Part 30 (1/2)
”Oh come here, you.” Holly smiled and dragged him into their huddle.
”I presume this was your idea.” Sharon looked at her husband.
”No not at all,” he said, winking at Holly, ”I just pa.s.sed Holly on the street and told her I'd give her a lift...”
”Yeah right,” she said sarcastically, linking arms with Holly as they walked toward the car. ”Well, you certainly gave me a lift anyway.” She smiled at her friend.
”So what did they say?” Holly asked, squeezing herself forward between the two front seats from the back of the car like an excited little child. ”What is it?”
”Well, you'll never believe this, Holly.” Sharon twisted around in her chair and matched her friend's excitement. ”The doctor told me that...and I believe him because apparently he's one of the best...anyway he told me...”
”Come on!” Holly urged her on, dying to hear.
”He says it's a baby!”
Holly rolled her eyes. ”Ha-ha. What I mean is, is it a boy or a girl?”
”It's an it for now. They're not too sure yet.”
”Would you want to know what 'it' is if they could tell you?”
Sharon scrunched her nose up. ”I don't know actually, I haven't figured that out yet.” She looked across at John and the two of them shared a secret smile.
A familiar pang of jealousy hit Holly and she sat quietly while she let it pa.s.s until the excitement returned. The three of them headed back to Holly's house. She and Sharon weren't quite ready to leave each other again after just making up. They had so much to talk about. Sitting around Holly's kitchen table, they made up for lost time.
”Sharon, Holly went for a job interview today,” John said when he finally managed to get a word in edgewise.
”Ooh really? I didn't know you were job-hunting already!”
”Gerry's new mission for me,” Holly smiled.
”Oh, was that what it was this month? I was just dying to know! So how did it go?”
Holly grimaced and held her head in her hands. ”Oh it was awful, Sharon. I made a total fool of myself.”
”Really?” Sharon giggled. ”What was the job?”
”Selling advertising s.p.a.ce for that magazine, X.”
”Ooh, that's cool, I read that at work all the time.”
”Don't think I know that one, what kind of magazine is it?” John asked.
”Oh, it kind of has everything in it: fas.h.i.+on, sports, culture, food, reviews...everything really.”
”And adverts,” Holly joked.
”Well, it won't have such good adverts if Holly Kennedy isn't working for them,” she said kindly.
”Thanks, but I really don't think I will be working there.”
”Why, what was so wrong with the interview? You can't have been that bad.” Sharon looked intrigued as she reached for the pot of tea.
”Oh, I think it's bad when the interviewer asks if you have any experience working on a magazine or newspaper and you tell him you once printed up a newsletter for a s.h.i.+tty company.” Holly banged her head playfully off the kitchen table.
Sharon burst out laughing. ”Newsletter? I hope you weren't referring to that c.r.a.ppy little leaflet that you printed up on the computer to advertise that dive of a company?”
John and Sharon howled with laughter.
”Ah well, it was advertising the company...” Holly trailed off and giggled, feeling even more embarra.s.sed.
”Remember, you made us all go out and post them around people's houses in the p.i.s.sing rain and the freezing cold! It took us days to do!”
”Hey, I remember that,” John laughed. ”Remember, you sent me and Gerry out to post hundreds of them one night?” He kept on laughing.
”Yeah?” Holly was afraid to hear what came next.
”Well, we shoved them in the skip at the back of Bob's pub and went in for a few pints.” He kept on laughing at the memory of it and Holly's mouth dropped open.
”You sly little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!” she laughed. ”Because of you two the company went bust and I lost my job!”
”Oh, I'd say it went bust the minute people took a look at those leaflets, Holly,” Sharon teased. ”Anyway, that place was a kip. You used to moan about it every day.”
”Just one of the jobs Holly moaned about,” John joked. But he was right.
”Yeah, well, I wouldn't have moaned about this one,” she said sadly.
”There's plenty more jobs out there,” Sharon rea.s.sured her, ”you just need to brush up on your interview skills.”
”Tell me about it.” Holly stabbed away at the sugar bowl with a spoon.
They sat in silence for a while.
”You published a newsletter,” John repeated a few minutes later, still laughing at the thought of it.
”Shut up, you,” Holly cringed. ”Hey, what else did you and Gerry get up to that I don't know about?” she demanded.
”Ah, a true friend never reveals secrets,” John teased, and his eyes danced with the memories.
But something had been unlocked. And after Holly and Sharon threatened to beat some stories out of him, Holly learned more about her husband that night that she never knew. For the first time since Gerry had died, the three of them laughed and laughed all night, and Holly learned how to finally be able to talk about her husband. It used to be that the four of them gathered together; Holly, Gerry, Sharon and John. This time only three of them gathered to remember the one they lost. And with all their talk, he became alive for them all that night. Soon they would be four again, with the arrival of Sharon and John's baby.
Life went on.
THIRTY-SIX.