‘Shut up.’ Sophie blushes a bit so we know that she absolutely does.
‘Anyway, changing the subject.’ Sophie purses her lips, but she’s trying not to laugh. ‘I’m so excited, Jess. I can’t believe we’re all going to be in the same city. We can do lunches and go to the cinema and lovely girly stuff.’
‘We can help you do fertility dances, or whatever it is you have to do to get pregnant,’ says Gen, helpfully.
‘Did you miss that class at school?’ I say, and Sophie snorts. ‘It’s not fertility dances that get the job done.’
We all snigger, like we’re thirteen again in science class with the biology teacher drawing pictures on the whiteboard.
‘Ooh, we could help you find a wedding dress, Soph.’ I’m imagining a montage of us, movie-style, all sitting around in the changing room of a wedding shop while she pops in and out with various different flouncy meringues on before she appears, radiant, in The Perfect Dress.
Sophie wrinkles her nose and looks a bit pink in the face. ‘I’ve actually chosen one already.’
‘No way.’ My vision evaporates.
‘Oh my God! I didn’t know it was official!’ Gen shrieks with excitement.
‘It’s not. But it’s so gorgeous I decided it had to be The One.’
‘Oh my God, this is so exciting,’ says Gen, clapping her hands together. ‘Have you got a photo of it on your phone?’
‘I thought marriage was a tool created by the patriarchy to suppress women?’ Sophie raises an eyebrow, keeping her phone curled tightly in her palm.
‘Yes, yes, it is, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a bit of dressing up, and that’s basically what a wedding is, isn’t it?’
Sophie opens her phone and scrolls down to show us a photo of the most perfect, understated, gorgeous dress. It’s absolutely her, and I can see why she’s fallen for it.
‘Let’s hope Rich doesn’t have other plans,’ Gen teased.
‘Yeah, he might have run off with the girl in the flat next door while I’ve been away,’ Sophie jokes, but we all knew there was no way that would happen. Rich and Sophie were the poster couple – the ones that were solid as a rock, the ones you could always rely on. Gen called them Mum and Dad sometimes, and I think Sophie secretly liked it. She’s always wanted to be settled down, ever since we were little and playing together at primary school. Rich is the perfect match for her, and it was always a matter of when, not if, they’d get married. She met him at university and they’ve been smug (not) marrieds ever since. I reach over and give her arm a little squeeze.
‘I’m so pleased for you, Soph. And I can’t wait to be on Aunty Jess duty.’
Gen pulls a face, but we both know she’s only teasing. She’s happy for Soph even though she wouldn’t like to be in her shoes. Her passion has always been acting, ever since the first time she stood on stage and played the starring role in Bugsy Malone in our primary school production. She’s worked her backside off to get where she is – she may not be famous, but she’s had a few decent roles in theatre productions off the West End, and it’s just a matter of time before she gets her big break. Gen believes in herself, that’s half the battle, I think.
‘And what about you, Jess?’ Sophie looks at me thoughtfully.
‘You’re not still in mourning after Neil-gate, are you?’
‘Gen,’ says Sophie, ‘if she was, she’s hardly going to tell us now, is she?’
I shake my head. ‘No, I am one hundred per cent definitely not in mourning over the end of my relationship with Neil.’
‘Even though your mum thought he was the perfect catch?’ Gen looks at me.
I shudder. ‘Especially not because of that.’
I hadn’t even been that upset when I found out he was cheating on me with someone else from the office – just slightly miffed that it was going to make work pretty awkward. After the initial shock of finding them together, I’d realised that I didn’t really feel anything. That was a pretty good sign that it had run its course.
‘Your mum just wants you settled down and happy,’ Sophie says, kindly.
‘Yeah,’ I say, ‘and she thinks because Neil dumped me for whatshername from accounts that I’m a complete failure as a human being.’
‘That’s not strictly true,’ says Sophie, trying to make me feel better.
‘Yes it is,’ says Gen, who knows my mother as well as I