慖t抯 not horrible,?says Zoe, 慴ut it doesn抰 taste like coffee.?
慖t is slightly horrible,?says Ruth.
慍appuccino is two points in Lean Zone,?says Zoe.
慏o you have to write down drinks too??asks Ruth.
慪ou have to write down everything,?says Zoe. 慏idn抰 Jacquie do her thing about 搃f you drink it, ink it??
慖 think I stopped listening after a while,?says Ruth.
慡he does the same spiel every week,?says Zoe, 慴ut she抯 not a bad consultant. I抳e had a few that were terrible. And some of the other women are nice.?
慉re they always all women??
慛ot always. In my last group there was a man who used to come. Most people ignored him though. Poor chap.?
慦hy do you keep coming??asks Ruth, before she can help herself. 慖 mean, you look terrific.?
慣hank you,?says Zoe. 態ut it抯 how you feel inside, isn抰 it? I抳e been fat and I抳e been thin and there抯 no doubt in my mind that people are nicer to you when you抮e thin.?
Is this true? Ruth has always felt that she was too big, in the eyes of society anyway. Would people have treated her differently if she抎 been as slim as, say, Shona, her glamorous friend and fellow lecturer? Ruth remembers how Kelly had talked of Alison抯 weight loss, almost with awe.
慣hat抯 depressing, if so,?she says.
慖sn抰 it??says Zoe cheerfully. 慉nyway, I抎 like to be thinner.?
慡o would I,?says Ruth, 慴ut I抳e never wanted it enough to stop eating.?
慦hy did you decide to come today??asks Zoe. She抯 spooning out the last of her froth. Ruth has given up on hers.
慖 don抰 know,?says Ruth. 慖 went to a school reunion at the weekend and one of my old schoolfriends had lost lots of weight.?
慉nd you thought she looked good??
慛o,?says Ruth. 慉ctually, I thought she looked better before.?
They both laugh so loudly that the caf?owner, who is stacking chairs in a passive-aggressive manner, looks over in alarm.
慖抳e never been to a school reunion,?says Zoe. 慣hough I liked it when I was there.?
慖t was rather surreal,?says Ruth. 慖 met my old sixth-form boyfriend. He抯 now a successful businessman with two wives and no hair.?
慖 married my sixth-form boyfriend,?says Zoe. 慡ounds like you had a lucky escape.?
慏id you really??says Ruth. She remembers Zoe telling her that she was divorced.
慪es. I was mad about him. Patrick was a couple of years older than me and one of the really cool boys at school. Football team and all that. Long blond hair like a pop star. You know the sort of thing. We got married when I was twenty and he was twenty-two. Our parents thought we were mad and we were, really. But we stayed together for ten years. I trained as a nurse and he did his apprenticeship to be an electrician. He抯 very successful now too. Not bald but completely white-haired. Still long though, like an aging rock star. We抳e stayed on good terms. I sometimes think, if we抎 had children, we抎 still be together.?
Ruth doesn抰 want to ask why Zoe doesn抰 have children. She says, 慖抳e never been married and I抳e never lived with Kate抯 father. He抯 married to someone else. It抯 complicated. Or perhaps it isn抰。？
She stops, wondering if she抯 said too much. She doesn抰 usually tell almost-strangers about Kate抯 parentage. But somehow Zoe doesn抰 seem like a stranger.
慘ate抯 lovely,?says Zoe. 慖抦 looking forward to getting to know her.?
慚e too,?says Ruth. 慖 mean we both are. Looking forward to getting to know you, I mean.?She realises that she抯 rambling, also that it抯 five thirty and she needs to leave to collect Kate.
Ruth tries to pay for the coffees but Zoe won抰 let her. The caf?owner seems relieved to see them go.