Sunshine on a Rainy Day: A funny, feel-good romantic comedy. Bryony Fraser
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met Liz at the bar, where she and her new squeeze Henry were waiting, drinks in hand. Liz had mentioned him for the first time when we’d confirmed plans that afternoon, but she’d also said I wasn’t to ask anything until I’d met him. I could see why – Henry sported his sunglasses on the top of his head, just in case I hadn’t got the message clearly enough from his chinos and pink shirt. What wasn’t clear was why she was with him in the first place. Liz hugged me, then he leant in, as if for a kiss, despite the fact I’d never met him before in my life and didn’t particularly fancy pressing my face against his. Before he could make contact, I pretended to look in my bag for my phone; by the time I looked up again he’d leant back, his face slightly mottled with indignation.
‘Ooh, I’d forgotten about this!’ Liz said, getting back off her chair to stroke my Chanel handbag. She explained to Henry, ‘Zoe’s parents gave it to her for her wedding.’
‘In fashion, are they?’ Henry said with a smirk. Liz flinched slightly, then her face settled again.
‘Every woman wants a Chanel, don’t they?’ She smiled at me. ‘God, it really is gorgeous.’
‘You’ll be giving her ideas, Zoe,’ Henry said, picking his teeth with a cocktail stick as he looked around the bar.
‘Is Jack on his way?’ Liz asked.
I was so repelled by Liz’s date for the night that I’d briefly forgotten that I didn’t have one at all. ‘No, he can’t make it. He sends his apologies, but he’s a bit under the weather. Too much work on at the moment.’
‘Sounds like bullshit,’ Henry smirked again. ‘Just didn’t fancy a night out with his wife’s cronies, I bet.’
The truth of this made me blush. Thank god the bar was too dark for Henry to tell. But Liz understood, and took my hand. ‘Do you still want to eat, or shall we reschedule?’
‘I’m here now! Let’s have a nice time.’ My eyes landed on Henry. ‘Or we can at least try the food,’ I said brightly, swallowing my dislike of our company.
A tall, slim waitress took us to our table, where the fourth place was whipped away like a rebuke. Henry looked the waitress up and down, then said he just needed to visit the little boys’ room, we’d have to excuse him, and followed her away.
‘Please, please tell me the sex is amazing, at least,’ I said to Liz as soon as he was out of earshot.
Her mouth turned down at the corners. ‘I had a theory that if I dated the worst man I could find, it might make me less fussy about only-slightly-flawed men.’
‘He really is the worst. In that way, you’ve done pretty well.’
‘Think about it, Zo. I broke up with Adam because he put on slippers the second he came in the house.’
‘Is that really why? That’s … that’s a fairly reasonable habit.’
‘No, I mean he used to take his slippers with him. To other people’s houses. The first time he met my mum, he took his slippers out of his bag before he’d taken his coat off.’
‘We’ve all got peccadilloes. Rather that than the toxic wasteland of this guy.’
‘I know! I know that now! But I broke up with him over it! And before that, do you remember Phil? I dumped Phil because he ate with his mouth open.’
‘No, that’s gross. I’m with you there.’
‘He’d just had dental surgery! He only had to do that for a week, and I dumped him for it.’
‘Mmm. Did he know that was the reason?’
‘I told him it was some other feelings stuff, but I knew he could see me flinching every time he ate. It was like going out with a massive bull.’
‘Oh yeah?’ I gave a heavy wink.
‘Poor Phil. He was really nice. And Adam was really, really nice.’ She sighed. It seemed like we both missed Adam, although she was the one who’d been with him for the last three years. ‘Anyway, I read this article in a women’s mag, about how once you date someone who’s totally wrong for you, it’s not actually a bad thing, because it can help you sort out in your mind what it is you actually want from a relationship. Particularly in your twenties, it can be hard to know what’s just sexual attraction, what’s just a reflection of how you want the world to think of you, and what you actually need.’
I nodded slowly, chewing on a breadstick.
‘I mean, you’re lucky – you found your better half. You knew what you wanted. But how do I know what works for me?’
I took a sip of my water. ‘Did Adam make you happy?’
‘So happy!’ she smiled. ‘But I decided one day that I couldn’t bear the thought of going to someone’s house in our thirties, or forties, or fifties, and Adam bringing out his woolly slippers. How humiliating it would be. I didn’t really think about how kind he was, or how funny, or how much my mum liked him, or my friends. Or me.’
‘He was pretty good.’
‘Exactly. I just thought, at the time, that any imagined embarrassment over slippers was more important than how happy we were together, right then.’
‘And now you’ve got Henry.’
‘Yes! And he makes me so unhappy, almost all the time. He’s going to be the perfect cure. And here he is.’
‘What’s that?’ Henry said, pulling out his chair and sitting so wide-legged I wondered if he was about to start playing a cello for our entertainment.
‘Liz was just saying how perfect you are,’ I smiled.
Henry snorted. ‘Bloody hell! I turn my back for two minutes and you’ve got her making wedding plans. Sorry, you’ve got the wrong guy.’
Liz patted his knee and smiled back at me. ‘No, I think I’ve got exactly the right one.’
We stayed for only two courses – Henry didn’t want dessert, although I think he’d actually got some ideas in his head about how lucky he was going to get with Liz that night, after all that talk of the right one. Liz gave me a hug and asked me to send her love to Jack, that she hoped he felt better. I said, ‘Thanks, I will,’ and wished her luck with her theory. I left feeling utterly miserable, and sat miserably on the Tube home, before walking miserably up our street and into the flat. I thought all the way home about the crack in our relationship that I’d crowbarred wide open this evening. I wasn’t sure yet whether it was about to let in a tidal wave of pain or some sweet fresh air. And I didn’t know either, really, how much I’d meant what I’d said, but I’d take my lead from Jack. If he was ready to talk about it, it’s probably best that we did.
Jack was still on the sofa.
‘Feeling any better?’ I tried to sound sympathetic.
‘Oh hey, Zo!’ He sat up and smiled at me. ‘How was it?’
‘Fine. Liz sends her love,’ I said flatly.
‘Nice one. She alright?’
‘She’s got a prick of a new boyfriend.’
‘How bad?’
‘He wore his sunglasses on his head all night.’
Jack bit his fist.
‘She’s got a theory about being more tolerant of partners once you’ve gone out with someone terrible.’
‘Is that about Adam?’
I sat on the coffee table. ‘Liz reckons we’re lucky, having found each other already.’
‘And did you say, “Yeah, it’s lucky how my husband’s really making me know how important being sociable is, for my next husband”?’ I blinked at how accurate that was. Jack laughed, seeing