Jack had laughed wryly. “We gave it some consideration, but we decided our roster is strong enough as it is.”
“I can’t argue with that,” said Ali. “Friedman’s may be bigger, but you’ve got a solid reputation for doing the best by your artists.”
Rachel winced, knowing that Jack was likely to take Ali’s well-meaning words as an attempt to patronize him.
“You can’t have it all,” Jack said, while signaling to the waitress for the bill, bringing the evening to a premature close.
“Indeed you can’t,” Ali had agreed. “And anyone who thinks they can, is a fool.”
“You might be right,” muses Rachel to Paige now as they join Noah in the line. “Though, I’d expect Jack to rise above it.”
“I think we’re all going to have to display a modicum of patience this weekend, don’t you?”
Rachel smiles. “She’s getting married,” she says, without needing Paige to elaborate.
“She thinks every day is her wedding day,” says Paige, laughing. “I knew it was going to be bad, but I didn’t realize we’d be treated to The Ali Show before we’d even got on the plane.”
“Anyway,” says Rachel, eager to change the subject. “How’s Chloe? Was she okay about being left on her own?”
“Oh, she thinks this is the best thing that’s ever happened to her,” says Paige. “Don’t you remember being sixteen and having the house to yourself? She gets whipped up into a frenzy when we go out for the evening, so to be left at home on her own for four days has got her spinning like a whirling dervish.”
Rachel can’t help but laugh at the thought of demure Chloe being left in charge. If she knew her goddaughter at all, she’d be sick with excitement at the thought of an empty house, yet end up doing nothing with it. Rachel’s son, Josh, on the other hand, did exactly the opposite. When she and Jack left him home alone for the first time, he’d seemed so nonplussed that they were worried he was just going to stay locked in his bedroom playing video games for the entire weekend. At least they had been until they saw an open invitation on Facebook when they were thousands of miles away in Santorini, and realized he’d arranged the party of all parties.
“If that girl has a do, I swear to God…” says Noah, smiling.
“You can’t call it a do,” admonishes Paige, as she orders their coffees.
Rachel smiles. “I think the correct term these days, if you don’t want your kids to laugh at you, is gathering.”
Paige laughs. “You make it sound so posh with your pronounced ‘th.’ I think you’ll find they don’t even call it that now, it’s been shortened to ‘gav.’”
“How’s Josh getting on?” asks Noah. “Does he seem to be enjoying uni life?”
Rachel nods. “I think so, but I’m not sure the work’s really started yet. It seems that freshmen’s week has extended into a month, because all he’s done so far is go out to events and parties.” She stops and holds her hands up. “Sorry, gavs.”
Noah smiles. “But he’s settled into his digs? He gets on with his flatmates?”
“Well, I’m not sure he’s been sober enough to work out if he likes them or not,” says Rachel, laughing. “Every time I speak to him, he’s either on his way out or in bed with a hangover.”
“Those were the days,” Noah says, ruefully. “It feels like only yesterday.”
“That freshmen’s week was brutal though,” says Rachel. “I don’t know if my liver could take that again.”
Noah laughs heartily. “What are you talking about? You were the biggest Larry Lightweight out of all of us.”
“Er, excuse me,” says Rachel, pretending to be affronted. “I think you’ll find I kept up with the best of you.”
Noah looks at her with raised eyebrows over his double espresso. “What proves that theory wrong is that you remember that we first met at the freshmen’s ball.”
“Yes, we walked back to our halls together,” says Rachel.
“Yet I don’t remember meeting you until at least a month later,” says Noah. “So, I think that clearly demonstrates how sober you were, and how pissed I was.”
“I can remember many a night where you got me out of a fix because I was too drunk to look after myself.” Rachel says it as if it’s a badge of honor to prove how cool she really was, but she can tell by the mischievous look on Noah’s face that he’s about to kibosh her claim.