The Golden Girls' Road Trip by Kate Galley

Author:Kate Galley [Galley, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781804542248
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

17

I’m not dressed for this, I realise, the second we join the back of the short queue to get into the cocktail bar. I’m not used to coming to places like this. My long gypsy skirt and floral blouse are so out of sync with the plunging necklines and tight trousers of the other people here. It’s youth, I realise, and I shouldn’t be wearing the same clothes – that would be weird – but Alex seems to have it right with her outfit. She didn’t change after dinner and even though she’s dressed fairly casually in her black trousers and a pale pink, cotton blouse, her statement jewellery of long gold chains and colourful bracelets bring her far more up to date than me. She’s also navigated the cobbled street we’ve walked up in high-heeled shoes, although I had to pull her up and out of the taxi that dropped us off by the gardens at the end of the lane.

‘Can’t we just go to the pub next door?’ I ask, and she laughs.

‘No, they do such wonderful cocktails in here; you’ll love it.’

‘I feel uncomfortable though.’

‘Connie, why do you worry about what you look like? I’m sure no one cares.’

‘I don’t, usually,’ I say, with a bitter edge to my voice. I can’t really keep up in Alex’s world, but then, I never could. I always felt a bit like the spare part. I suppose that was why I was so keen to get on the road together then, because apart from the expected gentle ribbing between friends, Alex never judged me, not really.

We file in behind the others and wait to see if there’s a table for us. It’s surprisingly busy for a Wednesday evening.

A young man with a gorgeous ginger beard and a bright blue shirt appears. We’re shown to a booth in the corner and menus are placed down in front of us.

‘Can you tell Rachel that Lex is here?’ Alex asks him and he nods and then disappears.

I put my glasses on and glance through the menu for something simple and palatable. What I’d really like is a glass of wine or a gin.

A woman appears from behind the bar. She’s in her sixties I would guess, tall and willowy, reminding me of Vic. Her blonde hair is in a pixie cut and I notice she has a skirt on not dissimilar to mine, but she’s teamed it with a jacket and that makes it look more chic. She wears a long string of pearls around her neck and a delighted expression on her face.

‘Lex!’ she says. ‘It’s bloody lovely to see you.’

Alex gets up and the two women hug tightly. She really does have friends everywhere. I wonder if it’s only her inner circle that gets to call her Lex. I also wonder if she’ll allow me to do the same.

‘Join us,’ Alex says, and I feel that tug of something unpleasant. It’s the same tug I felt whenever Alex would invite others out with us, when I would really just want her all to myself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.