Page 9 of Tempting the Player
“That’s lovely, sweetheart, I'm glad you’ve found a nice friend.”
She carries on, “It would be good if you married Lucia’s daddy so that we could live together in the same house, I could share a room with Lucia.”
I laugh, “I’m not sure about that, Jess, but I’m sure we can arrange a sleepover if she’d like.”
“Okay, mummy... love you the whole world. Night, night.”
“Love you the whole world too, baby girl.” I kiss her on the cheek tenderly and leave her to get to sleep. My heart aches with the amount of love I have for her.
When I get downstairs, I check my phone, and there’s a message from Nathan.
I enjoyed tonight. I won’t be giving up on that date anytime soon. Sweet dreams. xx
I don’t reply - I don’t want to encourage him, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bring a smile to my face.
Chapter 3
Jess is at her dad's tonight. It's Saturday night and a long while since we’ve had a night out, so on a last-minute decision and a couple of phone calls, it's a few drinks at mine before going into town to our usual pubs and probably the local nightclub.
The front door opens downstairs. I'm expecting Amanda and Karen. “I’ll be down in a minute,” I shout to them and turn back to the mirror to check my outfit.
My dress is much more daring than my usual style, but I figured, ‘what the hell’ – I’ll only be able to get away with wearing dresses like this for another few years. It’s a purple fitted dress. The material falls against my body, clinging at every opportunity, stopping just above the mid-thigh and revealing quite a bit of leg. It’s sleeveless and drops to a v at the front to show cleavage – not overkill, just the right amount. My curvy frame suits the dress, and my red hair complements the purple. I’ve got my hair loose and wavy, and my makeup is done with extra emphasis on the eyes in my attempt to appear sultry - whether I can pull it off is a whole other story.
I nod at my reflection, for a mother and a woman in her thirties, I don’t scrub up too badly at all. I pick up my black heels, which are way too high for me, but help me not be such a short arse in front of Karen. I won’t be putting them on until I leave the house – I’m going to suffer for wearing them at all.
As I make my way down, I can hear them in the kitchen, making themselves at home, getting drinks. I walk in, and they both whistle.
Karen says, “Phew! Smoking hot mama coming through!”
“Shut up!” I say laughing.
“No chick, you look fab.” Amanda says, “I would kill for your figure. You have a figure that makes men want to protect you and be an alpha male.”
“Do I? Well, they mustn’t have got the memo, because unless I’m mistaken, I don’t have any of them knocking my door down to get to me!”
“Well, that’s because the men in this town are idiots, that’s why I turned lesbian!” Karen says in total mock seriousness.
“Oh, really, I thought it was more the fact that you fancy women. Maria will vouch for that. I take it she couldn't get the shift off at short notice?”
Karen shrugs, “Nah, the hospital needs her tonight, they're short-staffed, these are the trials and tribulations of being married to a nurse. She said to have a drink for her.”
“Oh, we will,” Amanda says, taking a big gulp of her drink.
I turn to Amanda, “What is Greg doing tonight?”
“He’s out with a couple of his mates at our local. He said he might meet us later - he said he’d see how they go.”
“How are you holding up, hun?”
“You mean am I upset about my body letting me down again? We were gutted yesterday when I came on my period, but I have to remember, it's only been a few months, nothing to worry about yet.”
“Of course not, hun, you have lots of time.”
“Anyway, I'm forgetting about it tonight, and I'm not pregnant, so I'm getting well and truly sloshed!”
“Good for you,” Karen replies.
Both of my friends still look as amazing as they did ten years ago. Karen’s height totally works for her; her blond, curly hair is let to run wild, together with her blue eyes, which always have a constant twinkle in them... gorgeous! She’s wearing skinny jeans and a dressy silver vest top. She has a wicked sense ofhumour, whenever she’s around, you know you’re going to end up laughing so hard that you’re in danger of wetting yourself. A lot of people are fooled by her silliness and her hair colour and presume she's a ditzy blonde, but she's far from it - she’s a highly intelligent woman. She tries to hide it, she likes to shock people. She works for a research chemical company in Manchester that collaborates with the NHS as their lead scientist or similar role.
