Free Mommy by Mistake by Rowan Coleman Page B

time in her life she was comforted to know that she was not unique and that her experience of parenthood was just as challenging and as difficult as other people’s. Indeed, it seemed to her that under the circumstances she was making a pretty good job of it, considering that she was a beginner, anddespite her inescapably distinctive circumstances she was enjoying every minute of it.
    “That floor was very dusty,” Frances said, as she came out a little after the others. “I told the woman. I said she should contact the cleaners and complain but she was very rude…”
    “I wonder what happened to Tiffany and Jess,” Meg mused, leaning against the black steel railing that surrounded the pond and looking down at the gathering of ducks and geese that seemed noisily hopeful for some kind of snack.
    “Well, I can clear up one of those mysteries,” Natalie said, watching a figure in a long black coat jogging toward them behind a buggy. “There’s Jess now.”
    “Has it started?” Jess asked breathlessly as she drew up alongside them, her cheeks flushed and her hair wild with static.
    “It’s finished, love!” Natalie said with a chuckle. “You’ve got the time wrong, you dippy mare!”
    Everyone laughed except Jess, whose face fell like a stone.
    “Oh no,” she said, with a distinct wobble in her voice. “I can’t believe it!”
    “Don’t worry,” Natalie said lightly, quickly putting an arm around Jess’s shoulders. “It wasn’t that big a deal—you didn’t miss much, honest.”
    “But we really wanted to go,” Jess said, getting quite heated. “We’d been looking forward to it; it was going to be the highlight of our day.”
    Natalie and Meg exchanged glances. It seemed to Natalie that even in her hormonal state Jess was overreacting just a little.
    “I’m so stupid,” Jess went on miserably, apparently determined not to let herself off the hook. “I can’t believe how stupid I am—and now I’ve missed our meeting!”
    “Stop worrying. Baby Music will be there next week,” Natalie said firmly, deciding she needed to rescue Jess from her own distress. “And as for our so-called meeting, well, that isn’t over until there has been coffee and cake, especially cake.” She glanced up at the sky, which was fairly clear for once. “Who fancies a walk around the park on the way to the café?”
    Meg and Frances nodded.
    “Can’t,” Steve said. “I’ve got some work to do. When are we meeting next?”
    The five looked at each other and shrugged.
    “What we need is a regular date,” Frances said, fishing in her bag and producing a small black diary and a pen. “How about every Wednesday? We could go to Baby Music first and then have a coffee for half an hour afterwards, which would mean the meeting would be over by…midday.”
    “Or—” Jess began and bit her lip before she could finish the sentence.
    “Or?” Natalie asked her encouragingly.
    “You might think it’s a bit too soon to see each other again, but there’s this baby aerobics group on this Friday at the sports center that I thought might help me get back into shape…You exercise with your baby. I think it’s supposed to be quite…fun.”
    Natalie looked at Jess’s face. She’d said the word “fun” as if it was a word from another language. It was obviously something she desperately needed.
    “Brilliant idea!” Steve said. “Count me in.”
    “But that’s a Friday,” Frances said. “That’s two meetings in one week.”
    “That’s okay,” Meg said. “We can treat this week as a getting-to-know-each-other week and there aren’t any rules, after all. The more the merrier, I say.”
    “Yes, you do,” Frances said, looking down at Henry in his pram with an unreadable expression.
    “Aerobics,” Natalie said dubiously. “Does it have anything to do with leotards because I’m not sure any of you want to see me in Lycra.”
    “You can see my bottom from the moon,” Meg said with a chuckle that drew