Page 9 of It's All Sun and Games

‘I suppose we could?—’

‘Why do you think she is late?’ James asks curiously. ‘Do you think she’s okay? Or is this something to do with last night?’

‘Oh, she’s fine,’ Cait tells us. ‘I’ve just checked my phone – she said she’s running late but she’s almost here and that I should cover for her.’

‘Good work with that,’ Henry says with a chuckle.

‘What do you mean?’ Cait replies, not realising that she just did the opposite of cover for her friend.

I grab a blueberry muffin from the middle of the table. The best thing about breakfast meetings is that there is, well, breakfast. Muffins, pastries – even fruit, if you’re into that sort of thing.

‘Ugh, I’m so jealous,’ Cait says. ‘I’ve been working so hard on my holiday body for this Italy trip – nothing tastes as good as a holiday body feels, though, right?’

I realise she’s talking to me. Oh, and now everyone else is looking at me, which is just great.

‘Erm, I don’t know, these are pretty good,’ I say with a smile.

‘Well, good for you, if you’re not thinking about your holiday body, more power to you,’ she replies.

I can’t quite tell if she’s complimenting me or insulting me.

‘My holiday body?’ I repeat back to her. ‘I’ve only got the one body, so I guess I figured I’d go in this one?’

Cait shuffles awkwardly in her chair.

‘Yeah, good for you,’ she tells me, trying to sound encouraging. ‘I’ve been hitting the gym every day, working on my beach bod but, yeah, good for you. We’re only going to go and eat a bunch of pizza, right?’

Genuinely, I still cannot tell if she is insulting me or praising me.

I have – what I would call, at least – a thoroughly normal body. For better or worse, it just is what it is. I’m kind of short, kind of curvy, my feet are probably a bit bigger than you would think, my skin isn’t perfect, but whose is? I have a few stretchmarks from a teenage growth spurt, a monster spot blossoming on my chin that is just about being contained by my make-up, and I haven’t shaved my legs in a few weeks. But isn’t that all just so typical of human bodies? And yet we’re conditioned to think that, to be worthy of a holiday, we have to be in some kind of extra special shape.

‘Even I’ve been going to the gym,’ Henry says. ‘This one has been helping me get fit.’

He gives James a playful nudge.

‘Yeah, well, I guess I go every day anyway,’ James points out, but anyone who had seen his arms in a tight shirt could tell you that.

‘I see,’ I say simply. ‘Ah, well.’

I know it’s dumb and it’s petty but I really resent being made to feel like I need to get into shape for this trip so I reach out and grab a second muffin, take a bite out of that one too, and place it down in front of me next to my first one.

Before anyone can say anything, Liz finally joins us.

‘Sorry, sorry, sorry,’ she says as she charges through the room before practically throwing herself into her chair. ‘No Rick yet?’

‘No,’ Cait tells her, beaming with pride. ‘You did it!’

Liz breathes a theatrical sigh of relief.

‘So, how come you’re late?’ James asks her, trying to sound casual, but so not pulling it off.

‘Oh, you know,’ Liz tells him, batting her hand.

‘I don’t know,’ he replies, staring at her expectantly.

‘Well, let’s just say that I had a great time with Max last night, and that I’m very tired today, and we’ll leave it at that,’ Liz announces, not really giving anything away, but saying just enough to pique James’s curiosity. She can tell that it’s working too, you can see it on her face.

‘Did he take you somewhere nice?’ James asks.

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