No Longer Safe by A J Waines Read Free Book Online

the sofa.
    When Karen took the plates into the kitchen, Jodie called
over to me. ‘I don’t really like little kids, do you?’ I noticed her hands were
trembling.
    I glanced over at Melanie. ‘I haven’t got a clue what to do
with babies either, but I just follow what Karen does.’
    Melanie was wearing a woolly hat indoors, because it was so
cold. It made her look cute. ‘She’s adorable,’ I said.
    Jodie grimaced. ‘I’m not doing any of that nappy stuff.’
    Mark nibbled her ear and I took the mugs into the kitchen.
From what I remembered of her, Jodie needed a lot of male attention and Mark
was good at that.
    Karen rolled her eyes as I joined her by the sink. ‘They’re
just as soppy as they were at Leeds,’ she said.
    I leant against the fridge and folded my arms in silence.
She spotted me staring into space and waved her hand in front of my face.
    ‘I was just thinking back,’ I said, lowering my voice. ‘Do you
remember at the end of our second year when Jodie told us that Mark wanted them
to get engaged?’
    ‘Vaguely.’
    ‘She started looking for a platinum ring with an oval stone
– do you remember?’
    ‘Mmm…wishful thinking, I reckon. It certainly never
happened.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘Can’t see him setting a date any time soon,
can you?’
    I pulled a face in response.
    ‘You don’t mind cooking tonight, do you?’ she said, pointing
to an open cookbook on the table. She’d left the relevant page pinned down with
a potato. ‘It shouldn’t take long.’ She draped the oven-gloves over my
shoulder, playfully. ‘We’ll eat around eight o’clock.’ Beside the recipe were
all the ingredients for shepherd’s pie.
    ‘Of course not. It’s my turn.’ I grabbed her hand. ‘Thanks,
by the way – for earlier.’
    ‘You owe me one,’ she said, with a wry smile and left me to
wash the dishes.
     

Chapter
7
     
    We spent the next hour sharing banal anecdotes
about ‘the old days’. It didn’t take long for the stories to get tedious. Then
Mark insisted on a snowball fight in the front garden. I ended up on Jodie’s
team, but she was hopeless, dissolving into giggles and, leaving me to fend off
a barrage of solid balls of ice. Karen was a demon. I should have remembered
she’d be competitive even when we were supposed to be having fun.
    My headache was still hanging around – Jodie’s raucous
laughter hadn’t helped, a bit OTT if you asked me – and I was desperate to be
on my own. All I wanted was to lie down in the warmth, but once again, Mark had
other plans.
    ‘Okay,’ he declared. ‘Lunch at the pub. Last one in the car
is a slag.’
    ‘That’s not fair,’ protested Karen, ‘I’ve got to get baby
gear.’
    ‘Rules are rules,’ he said emphatically, enjoying his moment
of unjustifiable authority.
    We all squashed into Karen’s 2CV and rattled off to The Cart
and Horses as though we were having a great time.
    On the way back, Karen told us about the loch nearby.
    ‘They have an archaic crossing system,’ she explained, ‘with
two rowing boats tied at the shore on either side, so people can cross back and
forth whenever they need to.’
    ‘How long does it take to get across?’ I asked.
    ‘About an hour, apparently. There’s a sign that says you
must always leave at least one boat on each shore.’
    ‘That’s one little ritual I’d like to mess up,’ said Mark.
‘Let’s go over there now and take to the water.’
    Karen laughed. ‘Not today,’ she said. ‘I need to get this
little one back for a nap.’
    ‘You’re just chicken,’ he said. He made a stupid clucking
sound and Jodie tutted.
    Mark fell asleep in front of the fire once we got back,
while Jodie and Karen bathed Melanie. It wasn’t a big deal to slice a few
vegetables. I put the radio on and listened to a programme about fly fishing
and gave them a call when it was ready.
    Karen put Melanie to bed and the four of us sat around the
small wobbly table and helped ourselves. The whole