Olive

by Emma Gannon

A man self-confident enough to wait on his own without needing to scroll on his phone.

I never thought a fairy godmother would be a forty-something man with a beard.

‘Sorry, Sal, not yet, you’re nearly there! Few more years I’m afraid or … do it behind my back.’ ‘But I think I look old enough,’ Sally says, flicking her hair.

‘It’s OK. Writing an essay currently in my English class on why Disney films are incredibly sexist. I mean, Ariel from The Little Mermaid – she literally loses her voice, for a man, and is also at the beck and call of her weird controlling bearded father,’ Sally responds. ‘Nothing wrong with a bearded controlling father!’ Marcus says jokingly, in a deep booming voice.

We hop into the car and listen to The Greatest Showman soundtrack on the drive. Sally starts belting out ‘This is Me’. She is very out of tune, but I can’t help but take it as a compliment that she is comfortable enough around me already to sing so loudly (and badly).

When people say ‘You will meet the right person when you least expect it’, I want to rip one of their arms off and beat them with it.

His words hit me hard, like a physical blow to the stomach. It sounds as if Dorothy is still here. I didn’t know my neighbour for very long but I felt close to her. Like we understood one another. She softened my heart again after my break-up with Jacob. She helped me to heal.

‘I mean it’s fajitas. How wrong can it go?’

‘Like Jude Law in The Holiday.’ ‘Not seen that film.’ ‘We must rectify that immediately.’

We have some crisp white wine with ice cubes in, and the fairy lights around my window are giving off a soft, golden light.

You don’t have to tell me what she says or anything.’ ‘That’s good of you.’ ‘I would never ask you to betray her trust – that’s like reading her diary! I just need to know she’s OK.

Our friendship might have been changing and wavering and blowing around in a stormy wind, but I know it needs some grounding. WhatsApp is the worst for communication. We need to get in one room together, facial expressions, body language, awkward atmosphere and all. There

‘It makes me a little sad sometimes to think that I won’t have anyone to take to Disney for the first time, or read Harry Potter to for the first time. But that’s a flash of sentiment that in no way endures, or has any impact on my decision to not have kids.’ Sienna, 39

‘Life is not a dress rehearsal. Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain. You should be nice to those on the way up, because you don’t know who you might meet on the way down. You can’t be an everything to everyone. After all, it’s not the number of breaths we take, but the number of moments that take our breath away. Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery and today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present …’

‘I think Dorothy thought you were a bit lonely.’

Leaving something behind isn’t just about having a child who will roam the earth after you’ve gone. A legacy is made up of everything you’ve ever done. It’s everything you leave behind. It’s every choice you make. It’s every person you meet. It’s every feeling you’ve passed on. It’s every story you tell.

‘We’ve all come a long way, haven’t we?’ I say, holding my three best friends as tightly as I can. There are things we can choose – and things that we can’t. But one thing is for sure: I choose these friends. Over and over again.