Page 43 of The Pop-Up Cake Shop

‘I’m a graphic designer and I work from home so I can be flexible,’ she said.

‘Great. And this must be . . . Dot?’

The woman gave us a brief smile as I introduced myself and Cheryl, and pointed at Ray who was currently in the process of lapping us for about the fourth time.

‘Hi. Pleased to meet you all,’ she said. ‘Is this the whole group?’ She glanced at Mo.

‘Well, it’s not agroup, as such.’ I smiled. ‘Just a couple of friends supporting each other, really... but you’re very welcome to join us. Both of you.’

Cheryl beside me nodded cheerfully.

‘Oh, sorry. I must have got the wrong end of the stick,’ said Dot, flicking nervously at her fringe. ‘I hope we’re not intruding?’

Before we could answer, Mo gave Dot a friendly dig in the ribs. ‘Of course we’re not intruding. All they’re doing is training for a charity fun run and we’ve got legs, haven’t we? Mind you, I wasn’t expecting there’d be amanin the group.’ She cast a dark glance in Ray’s direction. ‘Is that wise?’

There was a brief surprised silence, then Cheryl gave a little snort of laughter.

‘Ray’s quite harmless, I promise you,’ she said. ‘In fact, I sometimes think he has more female qualities than me. He’s not scared of hospitals, he’s never bought a season ticket in his life and heloveschocolate.’ She grinned at me.

I nodded. ‘Yes. AndsometimesRay even talks about his feelings.’

We both chuckled and Dot joined in, appreciating the tongue-in-cheek humour, although Mo’s face remained stony.

‘Right, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ she muttered. Then she clapped her hands together. ‘Okay. So what are we raising money for here? Something to do with supporting thesuperior sex, hopefully.’ She looked challengingly at a flushed-faced, smiling Ray, who was just running up to join us. I wasn’t sure if he’d heard what Mo said – or if he’d noticed the dagger looks aimed in his direction – but when he said a cheerful hello and that he was pleased to meet them both, I noticed (with relief) that he offered his hand only to Dot, who shook it warmly.

‘Well?’ demanded Mo. ‘Which charity are we supporting? It has to be something like Women’s Aid. Something really worthy of our efforts.’

I looked at Cheryl and she shrugged as if to say,yes,why not?

Recalling what Mo had told me about Dot’s controlling partner, I glanced at Mo. ‘How about the local women’s refuge? They could always do with donations and that’s a fabulous cause.’

‘Great!’ Mo nodded. ‘Sorted. Right, come on. What are we waiting for?’

She jogged away, and Dot and I exchanged a rather sheepish look that I interpreted as Dot apologising for her friend’s bossiness.

Feeling slightly guilty at being the one to introduce Mo to the group, I glanced nervously at Cheryl. But I could tell by the way her lips were twitching as she watched Mo’s progress around the green that she was finding all of this very entertaining.

‘I’m keeping out of her way in case she trips me up,’ said Ray, nodding at Mo up ahead. ‘Come on. Let’s do this.’

Chuckling, we set off, trundling along together like the naughty laggers in a school cross country run.

*****

Only Ray had remembered to bring water to our training session. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as we had the excuse of being really thirsty for a quick stop off at the pub on the way home.

As we all piled around a small table with our drinks, the chat quickly moved to the subject of infidelity.

I’d already explained in a light-hearted way to Mo and Dot earlier that we weren’t allowed to mention our exes – but Mo’s rather forceful personality crashed through the ‘rules’ almost as soon as we were sitting down.

‘If Gaz was here, of course, he’d be wanting to sit right next to the fire,’ she grumbled, pointing at the blaze in the grate. ‘I mean, what idiot wants to do that? You end up sweating and smelling as if you’ve been barbecued! I’m well shot of him, that’s for sure.’

She glanced at Dot for support in this. But Dot just smiled mysteriously as Mo rampaged on: ‘I’m actually thinking of paying to have his privates chopped off.’

‘Sorry,what?’ Cheryl leaned forward with a disbelieving smile.

‘I’m not joking.’ Mo took a swig of her double vodka and orange. ‘There’s an animal sanctuary near here where you can name a feral cat after your ex and then pay to have it neutered.’

‘Ouch,’ said Ray, crossing his legs.

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