Meredith closed the door of her dressing room and looked at herself in the mirror. She still wasn’t happy with the dress. The belt seemed to make it look like a sack tied in the middle but without the belt it really did look like a tent. Sighing, she decided there wasn’t much she could do about it now. It would just have to do. Looking at her watch she was pleased to see she had an hour before she was on air again and decided to spend that time with her maps and charts.
The morning’s first forecast went off without a hitch, apart from having to tell the viewers they were in for a bit more rain. At least it wasn’t going to be so stormy today. There was even the possibility of a little sunshine later.
Meredith thought if the sun did come out by the time she finished work she would take Jenny out to the garden for a while until Sam came home. Then she would have to speak to him. She was quite prepared to apologise for snapping at him, but she also wanted to make it clear that Jenny was as much his responsibility as hers. As she thought about what Alice said, she decided that threatening to walk out on him wasn’t such a good idea. If Sam was playing some sort of mind game she didn’t think it would help matters for her to do the same.
Despite being even more tired than yesterday, Meredith managed to make it through the day without any major problems. She was in her office just finishing up for the day when Amanda came in.
“Hi, Meredith. I just thought I’d stop by to see how you are doing. Sorry I didn’t make it back yesterday. Is everything going okay?”
“Its fine, thanks. No problems to speak of.”
“Nothing I need to worry about then?”
Meredith felt herself flush with embarrassment. She should have known Amanda wouldn’t have missed a thing.
“No, nothing to worry about. I think it’s just getting back into the swing of things after being away so long.” Meredith wasn’t about to go into any great detail about her personal life.
“I noticed there have been a few comments about how you look today. I must say you do look different somehow and I’m not sure it’s for the better. Are you tired maybe?”
Meredith gave up. She wasn’t going to fool Amanda with lame excuses. Taking a deep breath, she told Amanda about the disastrous haircut and that she had decided to take some of the viewer’s advice. She explained the comments she’d read on Twitter and Facebook the other day, but quickly added that she hadn’t even looked at it today because she didn’t want to read anything else that was negative. When she told Amanda about the remark concerning the broom cupboard, Amanda surprised her by laughing heartily. Meredith felt a bit aggrieved that Amanda wasn’t taking it very seriously.
“Meredith, don’t change the way you are. You make me laugh, you really do. There’s nothing wrong with you. I’m not so keen on your current attempts to change, though. You know not to listen to that nonsense. Being in the public eye means there will always be unkind people saying stupid things. You should take no notice. I look after that side of things and I’d soon enough tell you if I thought there was something wrong. Now get off home to that lovely baby of yours and relax for the rest of the day.”
Meredith laughed along with her this time as she realised how dumb she’d sounded.
“Thanks Amanda; I can always count on you to tell it like it is,” she said, gathering up her possessions and following her out the door. “Have a good evening. See you tomorrow.”
“You too, Meredith. See you.” Amanda strode away along the corridor in the opposite direction.
Meredith was glad another day was over, even though it had been a little better than yesterday, but her impending talk with Sam had been on her mind all day. It had been difficult for her to take pleasure in her job the way she normally did.
On her way to the car park she looked up at the sky. It was still a little overcast and dull. She felt a spit of rain and was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to take Jenny into the garden if it didn’t brighten up soon. Fearing being caught in another downpour like yesterday, and frightening Jenny again, made her hurry to her car.
While driving the few miles home, Meredith thought about the events of the last couple of days and began to reprimand herself for being so stupid. She’d been putting up with negative comments from the public for years and never let it bother her before. Now she’d let it really get to her so much that she’d scared the wits out of Jenny and fallen out with Sam too, all because some silly viewer had nothing better to do than pick fault with people.
She swung into the driveway and parked the car. Chloe stepped out the door with Jenny balanced on her hip. As soon as Jenny caught sight of Meredith she grinned from ear to ear and reached out with both of her chubby little arms. Meredith ran the last few feet to take Jenny from Chloe.
“You’re talking to me today then, are you?” she said.
Jenny just giggled, buried her head in Meredith’s shoulder, then lifted her head again and giggled once more.
“She’s been a bit grumpy all day,” Chloe told Meredith. “She didn’t want to settle for her afternoon nap and I couldn’t get her to finish her lunch so she might be extra hungry come dinner time.”
“Yeah, Sam and I had a bit of a falling out last night. I think it really upset her. I don’t think she’s ever seen us argue before. She’ll be fine I’m sure but I’ll keep an eye on her just in case she’s coming down with something. Is that you ready for the off?” Meredith asked as she saw Chloe reach for her coat from the hall stand.
“Yeah, I’m off to see that new band ‘Bad Half’ down at the Metro tomorrow with my mates so I need to do some extra studying tonight.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow,” Meredith said as she walked in the house.
Chloe headed down the driveway, waving as she went. She rounded the wall at the end of the front garden, leaving Meredith with a very happy Jenny in her arms.
“Okay little one, since you’re in a better mood now, why don’t you and I go find some fun games to play.” Meredith kissed Jenny on the nose as she closed the front door behind her.
They spent the next hour playing together in the house. The weather still wasn’t warm enough for spending time in the garden. Jenny eventually fell asleep so Meredith did a little housework while she had the chance, even though she would have preferred to join Jenny for an afternoon nap.
Jenny was still sleeping by the time Meredith had finished, giving her some much needed relaxation time. She switched on the T.V. and tuned in to some afternoon soap opera, not really worrying whether it was good or bad; just grateful to have nothing else to do for the moment.
Come five-thirty, Meredith was so engrossed in the peek a boo game she and Jenny were playing that she didn’t hear Sam come in. The first she knew of his arrival was when he walked into the lounge and caught Jenny’s infectious laugh.
“I see you two are in fine form tonight,” he commented.
Meredith spun around at the sound of his voice.
“We’ve been sitting here playing for the last hour since Jenny woke up. And we’ve had loads of fun, haven’t we?”
Meredith caught the look of relief on Sam’s face as she spoke. He obviously hadn’t been sure of the reception he would get.
“We need to have a chat, though.” Meredith smiled at him.
“Yeah, I think we do.”
“Now’s as good a time as any,” said Meredith as she headed for the kitchen, depositing Jenny in the chair.
“Have you made any decisions about what’s for supper tonight?” Sam asked.
“Not yet. I thought I’d wait until you were home.”
“How about something quick and easy, then we can chat over dinner? Pasta? I’ll make it.”
“Great. I’ll sort out Jenny’s meal while you’re doing that,” Meredith said.