bunch of eight-year-olds quiet was a nightmare even at the best of times, but today, with this constant feeling of nausea which made her think she was going to puke, it was essential. She prayed that Bernadette Carroll, the principal, gave her a wide berth today and didn’t come near her class. Roll on three o’clock and home and her leaba . . . her big comfy bed, which had cost a fortune but was well worth every penny.
Tonight she had no intention of going anywhere, and would be happy to veg out in front of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross or The Late Late Show on the TV. Tomorrow night Amy and she were heading out with the girls for drinks in town before hitting a nightclub. It had taken a bit of persuasion to get Amy to agree to going out without Daniel in tow, but a night with the girls was just what her best friend needed.