The woman, whose name was clearly Lynette, sighed loudly. Nina tried to side-eye behind her sunglasses without turning her head so that she could see what Lynette looked like and have a bit of a sticky beak. Lynette lowered her voice. ‘Thing is, don’t tell Brian, but I’ve paid for the last few attempts. Well,wehave. He just doesn’t know thatwehave. When I say few, I mean, actually, lots. None of which have…’
‘Ouch. Crikey! Are you completelybonkers? He’ll hit the roof if he finds out.’
‘I know. As if I actually care, though. You know what he’s like about money.’ Lynette flailed her hands around at the pool and the hotel. ‘He makes out we don’t have a pot to, well, you know. He’s been penny-pinching all our married life. That’s over forty years of putting money away. Honestly, he spends his life scheming ways to save money. This from a man who earns a fortune, too. You see, I blame it on his mother. She took penny-pinching to the extreme. Tight as. Let me tell you, he’s got money stashed all over the show. The laugh is that he thinks I don’t know! Pah! I’ve been on it since day one. The other chuckle is hedoesn’t know I’ve done the same and have stashed money away. Marriage, eh?’
‘Yeah, you’ve said. I don’t know why he continues to do this pleading poverty thing. He was spouting on about it the other day. I’m surprised he let you stay here.’
‘Letme? Oh, trust me, he wouldn’t dare! I do whatever the heck I like. We all know that,’ Lynette stated.
‘You do. You see, that’s where I’ve gone wrong three times now.’
‘I did try to tell you that, didn’t I? When you married this third one, did I or did I not say to you that you needed to follow my lead? I did. And did you?’
‘I did not.’
‘Which is why you’re getting divorced for the third time.’
‘Yeah. This one is going to make me fairly rich, though. Like house-in-the-Cotswolds-rich.’
‘There is that. At least you chose well this time.’ Lynette cackled.
‘Anyway, back to Ellie. Is that the last IVF go for a while?’
There was another gigantic sigh from Lynette. ‘I don’t know. You see these girls today, they want everything right now. Likerightnow. She’s not missed the boat, I don’t think. It’s just that she can’t stand not to have it exactly when she thought it would happen in her life. Always the same. She wanted to snap her fingers and be pregnant.’
‘It’ll happen when it happens, as they say.’
‘I did try to say that to her. It didn’t go down well. You see, money can’t buy everything…’
‘I know. You see, in our day, it wasn’t like that.’
‘I blame it on social media, personally. That TikTok thing or whatever it’s called, Tiktak is it, something like that? I mean really? Grown women of our age doing those absurd dances in their kitchens. Sometimes in their pyjamas. I can’t even.’
‘So cringe. Worse when they do it with their husbands.’
‘Anyway. Another cocktail?’
‘Oh, go on then.’
‘Margarita?’
‘Make it a big one.’
Nina chuckled to herself as she watched Lynette, who was wearing a floor-length, sparkly kaftan, bright orange flip-flops, and a sun hat, heave herself up from her lounger and shuffle over in the direction of the pool bar. She reflected on the conversation she’d just heard and her own journey with wanting a baby. It certainly hadn’t happened to her yet, despite quite a few trips to the moon. Maybe Lynette had a point and it may well take a while. She nodded to herself. She might take a leaf out of Lynette’s book and, for a bit, let what would be, be.
25
The next day, Nina was on a go-slow. She kept thinking about the tour she’d booked for one of the old Thai royal palaces that afternoon. The more she thought about it, with the heat being what it was, plus the predicted temperature on the weather app, she couldn’t quite face going to the other side of the city. After changing the booking on the app, she mooched around the room for a bit and found herself back by the pool again. As she had the day before, she seemed to be overwhelmed by tiredness and not feeling like doing too much at all. So much for exploring Bangkok on her own.
Her phone buzzed while she was sitting by the pool with her nose in her book. She looked down to see a message from Sophie.
Sophie:How are you? How is it over there? xxx
Nina:Yes, good, thanks. xo
Sophie:How’s the weather?
Nina:It’s absolutely boiling now. Thinking about having a quick cool-off inside. How’s the weather with you?
