Diane pondered Tamsin’s last comment as she sipped her wine. She wanted to believe that Tamsin would not have acted inappropriately in any way. However, she couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback by the age of Tamsin’s previous love interest.

“Do you always fall for younger women?” Diane asked. “I don’t mean to pry, and you don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Tamsin stayed silent for a moment. Then she said, “I suppose I do tend to go for women who are younger than me. Looking at my dating history, I can hardly deny it.” She gave Diane a rueful smile.

“Hm, interesting,” Diane said. “Do you know why that is? Are you hoping their youth will rub off on you, or that your maturity will rub off on them?”

“Are you turning into a therapist?” Tamsin let out a chuckle. “I didn’t know accountants were trained in psychology as well as numbers.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Diane said. “It’s the wine catching up with me. I seem to lose sight of proper social boundaries when I’ve had a few glasses of vino.” She held up her glass, which was close to empty. “Speaking of,” she said, “can I get you another one?”

Tamsin immediately stood up. “It’s my turn. Same again?”

“But—”

Tamsin held up her hand. “No arguments. But I will expect permission to ask you my own probing questions.” She strode off towards the bar.

As before at the club, Diane found herself staring at Tamsin’s retreating figure with more intent than expected. While she was waiting for the bartender to pour the drinks, Tamsin turned around and their eyes locked. The look on Tamsin’s face was slightly mischievous—at least to Diane.

Tamsin returned with the two glasses and deposited one in front of Diane. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” Diane said, holding up her glass for Tamsin to clink hers against. “I truly didn’t mean to be so inquisitive before. I think I’ve been alone for so long now that I find other people’s relationships and dating adventures much more interesting than I should.”

“So you’re just very nosy?” Tamsin said.

Diane nodded. “It’s true. But I have an excuse. I’m going to be a grandmother soon, and a tendency to stick one’s nose into everyone’s business is kind of expected of grandmothers, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Oh Diane, that’s great news,” Tamsin said. “Although you don’t look nearly old enough to be a grandmother, so I don’t think you can use that as an excuse for anything.” Her lips were pulled into a wide grin.

“Thank you, I think,” Diane said. “I’m very happy. Timothy only told me a few days ago. But, truth be told, I can’t really associate the title of grandmother with myself just yet.”

“So,” Tamsin sat up a bit straighter, “now that we’ve switched the conversation to you, it’s my turn to ask some probing questions.” She tilted her head slightly, as if she was evaluating how to approach a task.

“Ask away,” Diane quipped. “I’ll try to give you the most honest and grandmotherly answer I can.”

“How long ago did you get divorced?” Tamsin asked the question Diane was expecting.

“Five years ago.” Diane looked down at her hands that were fidgeting with the edge of her blouse. “It’s kind of ridiculous how stereotypical the whole thing was. Middle-aged man falls in love with hot young thing at the office. They have an affair behind his wife’s back for a while, until the young mistress gives the man an ultimatum: leave the wife or be cut off from the constant supply of exciting and adventurous sex she provides. Not a very hard choice to make for a man in the throes of a mid-life crisis.” Diane looked up again into Tamsin’s kind face. “Those were not Lawrence’s exact words, but that’s what I understood from them.”

Tamsin looked at her sympathetically. “I’m very sorry you had to go through that. Having to see him with Debbie at the club must be so hard, as well. Did you not feel like leaving, finding a new place to play?”

“I thought about it for a while,” Diane said softly. “I even stayed away for a couple of months. But then I realised leaving the club would be admitting defeat in some way. I had already lost my husband and the life I knew and loved. I was not going to lose my circle of friends as well. So I stayed.”

“I think you were very brave to do that.” Tamsin held up her glass again. “To being brave,” she said.

“Admittedly, Isabelle had a big part in helping me reach that decision. She was an invaluable source of support through the whole ordeal. So I’ll drink to her.” Diane held up her glass as well.

“To Isabelle then.” Tamsin took a sip from her wine. “Can I ask another question?”

“Of course,” Diane gazed at Tamsin. She didn’t seem to be affected by the generous amount of wine they had already consumed. Diane, on the other hand, could not deny the pleasant tipsiness she felt.

“Have you been with anyone since the divorce? Gone on any dates?”

Diane smiled. The question was not unexpected considering the topic of conversation. “I haven’t,” she said. “Timothy and I talked about this just the other day. He said I should go on a cruise or some kind of group trip for mature singles.” Diane scoffed. “He even suggested I sign up for a dating site. Can you imagine: me, a soon-to-be granny, on Timber, or whatever it’s called?”

Tamsin let out a yelp. “Do you mean Tinder? There are loads of eligible bachelors your age on there.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” Diane said, “but they’re all looking for women half their age.” She squinted at Tamsin. “Are you on Tinder? Is that how you know who’s on there?”

Tamsin seemed a little flustered at Diane’s question. “Er, yes, I do have a Tinder profile. Not that I would have encountered any middle-aged men on there, since I only checked the box for women when I signed up.”

Diane pondered this. She had so many questions for Tamsin. She decided to start at the beginning. “Have you always known you were attracted to women?”

“For as long as I can remember. As soon as my girlfriends at school started talking about boys and kissing them, I knew boys weren’t for me. I only wanted to kiss my friend Nicole, so that was that.”

“I kissed a girl once,” Diane blurted out. Damn that wine.

Tamsin brought her hand to her mouth in shock, but Diane could see the amusement in her eyes. “You did? Tell me all about it.”

“That too was a perfect cliché.” Diane chuckled. “I was at an all-girls boarding school. We were sixteen and wanted to practice for when we’d meet the boys from the neighbouring all-boys school at the yearly dance.”

Diane fell silent as her mind travelled back to that afternoon, sitting on her bed with her roommate Fiona. They had practiced on their forearms first, before bringing their mouths together for a chaste kiss. After a few of those Fiona had suggested they open their mouths. Diane remembered the sensation of butterflies being released in her tummy as Fiona’s tongue had tentatively made contact with hers. It was like nothing she’d ever felt before.

A cough brought her out of her reverie before the memory of the kiss could make way for the memory of what had happened after it. Tamsin was watching her with an amused expression on her face. “I’m guessing it was not an unpleasant experience, judging by the smile on your lips just now.”

Diane’s cheeks started to burn. “It was such a long time ago; I can hardly remember.” She should stop drinking now. The wine was clearly causing her brain to play tricks on her. As she was replaying that adolescent kiss in her mind, the image of Fiona had blurred and gradually morphed into someone else. Tamsin. And the butterflies she’d remembered were now fluttering about inside her as she sat across from Tamsin.

Tamsin stayed quiet, but her expression showed she knew there was something going on.

“I think I’ve had a bit too much to drink,” Diane said, putting her glass down on the table. If she wanted to make a somewhat elegant retreat before she embarrassed herself any more, now was the time to do so. “Thank you for the wine.” She stood and gave Tamsin a small smile. “Good night.”

“Good night, Diane,” Tamsin said, a puzzled look on her face.

As Diane hurried to her room, she tried to reassure herself that it was just the wine that had caused Tamsin to appear in her memory of the kiss. But somehow she couldn’t shake the feeling that the wine had only played a small part.