Page 53 of The Fallback

Don’t bet on it, Rosie thought as she sat down reluctantly next to the smiling Jenny.

Rosie smiled awkwardly back at her. She had had plenty of conversations with Mitch’s girlfriends over the years; mostly they seemed to be tearful encounters, with the girl in question begging Rosie’s advice on how to keep Mitch interested. Rosie had become adept at managing these; she would be courteous and kind and offer a shoulder to cry on, safe in the knowledge that if it had got to this stage then she would almost certainly never see that girl again.

But she already knew it was different with Jenny. Mitch had told her so and what she had witnessed so far just confirmed it. He was relaxed and attentive around Jenny. Rosie gave her a sideways glance. Now that she was up close she could get a much better look at her and she realised how young Jenny was. Much younger than she had initially thought.

Had Mitch mentioned her age? Rosie didn’t think so and she hadn’t asked since she had kept her questions about Jenny deliberately limited, hoping it might quash Mitch’s enthusiasm. Rosie wasn’t surprised. She had long started accepting that Mitch’s girlfriends were only going to get younger the older she got. When had that started? Guys her age dating girls in their early or mid-twenties? And did that mean that most men who would be interested in dating her would be in their forties? But Mitch had never been serious about settling down before and Jenny just seemed far too young to be thinking about that anytime soon.

Rosie realised she was staring and quickly picked her drink up from the table, taking a long gulp. Jenny looked at her expectantly.

Oh, Rosie thought to herself,I’ve got to be the grown up here. Reluctantly Rosie began wracking her brain for suitable openers. Suddenly all she could think about was asking Jenny how old she was. But that probably wasn’t an acceptable way to start their conversation.

‘So,’ Rosie eventually started. Jenny looked at her like a puppy waiting for an instruction. ‘Do you know this pub?’

‘Oh no,’ Jenny replied, ‘I’ve never been here before but Mitch said it was somewhere he went a lot and I know it’s close to his flat.’ She laughed, the words tumbling out of her.

Was she nervous?

‘So where do you live?’ Rosie grabbing onto a conversation opener.

‘I live with my parents,’ Jenny replied.

Rosie had to stop herself gaping. She had realised Jenny was young but how young exactly was she to still be living with her parents?

‘Oh!’ she said out loud, with genuine surprise.

Jenny saw the look on her face, ‘Only temporarily, it’s just a stopgap. I moved back with them for a few months but I’m house hunting at the moment. There are four of us looking for a place together. Actually, I was hoping my friends might consider somewhere around here,’ Jenny said, looking around the pub garden. ‘It seems nice and then I’d be closer to Mitch. Unless—’ she giggled again ‘—he asks me to move in with him!’ Rosie did her best not to choke on her drink.

‘You’ve known Mitch a while then?’ Jenny asked.

‘We’ve been friends foryears,’ Rosie said. ‘We used to live together.’

It wasn’t strictly necessary to tell Jenny this but Rosie wanted to emphasise just how close she and Mitch were. Hadn’t Jenny said she had heard loads about her? Maybe not quite enough, Rosie thought.

Jenny looked suddenly awkward, twisting her hands in her lap, ‘But nothing ever happened between you?’ she looked up at Rosie shyly, ‘I mean, in the romantic sense.’

Rosie paused. Jenny was obviously insecure about her, but it would be wrong to capitalise on that, wouldn’t it?

‘Nothing you need to worry about,’ Rosie said cryptically. She could hear herself talking but no longer seemed to have any control over what she was saying. ‘You sound quite serious about him, talking about moving in together.’

‘I was joking!’ Jenny spluttered. ‘I know we’ve only been together a few weeks.’

‘But you’re introducing him to your family this weekend?’ Rosie said pointedly.

Jenny glared at Rosie, her face beginning to flush. ‘It’s my dad’s birthday, he’s having a big party. I asked if Mitch would like to come because I’m fed up of going to those things on my own. So yes, he’ll meet my family but it’s no big deal. Why?’ she carried on. ‘Do you have a problem with him meeting my family?’

‘No, no of course not,’ Rosie replied. ‘I was just saying how close you guys seem to be getting and so quickly. I’m really pleased for Mitch, I know how keen he is to settle down. I’m sure he's told you all about it.’ Rosie glanced at Jenny trying to gauge her reaction.

‘Erm, not really.’ Jenny now looked slightly panicked.

‘Oh, right,’ Rosie replied with a fake look of confusion on her face. ‘I just thought he would have told you all about his plans.’

‘His plans?’ queried Jenny.

Rosie made a split-second decision and before she could stop herself she found herself doing something that she would definitely come to regret, something which definitely wouldn’t have been on Mitch’s list of acceptable conversation topics for her and Jenny.

‘Yeah, Mitch and I have this plan. We’ve had it for years. To be each other’s fallback?’ Rosie noticed the look of confusion on Jenny’s face.

‘Fallback?’

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