Free If You're Not the One by Jemma Forte Page B

love to see you. Also, Sophie can sort my two out and give them something more interesting to do than killing each other.’
    Bored rigid of the swings, Esther was round in minutes.
    â€˜I am so glad to see you,’ said Jennifer flinging her arms round her friend as soon as she’d opened the door. ‘Hi Sophie, how are you sweetie?’ she asked her goddaughter.
    â€˜Good,’ said Sophie.
    â€˜Go on then, Eadie’s upstairs and ah…here’s Pol. Have you finished colouring?’
    â€˜Yes,’ said Polly, looking delighted to have a playmate that wasn’t Eadie.
    As the girls scampered upstairs Jennifer ushered Esther into the kitchen.
    â€˜Am I glad to see you? What a dull weekend I’ve had, bloody hell.’
    Esther giggled. ‘Why? What have you been up to?’
    â€˜Ugh,’ groaned Jennifer. ‘Well, we didn’t have the kids Friday night but we managed to totally waste that window of opportunity to have some fun by doing jack shit. Then on Saturday we had Judith and boring Henry round for lunch.’
    â€˜Oh god,’ said Esther, who had heard enough about them to imagine what that would have entailed.
    â€˜Quite, although I did nearly give them food poisoning which added a very small frisson of excitement. Then today I thought we were going to have a nice family day but it’s ended up being a day of sport watching and beer drinking with good old Ted.’ This last bit she said in a hushed tone.
    â€˜All sounds joyous,’ laughed Esther, slipping off her jacket. She looked great as ever, but today she also looked tired. Under all those freckles she was pale, though as ever her naturally strawberry blonde hair was shiny and brushed and no matter how tired she’d always look attractive. She’d aged really well and always dressed in a way which made other women want to know where her clothes were from. She always bothered to add accessories and put outfits together in a way that told you she hadn’t just picked up whatever was on the floor and thrown it on.Today her printed scarf and Alex Monroe gold bumblebee necklace were the items Jennifer was coveting.
    â€˜Sounds like you need a good night out with the girls.’
    â€˜I do,’ agreed Jennifer. ‘You know we’re going out on Tuesday don’t you? Only to the Hare and Hounds but perhaps then we can get our diaries out and arrange something proper. Something which involves cocktails and dancing. Love that scarf by the way.’
    â€˜Thanks, it’s River Island and yeah, I do know about Tuesday, although I’m not a hundred percent sure I can come yet,’ said Esther. ‘I still need to get a sitter sorted out.’
    Jennifer suspected at that point she definitely wouldn’t be coming then. Such a shame and it grated ever so slightly that she wasn’t making it a priority.
    â€˜Tea?’
    â€˜Yeah please.’
    â€˜Anyway, enough of my boring weekend, how’s yours been?’
    â€˜Not bad actually,’ said Esther, a sly grin lighting up her face.
    â€˜Go on,’ said Jennifer getting mugs out of the cupboard, happy that her friend was round. Her proper friend. It had restored her equilibrium.
    â€˜Well, Jason and I are pretty skint at the moment and we’ve been in loads, but on Friday my mum babysat so we went out and got hammered. I’m talking properly pissed and when we got home and Mum had gone, weended up…’ Esther grinned and started shaking her head ‘…doing it in the hall. And then we actually did it…’ again she had to stop while she snorted with laughter at the memory ‘…in the downstairs loo.’
    â€˜You are kidding me,’ said Jennifer, full of mixed emotions. She was deeply impressed, terribly envious and strangely proud to hear that people were still having wild sex with their husbands, even if she wasn’t.
    â€˜I’m not,’ said Esther,