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‘I don’t know how dating works today and I can’t image ever going to bed with anyone else, showing my body to someone new, especially now it’s not so young and slender any more.’
    ‘Dim the lights and lie down, the wobbly bits sort of disperse then,’ Petra giggled. Since her divorce, and perhaps before it, she’d had lots of lovers, none that stayed long and usually men discarded by their wives because of some unfortunate trait – drink or trouble with finance or a mental condition, all things Alice felt were hardly fair exchange for a steamy interlude.
    ‘You’ll change your mind if you meet someone you fancy,’ Petra said knowingly. ‘But don’t use Evie’s baby as an excuse to stay hiding at home’
    ‘Cecily said the same thing… about the baby. Don’t worry, I won’t do that, and I’ve got Laura’s wedding to think about.’ Anxiety clawed at her again. ‘I only hope she’s doing the right thing.’
    ‘Who’s to know?’ Margot poured more wine. ‘We all started off with such hopes, didn’t we? You had a happy marriage though, which makes it worse that it was cut short too soon. I’m sure you’ll find new things to do now with your life. It’s a kind of freedom, it has its compensations.’
    Alice said nothing. Margot and her husband, Glen, seemed happy enough, but she never said much about her marriage so none of them really knew.
    A troupe of colourful acrobats leapt and cartwheeled on the square before them.
    ‘I’d like to try paragliding,’ Alice said to change the subject. ‘I always wanted to do it when we went skiing and people jumped from the mountains. Julian went on about the statistics of accidents and I knew if I did it, it would put him through unnecessary torment. But now he’s gone, I could try it, what do you think?’ She regarded her friends; they’d weathered well since they’d met as shy little girls starting school for the first time.
    ‘But you still have children and soon grandchildren, you don’t want to put yourself in any danger. Imagine if you paralyse yourself or something,’ Margot said.
    ‘You sound just like Julian,’ Alice laughed. Margot hated sport – ‘makes me feel sick’ she used to say at school, though now she had a personal trainer and did Pilates – and perhaps more exciting things – with him on her living room carpet.
    Petra said, ‘As you know, I love travelling, perhaps we could go on some weekend breaks together?’
    ‘Yes, that would be fun.’ Alice was not sure she wanted Petra as a travelling companion; her interests were usually confined to checking out the local male talent.
    They watched two of the acrobats holding on to each other and rolling along the ground like a wheel.
    ‘Since driving that car I feel like doing more exciting things: spending the night in a mountain hut before getting up at dawn to ski, travelling to places I’ve never been to, having my own gap year.’ Alice laughed, feeling a little foolish. ‘I can’t explain it really. Put it down to middle-aged madness.’
    Petra smiled, ‘Most people I know – and I’ve read articles about the over sixties – not that we are nearly there yet,’ she added hastily, ‘want to jazz up their sex lives. Look at those books on bondage that are selling in shedloads.’
    ‘Yes but how many cookery programmes are watched on television and cookery books sold yet no one seems to cook these days,’ Alice said. ‘Perhaps those books are a substitute for the real thing, but Julian is all I want in that department.’
    ‘Never say never,’ Petra said. ‘There’s no rule to say you can’t love someone else, it doesn’t cancel out your love for Julian.’ She flinched as an acrobat twirled beside her, his leg extended, skimming her head, his goblin face smiling wickedly at her.
    Alice shrugged; falling in love again herself was the very last thing on her mind. Her daughters’ affairs occupied that space, and look at the problems they were