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Description
Jacqui spends the whole morning with Kate and Oliver , chatting, playing, and generally having a wonderful time. (She also gives Berkeley the cat plenty of attention, too, as he has chosen to remain at Kate's house this morning.)

It draws near to midday and Oliver is showing signs of needing a nap, so Kate puts him to bed. She comes back downstairs and enters the living room. "What do you fancy for lunch?" she asks.

"Oh yeah, it's lunchtime!" Jacqui laughs. "Getting up early and putting in a morning of serious fun makes you lose all track of time. So lunch, huh?" She strokes her chin in contemplation. "You know what I fancy? I've been a good girl this month with my calories, so I feel like I could be up for some indulgence."

"Oh?" Kate wonders what her friend has in mind.

"How about we go into town and find somewhere that'll serve us plenty of tasty things?" Jacqui suggests. As she referred to, she has started watching her calorie intake after realizing that several of her outfits have... well... apparently shrunk in the wash, as can happen if one has a healthy appetite. A month of rationing her food is starting to leave her with a strong craving that needs fulfilling.

Kate looks down at her own shape (easily done with the sheer nightdress she is still wearing) and weighs up the offer. "O-k-a-y . . . " she says cautiously, "but don't expect me to keep up with you! I haven't been on a starvation diet this past month!"

So, after letting Oliver nap for a short while longer, during which time Kate gets dressed and arranges with Sini the daycare nanny for Oliver to be looked after for a few hours, Kate and Jacqui head out to Mettleham town centre.

Kate deliberately avoids bringing up any mention of Café Moulu , knowing that seeing the waiter there again will surely bring back all the loneliness and missing-Edwin-a-lot issues she has quietly pushed to one side, and suggests instead they try Caffè Frangioli. (This is something she will never tell Holly as it is a popular hang out for students from Richard Wells Academy and she would never hear the end of it from her kid sister, a Tibb's Girl through and through.)

The two women spend several hours sitting in Caffè Frangioli, drinking their way through the coffee menu (Jacqui feels a morning of drinking decaff tea has allowed her to return to the caffeinated beverages) and trying out many of the sweet confections on offer.

"That waitress looks very young," Kate points out as she finishes a caffè con panna.

"Mmm, yes, she does," Jacqui agrees. "It is the school holidays, though, so perhaps she's just working Summer Break." She chuckles to herself as she puts her cup down on its saucer. "Heh! Remember our first summer job working in Margerie's Cut And Style? I got sick to the back teeth of sweeping up that damned hair! And you, always out the back with Margie's son, your faces welded at the lips."

Kate's expression takes on a dreamy cast to it as she recalls those days twenty years ago. "Good times, good times," she smiles. "Me and Dan Reynolds, you couldn't separate us."

"He still looks after your Vee-Dub, doesn't he?" Jacqui asks.

Kate nods. "Oh yeah. I get mate's rates from him when it needs work. He's a good bloke and... yeah, I do wonder what my life would have been like if we'd stayed together, got married, all the rest of it." She smiles to herself at a private recollection which continues in silence as both women bring to mind past events and lose themselves in the memories until the moment is abruptly broken when the young waitress approaches the table, bringing the next items they have ordered.

"Thank you," Jacqui says as the plates are placed on the table.

"Thanks," Kate says. Just as the waitress is turning to leave Kate looks up at her. "Excuse me," she says. "Sorry for being nosey and all but can I ask how old you are? If you don't mind my asking, that is."

The waitress turns back to face Kate and smiles politely. "Not at all. I'm thirteen, Miss," she says. "I'm just working here for the summer holidays."

"Thirteen?" Kate raises her eyebrows. "Same age as my little sister. Same age that I..." she stops and points to Jacqui and herself alternately a few times, "... same age that we got our first summer jobs, too. Do you go to St Tibb's, by the way?"

"No, Miss, I go to Richard Wells Academy," the waitress answers.

"I see. What's your name?" Kate continues with the questions, not entirely sure why she is asking.

"Lakshmi, Miss," the waitress replies with a brief glance towards a display stand where an older woman, presumably her supervisor, is watching.

"I'm Kate. Nice to meet you, Lakshmi. You've been a wonderful waitress to us today," Kate says with a friendly smile that quickly vanishes when she notices where the young girl's eyes have just darted to. "Sorry, I'm keeping you from your duties. It was nice talking to you."

"Thank you, Miss," Lakshmi says with a small attempt at what most likely is meant to be a curtsy, and she turns and walks away to attend to other things.

"To be that age again, huh? All of life still ahead of her," Kate says wistfully as she watches the young waitress busying herself at another table.

"And all the mistakes ahead of her still to be made!" Jacqui picks up the slice of cake waiting in front of her and bites into it with a big grin.

(Posed and rendered in Poser 12, clothes created in Marvelous Designer 9.5, postwork in PSP 2023.)

The day arrives >>>

A Night Out With Alice
More Mettleham can be found here: Kate's Exciting Life

Description
Jacqui spends the whole morning with Kate and Oliver , chatting, playing, and generally having a wonderful time. (She also gives Berkeley the cat plenty of attention, too, as he has chosen to remain at Kate's house this morning.)

It draws near to midday and Oliver is showing signs of needing a nap, so Kate puts him to bed. She comes back downstairs and enters the living room. "What do you fancy for lunch?" she asks.

"Oh yeah, it's lunchtime!" Jacqui laughs. "Getting up early and putting in a morning of serious fun makes you lose all track of time. So lunch, huh?" She strokes her chin in contemplation. "You know what I fancy? I've been a good girl this month with my calories, so I feel like I could be up for some indulgence."

"Oh?" Kate wonders what her friend has in mind.

"How about we go into town and find somewhere that'll serve us plenty of tasty things?" Jacqui suggests. As she referred to, she has started watching her calorie intake after realizing that several of her outfits have... well... apparently shrunk in the wash, as can happen if one has a healthy appetite. A month of rationing her food is starting to leave her with a strong craving that needs fulfilling.

Kate looks down at her own shape (easily done with the sheer nightdress she is still wearing) and weighs up the offer. "O-k-a-y . . . " she says cautiously, "but don't expect me to keep up with you! I haven't been on a starvation diet this past month!"

So, after letting Oliver nap for a short while longer, during which time Kate gets dressed and arranges with Sini the daycare nanny for Oliver to be looked after for a few hours, Kate and Jacqui head out to Mettleham town centre.

Kate deliberately avoids bringing up any mention of Café Moulu , knowing that seeing the waiter there again will surely bring back all the loneliness and missing-Edwin-a-lot issues she has quietly pushed to one side, and suggests instead they try Caffè Frangioli. (This is something she will never tell Holly as it is a popular hang out for students from Richard Wells Academy and she would never hear the end of it from her kid sister, a Tibb's Girl through and through.)

The two women spend several hours sitting in Caffè Frangioli, drinking their way through the coffee menu (Jacqui feels a morning of drinking decaff tea has allowed her to return to the caffeinated beverages) and trying out many of the sweet confections on offer.

"That waitress looks very young," Kate points out as she finishes a caffè con panna.

"Mmm, yes, she does," Jacqui agrees. "It is the school holidays, though, so perhaps she's just working Summer Break." She chuckles to herself as she puts her cup down on its saucer. "Heh! Remember our first summer job working in Margerie's Cut And Style? I got sick to the back teeth of sweeping up that damned hair! And you, always out the back with Margie's son, your faces welded at the lips."

Kate's expression takes on a dreamy cast to it as she recalls those days twenty years ago. "Good times, good times," she smiles. "Me and Dan Reynolds, you couldn't separate us."

"He still looks after your Vee-Dub, doesn't he?" Jacqui asks.

Kate nods. "Oh yeah. I get mate's rates from him when it needs work. He's a good bloke and... yeah, I do wonder what my life would have been like if we'd stayed together, got married, all the rest of it." She smiles to herself at a private recollection which continues in silence as both women bring to mind past events and lose themselves in the memories until the moment is abruptly broken when the young waitress approaches the table, bringing the next items they have ordered.

"Thank you," Jacqui says as the plates are placed on the table.

"Thanks," Kate says. Just as the waitress is turning to leave Kate looks up at her. "Excuse me," she says. "Sorry for being nosey and all but can I ask how old you are? If you don't mind my asking, that is."

The waitress turns back to face Kate and smiles politely. "Not at all. I'm thirteen, Miss," she says. "I'm just working here for the summer holidays."

"Thirteen?" Kate raises her eyebrows. "Same age as my little sister. Same age that I..." she stops and points to Jacqui and herself alternately a few times, "... same age that we got our first summer jobs, too. Do you go to St Tibb's, by the way?"

"No, Miss, I go to Richard Wells Academy," the waitress answers.

"I see. What's your name?" Kate continues with the questions, not entirely sure why she is asking.

"Lakshmi, Miss," the waitress replies with a brief glance towards a display stand where an older woman, presumably her supervisor, is watching.

"I'm Kate. Nice to meet you, Lakshmi. You've been a wonderful waitress to us today," Kate says with a friendly smile that quickly vanishes when she notices where the young girl's eyes have just darted to. "Sorry, I'm keeping you from your duties. It was nice talking to you."

"Thank you, Miss," Lakshmi says with a small attempt at what most likely is meant to be a curtsy, and she turns and walks away to attend to other things.

"To be that age again, huh? All of life still ahead of her," Kate says wistfully as she watches the young waitress busying herself at another table.

"And all the mistakes ahead of her still to be made!" Jacqui picks up the slice of cake waiting in front of her and bites into it with a big grin.

(Posed and rendered in Poser 12, clothes created in Marvelous Designer 9.5, postwork in PSP 2023.)

The day arrives >>>

A Night Out With Alice
More Mettleham can be found here: Kate's Exciting Life