AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Okay, fair enough, but if it doesn’t work out, let me know and I’ll set this one up, okay?’
‘Okay, I’llthinkabout it,’ said Miranda. ‘It would be nice to meet someone without having to be set up though. Whatever happened to unexpectedly meeting a handsome stranger, him sweeping you off your feet, and the two of you just knowing you were meant to be together?’ She held up her hands in wonder.
‘You’ve been reading too many fairy-tales, girl. Who cares if you meet through a blind date, as long as the outcome is worth it?’ Cara replied, then realised she and Pete met unexpectedly, he swept her off her feet, and they just knew they were meant to be together. She’d been pretty damn lucky.
‘Oh well, if I don’t have any luck soon, I could always use a sperm donor.’ Miranda chuckled, but Cara sensed a hint ofseriousness in her tone. Would she really resort to that? ‘And I might have to freeze my eggs. I was advised about that option earlier but I refused, certain I’d meet someone in time.’
‘And thereisalways adoption as a last resort. I know it’s not the same, hun, but don’t you think it’s more of a priority to find the right guy?’ Cara hoped she wasn’t overstepping the mark, but she’d grown closer to Miranda and genuinely wanted to help her.
Miranda scratched her chin and she stiffened. ‘I’d just really prefer to have my own child, you know? It would be so – ’
‘Okay ladies, take a seat and let’s get started,’ Liz interrupted their discussion.
‘But, Gina’s not here yet. Shouldn’t we wait?’ asked Cara. She hoped there wouldn’t be another person to leave the club.
‘It’s already seven-fifteen, so we’ll get things under way, I think.’ Liz clasped her hands together. ‘Tonight, we’ll start with a visualisation technique, so get comfortable in your chair and close your eyes.’
‘So, what’s this guy’s name, the one you’re being set up with?’ Cara whispered to Miranda with one eye open, hoping to backtrack a little from the possible mistake of having brought up the issue of adoption.
‘Simon. Apparently, he’s smart, funny, and runs his own successful business,’ Miranda whispered back.
‘Oooh, sounds like a catch.’ Cara would have winked, but since one eye was already closed it would have been strange, so she gave a ‘thumbs-up’.
‘Ladies, keep your eyes closed,’ Liz instructed, ‘and take some slow, deep breaths, innnn, and ouuut....’
As soon as anyone told Cara to take slow deep breaths her body would rebel for some reason. Her best attempts at relaxation were unexpected, like the time she fell asleep on the dining table while looking through ‘Nutritious meals for the busy family’, or when she and the kids watched the movieUpand her eyelids wentDown; the kids shaking her awake when the credits started rolling.
Tellher to relax, and she couldn’t.
She was quite competent, though, at using this relaxation time to plan the next day’s activities, and mentally remind herself what sort of meat to defrost overnight for dinner.
‘Clear your mind of all distractions, all unnecessary thoughts...’ continued Liz.
Is she reading my mind?Cara tried to triage her thoughts into ‘necessary’, ‘unnecessary’, and ‘only-to-be-thought-once-everything-else-has-been-thought’, but ended up creating more thoughts about the thoughts.
‘When a distraction enters your mind, simply wipe it away ... all you need to do right now is relaaax, and breathe...’
Wipe it away, okay, I can do that, I spend a good chunk of my time wiping things away.Cara imagined getting out the Spray & Wipe, squirting it on the thoughts, and wiping them away with a cloth. Problem was, she kept seeing remaining thoughts that wouldn’t budge and had to re-squirt them and scrub them with steel wool, and then she remembered she was running low on Spray & Wipe and would have to add it to her shopping list when she got home.
‘Imagine yourself in a beautiful place ... perhaps on the beach, lying on the sand, soaking up the sun...’
At first, Cara could almost feel the sun on her skin, but then wondered if she’d remembered to put sunscreen lotionon, then wondered who was watching the kids, and whether they had sunscreen on as well.
‘...and listen to the gentle ebb and flow of the waves...’
All Cara could hear was the buzzing of a fly that had hijacked her visualisation. She resisted flicking her hand around her face. Maybe if Liz had told them to visualise a fly buzzing around their heads, she would have been able to imagine the gentle ebb and flow of the waves.
‘Now, imagine yourself five years from now ... where are you? ... what are you doing? ... who are you with?’
Paris ... Opening my art exhibition ... Henry Cavill...
Cara almost forgot she lived in Sydney, her garage was her art gallery, and she was married to Pete Collins, but hey, it was her visualisation.
Okay Cara, be serious ...Where do I want to be in five years?
She realised that it didn’t matter to herwhereshe was in the world, it only mattered that she was with Pete and the kids. Although an art exhibition in Paris would be nice, she’d be happy to have her artwork on display and for sale in an alleyway if it meant getting recognition for her work.
An image of a little shop and gallery surfaced in her mind, and for some reason Pete was there, serving up his homemade white sauce with gluten free pasta. On display were books; children’s books, and they had Cara’s name on them.Children’s books! That’s something I could do!Over the years Cara had written a few little stories for her kids with funny pictures in them. She hadn’t thought anything of them until now, but maybe,just maybe, they could become something wonderful that other children would enjoy. Who knew what the future could bring?
