Read Online The Art of Unpacking Your Life by Shireen Jilla - Free Book Online

interruptions aside, I wanted to say a few words about you lot, Connie’s oldest friends – so put your Zimmer frames aside for a moment.’
    There was a slight hush. Lizzie knew Jules was bound to say something playful.
    â€˜We’ve lost one, but we are about to gain one.’
    Lizzie’s eyes were on Katherine as Jules was going to say the unsayable and get away with it.
    â€˜Luke has parted with the delicious Emma – no accounting for taste – pared down his life and his waist size.’
    Luke gave his self-conscious smile. Lizzie had always found it hard to understand his attractiveness. He was too handsome to be sexy. And he could never stand up and give this speech. He wasn’t a man like Julian.
    â€˜So to Luke’s compactness.’
    â€˜Hear hear,’ Matt shouted. ‘Luke, give us a few tips please.’
    â€˜Please, Luke,’ Jules leaned down mock-solicitously. ‘We beg you, don’t wither away.’
    Lizzie laughed loudly; Sara clapped. Luke glanced at Connie.
    â€˜To our eight-week-away new addition: Matt and Katherine’s baby girl. Congratulations. I’ve never seen a mother to be with such a gorgeous bod. Surrogacy is the way forward.’
    Only Jules would get away with saying that to Katherine.
    â€˜Our dearest Dan keeps his considerable lights under an elegant box hedge.’
    Lizzie smiled at Alan. He didn’t smile back, nor did he look at Dan.
    â€˜Might I add, he is always the first person of your gang to shine light on everyone else’s achievements.’
    Lizzie was deflated, unappreciated. Dan was always seen as the most loyal person in the group, which wasn’t fair. She was the one who remembered everyone’s birthdays, she always called as she walked to work from St James’s Park Tube station.
    As the others laughed, Lizzie frowned. Their lives had moved on without her.
    Alan leaned into her. ‘Are you all right?’
    Lizzie nodded.
    â€˜A white hydrangea tells me that you have won an award for your latest garden outside Florence.’
    They started to cheer. Dan blushed. He had that kind of modesty that somehow attracted more attention, Lizzie thought. She veered between feeling upset he hadn’t told her about the award, and resenting the fact he had won it.
    â€˜And Sara Wilson QC. Counsel in the trial of the decade: the Jade Sutton case. Joanne Sutton acquitted.’
    It was unfair. Their lives were fast-forwarding. Lizzie turned to look down the table at Sara.
    â€˜This afternoon, I’ve been reading the pages of coverage of her spectacular success. A profile of our own very dear QC in
The Times
legal section. Brilliant barrister brings clarity to a highly charged, high-profile, complicated case. The Jade Sutton case will never be forgotten.’
    They clapped, laughed. Connie went over to Sara and gave her a big hug, but Sara extricated herself clumsily. Her white silhouette swayed past the pool, heading for the bar. Only Sara would get away with walking off. The others didn’t seem to notice.
    â€˜It’s been an exciting year for all of you.’
    Did he have to rub it in?
    â€˜Constance’s madcap idea to drag you halfway round the world, I am the first to admit, now feels like the right plan, at the right time.’ He held out his hand to Connie. She moved to his side. He held her close. ‘A celebration at a certain point in all our lives.’
    Lizzie was jealous.
    â€˜We are on the cusp of great things I feel.’
    What about me? Lizzie wanted to scream.
    â€˜To Constance, for making this happen. And for being my beautiful, bright, best friend and partner in all things. I couldn’t live without you. I love you.’
    â€˜Yeah, Connie,’ Matt howled before clapping his hands. ‘We love you.’
    â€˜We do,’ added Dan warmly. ‘We really do, Connie.’
    â€˜And,’ Jules added. ‘To greatness.’
    Alan put his