Between the limes.

It was a dropped paper, malfunctioning printer, chicken soup coloured day. The light shining through the windows wasn't trying very hard at all to illuminate anything and the patrons of Lime n Wine bar didn't seem to be at all bothered by this. They enjoyed the cosiness of the lamps dotted around the place which hid their finer features.

The small bar had a limited clientele at the best of times, this

wasn't among them. Over in the far-right corner was Rob with a face mask around the wrist of his left arm, a pint of lager in his right hand and a frown written on his forehead. Mal sat in a booth to herself picking over her emails between sips of her mojito and readjustments of her spring leaf glasses on which enjoyed sliding down her nose.

Neil was behind the bar in his favourite t-shirt, blue jeans and

new red doc marten boots, every so often he paced his patch trying to wear them in. Every so often he cast a glance towards the door as if expecting something exciting to burst through it but only raindrops tapped on the glass that afternoon.

At the front of the bar in the window sofa sat two women, Angela

and Esme. Angela was in her fifties wearing black boots, blue jeans, and a

cream jumper to match her recently painted nails, Esme was a woman in her twenties wearing multicoloured leggings with dinosaurs on them and a rainbow facemask hanging from her ear. They sat clutching their coffees like security blankets or shields in front of them despite a seemingly pleasant conversation.

"Sooo how are things at work?" Angela asked before

taking a sip of her milky coffee.

Esme raised her eyebrows, sighed, looked into her coffee for

answers before replying "the same as always, Jim is still waiting to

retire, Jon is trying to cosy up to the directors and Cara is a manager now."

"Sounds like it's busy then!" Angela replied with a

smirk.

Esme nodded her head, it had been busy there as long as she's

known it but that wasn't what Angela had ment, she sipped her black coffee and thought about getting something a little stronger.

"You look like you're doing well" Esme murmured

looking at Angela's cream nails and pristine jumper, she'll drop coffee on that by the end of today...

"Aww thank you darling!" Angela grinned "I've been blessed this year!"

Esme tried not to wince at that phrase, blessed. It seemed so

tacky like it was lifted from the pages of some 19th century novel, people weren't blessed these days they were either cunning or cursed. She raised the mug of coffee to her mouth again as she nodded nearly knocking it all over herself, stifled a curse and drank a little more.

"Yes, my new manager is such a nice chap he's given me lots

of support and a few raises when we've completed some challenging projects" Angela explained partly to Esme and a little to her coffee.

Esme tried hard not to spit her coffee out and nearly choked in

the process.

"Are you ok?" Angela said looking up.

With tears in her eyes Esme nodded.

"And have you met a nice man yet?"

"No, not yet" Esme told her thinking of Suzie sat at home in her tartan armchair reading a book, her face a mixture of concentration and delight.

"Give it time my dear" Angela reassured her with a condescending

pat on the knee.

"How are you doing now that Eric isn't in the

picture?"

Angela sat back and scowled a little, swirled her coffee around

took a big slurp, dribbling a little on to the neck of her jumper before painting a smile on her mouth. It didn't reach her eyes but she tried her hardest to show all of her teeth.

"Good, good, good good... I mean I know you never got on

with him but he was a good man."

Esme looked at her coffee, there was half a cup left but she

felt like getting a different drink now, maybe a beer or a whiskey.

"We just decided that it was time for us to go our separate

ways, twenty years is a long time..." Angela mumbled.

Esme held the cup up to her mouth to hide her smile before

breathing "I'm sorry to hear that" at Angela.

Angela gulped, nodded and drank some more coffee.

They both looked away for a minute awkwardly trying not to meet

the eyes of the other. Esme looked at the table and thought back to what Eric had done in the past, how he had lied, gambled, cheated. It was only in the last few years that Angela had started to notice this, it was the affair with a younger colleague that had made him decide to file for divorcing.

Angela looked at the droplets that threw themselves at the

windows and door as if they were looking for somewhere warm to rest. "Nice weather for ducks" she offered to Esme with her slightly broken smile.

Esme looked up and remembered the old phrase, "yes I'm sure

they're enjoying it as they stay here..." she offered.

"I bet it helps the flowers grow" Angela nodded.

Esme smirked remembering a song from years ago "a little

drop of rain can hardly hurt me now" she semi sung. A tear appeared on Angela's eyelashes for a second before she blinked it away.

Esme drained her coffee and put it down on the coffee table a

bit louder than she had planned to, "are we going to get another or the bill?"

"Do you think they'll have any Rioja?" Angela asked before glugging the last of her coffee. Esme frowned, she didn't drink wine "I don't know, has it been delivered or was it one of those trucks."

"I don't know what they think they're playing at holding those lorries over there..." Angela exclaimed with a roll of her eyes.

Esme tapped her fingertips on the edge of her cup "it's

almost as if the lorry drivers don't like being held up in customs and abandoned for days" she muttered.

"Pardon my dear? Angela asked.

Quick as a flash Esme replied, "well it's been a funny old year hasn't it?"

Angela nodded whole heartedly as she tried to put her coffee cup

down nearly dropping it and spilling last few the drops further down her cream jumper in the process. "Sugar!" She snapped as she dabbed at the droplets with a napkin. Esme gave her a small sympathetic smile then remembered what and who she was "so if they don't have rioja what do you want? Cava? Merlot? Chardonnay?" Angela nodded for a moment then clocked the smug grin and raised eyebrow that accompanied the questions. "No, I guess if there's no Rioja there'll be no other wine from over there either" Angela admitted. Bingo Esme thought.

"I guess if there's no wine it'll have to be gin" she sighed.

Esme put her facemask on and went to order the drinks from Neil,

as she collected the glasses from behind the perspex screen the lights flickered. In front of her the bar, the cosy lamps, the drinks and even Neil melted away to a black room.

"Time's up" an electronic voice announced, and Angela blinked, stood up from the box she had been sitting on and left the room

without a second glance at Esme.

At the space where the bar was Esme crumpled down into a ball of

tears, she'd hoped that this therapy session would be successful and yet... after all these years all they could say was nothing. Her mother wouldn't even give her a second glance when leaving the room. There was always time they said, the journey to Alpha Centuri would take decades yet. Maybe one day they would forgive each other or drink without tense platitudes she dreamed. Deep in her heart she knew that would never happen. They'd always have Les Mis though.