Robbie & Jamie

Thirteen - In Place, Out Of Mind

A/N: This chapter contains a small section where a homophobic opinion is prominent.

Margaret needed validation. Surely she wasn't in the wrong? She couldn't be... She had only been trying to help Robbie and Jamie, and it had somehow ended in Rose shouting her, and a verbal ban from their house and wedding? A misunderstanding. All Margaret had wanted was an invitation, why was that so hard to them to grasp?

"This is ridiculous," Margaret muttered, scrolling through the  contacts on her landline phone and selecting the one she wanted. Whilst the dialing tone rung in her ear, Margaret furiously paced the perimeter of her kitchen.

"Hello?"

"Gloria, it's Margaret."

"Oh, hello. How are you?"

"You won't believe what's happened, I'm fuming," Margaret replied, pausing pull a bottle of wine out of fridge.

"Don't tell me, let me guess... Phil and Laura are finally getting a divorce?"

"No..." Margaret was about to inform Gloria on her news, but her friend spoke again.

"Henry's out of hospital?"

"Henry? Anne's Henry? I didn't know he'd gone back into hospital." Margaret held the phone in between her ear and shoulder as she unscrewed the top and poured wine into a glass.

"She told me last week, his knee popped out of place again, but they noticed something wrong with his breathing, so he's having tests."

"Oh, that's a real shame, I rather liked Henry. I can't believe Anne didn't tell me."

There was a brief pause on Gloria's end. "I think she's still upset about your little scuffle a few years ago."

Margaret rolled her eyes as she took a large mouthful of alcohol. "The Christmas card ordeal? Well, she needs to be more considerate. When I send someone a Christmas card, I don't expect to be sent one back with the same design!"

"You can't help buying the same cards as someone else, Margaret."

"I sent my cards December fourth, all first class. The stamp on her's from the post office indicated it hadn't been sent until the twelfth. There was plenty of time for her to buy something else."

Margaret heard an unusual noise from Gloria's end, something like a sigh, and then a thud.

"What are you doing?" Margaret asked, halting her walking so she could listen better.

"I'm clearing out my wardrobe, I'm donating to charity shops and beginning afresh. Teal licra is out of fashion now, I've heard mustard is all the range for summer."

"Are you sure mustard will work with your skintone?"

"I'll be fine once my tan gets darker. My daughter got me a deckchair for my birthday, so I can sit outside and work on it. Which means I'll be able to read that set of books you got me for my birthday too."

"Oh yes, do let me know what you think. They're really clever, like a murder mystery, with so many twists and turns. Peter adores them, along with the series they've made inspired by the books. He keeps trying to get me to watch it with him."

"I'll certainly be kept busy. Hazel noticed them and said she'd like to borrow them too."

"When was this?" Margaret was sure she'd remember such a conversation, or a time when all three of them were in Gloria's home, for that matter.

"She was here yesterday morning. I taught her some yoga poses. Nothing too strenuous, but enough to get her moving and stretching."

There was an unusual feeling circulating around Margaret's body, starting with a heaviness in her chest, moving to the pit of her stomach, and then weakening her knees. Yesterday, Gloria and Hazel, her two best friends of many years, had spent time together without her? And who knew how many more times this had happened? Best friends shouldn't leave each other out, even if Margaret had once chattered away about how yoga was a waste of time, and probably wouldn't have accepted the offer to Gloria's home anyway. Still, it would have been courteous of them to offer!