Page 59 of My Summer of Magic Moments

‘Yay!’ cheered Claire. ‘Right, time for showers, then Prosecco. Actually, did you lot think to bring a change of clothes?’

‘Ha-hah, yes indeed, we’re not daft, you know. All organized. There’s a bag of stuff we left in the hall,’ said Andrea.

‘Perfect. Don’t want you lot all smelly in my new lounge,’ Claire teased.

‘Well, you know who your friends are,’ quipped Andrea. ‘We’re doing all this for you, and what do we get for it?’

‘A shower, Prosecco and chocolates, and when I get back from the shop in a mo, you can have some supper too. I’ll nip for some nibbles while you lot get cleaned up.’

‘And what about you? God, I feel sorry for the checkout person. Are you going like that? You’ll be all stinky,’ her sister added.

‘Well, we can’t all shower at once.’

‘Might be fun.’ Andrea was on full form.

Sal looked horrified.

‘Don’t mind her, she’s only joking.’ Claire was accustomed to Andrea’s quirky sense of humour.

‘Might not be.’ Andrea kept it up with a cheeky grin.

‘Behave, you nutter. There’s no way I’m getting in a shower with you.’

The popping of corks sounded fabulous. Precious Prosecco moments with friends. They had a lovely evening chatting, griping about their aches and pains from their training, and discussing the impending run and the implications of the Pretty Muddy event.

‘God only knows what you’ve got us into, Andrea,’ Claire laughed.

‘Ah, it’ll be fun. We’ll just throw ourselves into whatever. And boss Dave from the office is fully backing us. He’s even sending a photographer from the paper on the day to get some action shots.’

‘Jeez,’ groaned Lou. ‘I can’t wait to see those plastered all over the newspaper. Us lot looking like a load of mud wrestlers!’

‘It’ll raise a load of cash.’ Sal was looking on the bright side.

‘And plenty of laughs,’ added Claire.

‘Oh well. In for a penny, in for a pound,’ Andrea said, trying to look excited.

‘And let’s hope we make loads of pounds for Cancer Research,’ said Lou.

‘Absolutely.’

‘Well, if all those poor people can get though their surgery and their scars and the chemo and everything else, then I’m sure we can all put up with a bit of mud,’ Claire said bracingly.

‘Exactly,’ Sal agreed.

‘Well said, that girl.’

‘Cheers guys.’

‘To Bella’s Babes,’ they said together, raising their glasses.

‘To Bella’s Babes and the mud wrestling!’ added Andrea.

26

A hug

Boom! Just when you thought your world was settled.