I was beyond excited to see my friends after such a long time . . .
BY EIRIN THOMPSON
JOANNA?” I peered at the woman sitting at the next table in the coffee shop. She did look a lot like Joanna, but she’d chopped off her long hair and was wearing glasses.
Still, it had been years.
I did a quick calculation in my head.
I was fifty now, and our book group had broken up 12 years ago, so I guessed that was how long it was since we’d seen each other.
The woman looked up from her phone.
“Genevieve?”
“It’s great to see you!” I cried. “I almost didn’t recognise you.”
“Ouch! I look ancient, don’t I?”
I cringed.
“That’s not what I meant. Anyway, if anyone has aged it’s me. But forget all that – how are you?”
Joanna glanced at her watch.
“Sorry, Jo,” I said quickly. “You’re in a hurry. I’d love us to have a proper catch-up when you have more time.”
“Yes! Of course,” Joanna replied.
I whipped out my phone.
“Give me your number and I’ll call you,” I told her. “I lost my old phone on the tube way back and all my contacts with it.
“Are evenings better than day times?”
“Er . . . probably, yes,” she replied.
Then I had my lightbulb moment.
“Why don’t we see if we can track down Chrissie and Fern and have a proper reunion?” I suggested.
Joanna, Chrissie, Fern and I had been dubbed the Four Musketeers at our book club.
We always sat together at one end of the big table in the library meeting room, always seemed to like the same books and always defended each other’s stances.
“Oh, please say yes!” I exclaimed. “We must have so much to say to each other after all this time.”
Jo hesitated, but only for a moment.
“Sure. I think I still have their numbers. Leave it with me.”
“Great!” I enthused. “Should we get together over afternoon tea or do you think it’s more of a wine situation?”
“I don’t know, Genevieve,” she replied. “Maybe we could ask the others?”
The others.
That phrase said so much, reminding me that Joanna and I had always had a slightly closer bond than Chrissie and Fern.
We were the ring leaders, the energy in the room.
“Let me know how you get on,” I told her.
Our book group had come at exactly the right time for me.
I had recently broken up with my long-term boyfriend, Donnie, and was desperate to find a support network to help me navigate my way
