Isn’t It Too Big

by Naomi Penn

  Sophie sighed. She knew Mia would be the right person to talk to. “You and me both. With all these boys in the house I feel like a different person to the way I used to be. Sassy Sophie. Remember that name! I was always so feisty. I guess I still am – but in all the wrong ways. Now my feistiness is really just me shouting at them to hurry up or to pick their clothes off the floor. We really need some time to find ourselves again. Hey! Actually that’s right – that’s EXACTLY what we need!” Sophie could feel the cogs in her brain begin to turn.

  She was laughing now, excited as the idea began to formulate in her mind. She continued, “Mia, when was the last time you, me and Charlotte spent time together?”

  “We see each other all the time.” Mia sounded confused.

  “Yes, but we always have either our husbands or our kids with us. When was the last time the three of us spent time together alone. Just us.”

  There was silence on the other end.

  “EXACTLY! It’s been forever. I honestly cannot even pinpoint a time. That’s how long ago it’s been. I need this Mia. We need this. We really need this. That’s it. It’s decided. You, me and Charlotte are going on a holiday together. The boys will just have to deal without us for a while. Can you phone Charlotte and let her know? Then the two of you give me a weekend that suits you. I know she’s always busy with something so she’ll need a weekend when she’s free. Although… Ah screw that – let’s make it next weekend. Otherwise we might wait forever for Charlotte to be free. Plus I can’t wait long. Cancel all your plans! That’s all the two of you have to do. I’ll take care of the rest. Just pack your bags and make sure you bring your bikini. Or in my case, my full costume, no way this twin-bearing body is going to let the public see it.” This wasn’t entirely true, Sophie had the twins quite young and her body had bounced back remarkably quickly. Still though, it wasn’t quite the same as before. But she wasn’t one to worry about things like that. She just liked to moan about it with Mia – it’s what they did.

  Sophie put down the phone and smiled. She knew she was doing the right thing. This was exactly what she needed. She immediately got out her laptop and began looking for places to go.

  ***

  Mia

  When Mia put the phone down she was smiling. She hadn’t heard Sophie this excited in a very long time. That was the thing she loved most about Sophie – her ability to spread her passion to someone else. Sophie was a fiery redhead whose hair completely matched her personality. When Mia was young she used to beg her mom to let her dye her hair red so that she could be just like Sophie. She even tried once without her mom’s consent which led to her being left with weird reddish hair streaks and a week without being able to see her friends. Her mom had grounded her immediately even though she begged that surely her bad hair dye should be punishment enough. Sophie, of course, loves this story. Within seconds of putting the phone down she felt her mood lift drastically. She had gone from a somewhat frustrating day of chores to a brilliant day filled with expectations. She went upstairs, got undressed and climbed into bed. Derrick had been reading but put down his book to look at her. “Who was that on the phone so late? Let me guess – Sophie?” She’d been married to Derrick for almost six years now, and in that time he had figured out quickly that if he married Mia he was also marrying Sophie and Charlotte. The three of them had been inseparable growing up and were still close. If anyone was going to phone at this time of the night, it was Sophie.

  She laughed, “How’d you guess that?”

  “I could hear you laughing all the way up here.” This was a pretty mean feat to tell you the truth. Derrick was one of the most sought after lawyers in the country and because of this he was certainly not at all short on money. It still felt strange for Mia to call herself rich because she had grown up in a family that despite always working hard just never had enough money to go around. Now she had so much money she didn’t even know what to do with it all. She battled to enjoy it as much as she should though, because the money had not been something that she had earned. It was all Derrick’s. She did have a job, but a teacher’s salary wasn’t enough for her to have the type of life she had now become accustomed to. The house that they lived in was massive – far too big for a family of three to be honest, and so the fact that Derrick could hear her laughing when he was in the bedroom and she was in the kitchen was quite something. It wasn’t a surprise though – Sophie was always making her laugh. She’d confided in Sophie once that she felt guilty about having so much money and Sophie had burst out laughing, “Mia! You have a husband that will never leave you and enough money to make you stop working. Who cares who made the money? You deserve it! And that’s all that counts. Now enjoy it! And while you’re out there – buy me some shoes!” Mia had laughed and immediately felt better, just as she always did after speaking to Sophie.

  She snuggled up to Derrick, hoping that he’d take the lead and snuggle her back. But he simply picked up his book and carried on reading – stroking her hair as if she were a child that needed some attention. She loved Derrick but he certainly wasn’t the most passionate man she’d ever known. He was steady, reliable and clever and these were the qualities that she had wanted at the time. Before Derrick she’d gone out with a man twice her age. She was twenty and he was forty and he showed her things that she had never known before. The relationship had been very up and down though. When she eventually caught him in bed with another woman she decided that having a passionate relationship was not nearly as important as having a trusting relationship. She longed for someone that didn’t let their emotions constantly get in the way. Now, though, six years later into the marriage, she often wished for just a bit of that passion again. Instead, she sighed and reached for her own book. “Sophie’s organizing a holiday for the girls.” She wondered what his reaction would be. “Oh that’s nice.” And that was it. Well that wasn’t hard at all, she thought. She should have done this ages ago.

  The next day she rang up Charlotte. “Good morning Charls,” she said while trying to stifle a yawn.

  Charlotte laughed, “You say that like you just woke up. You did, didn’t you? You just woke up. It’s like 10am already. You never change.”

  “Yeah yeah, well I went to bed late.”

  Charlotte was the complete opposite to Sophie and Mia. She was always the first one up, and by the time the rest of the house rose she had gotten most of the chores done. She was annoyingly perfect but impossible not to love. Sophie had also always been quite an early riser despite the fact that she always went to bed so late. Mia had no idea how she did it. Mia was always going to bed later than everyone else but she’d always suffer for it in the morning. She had to change her ways once she’d had a child but whenever she got a chance to sleep in she’d grab it.

  “So to what do I owe this pleasure?” Charlotte asked.

  “Sophie called me last night. Ha! You must hear about her story of the twins dressing up as Tweedledee and Tweeledum at their school concert. Poor Sophie! I’m not looking forward to Wesley growing up. She thinks she had it bad with her laid-back family; imagine how hard it’s going to be for me. Wesley is a little terror and he’s only four years old. Anyway, cancel ALL your plans for next weekend.”

  “What? I have like a million things coming up that I need to organize. What’s going on?”

  “Tough. Cancel them. Sophie’s orders. The three of us are going away!”

  “What do you mean? I didn’t know about this. Are you making this up?” But even Charlotte knew that if you heard the words ‘Sophie’s orders’ it meant business.

  “Yeah, Sophie had a bit of an epiphany on the phone last night. But she’s right, you know. The three of us have not done anything together without our husbands or kids for years. Sophie and I actually couldn’t remember the last time that the three of us have been alone. So she’s booking a holiday for this upcoming weekend. You know Sophie – if she has an idea in her mind that she’ll run with it immediately. I’m in. And so are you.
I’m not phoning to ask you. I’m phoning to tell you.” Mia was normally such a timid person, but when it came to her friends she was as confident as the rest.

  Charlotte laughed, “Then I better start cancelling all my plans or delegating them to someone else. Peter is going to freak. You know, I should be mad. I like to plan my life, you know that. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited. I need this.”

  “We both do!” Mia said and then hung up. Finally! This was actually happening. She was a teacher so she was already off on the weekend. She’d already decided to take the Friday off and she’d just have to deal with all the marking when she came back. It’s not like the kids were rushing to get their marks back. She felt more excited than she had in a very long time. The three girls – together again!

  ***

  Charlotte

  “I need this,” she heard herself saying to Mia and then put the phone down to the sound of Mia shrieking in delight. Not that she was ever really going to say no, let’s be honest, but perhaps Mia had expected more of a fight from her.

  It had been awhile since Charlotte had done anything for herself. She’d always been the quiet one out of the three girls. The early riser – while Mia took great pride in going to bed late and waking up late. Sophie too, when she went to bed Charlotte had already been asleep for hours. Although Sophie had changed a lot over the years. She’d become a lot more controlled after marrying Michael and having the twins. But Sophie had always been the organizer of the group – despite her head always being all over the place. Nobody ever quite knew how she managed to pull it off, but if she came up with an idea then she’d always see it through to the end. That was always the thing we loved most about Sophie, or Sassy Sophie as we used to call her, but her feisty ways had definitely calmed down over the years. We used to say that she had an Italian disposition despite being American and she’d always answer “no wonder I love pasta so much. I blame Italy for my thighs.” Not that she had anything to worry about – she was always going on about how much weight she had put on after the twins but she still looked stunning. Come to think of it the three of them had very little to complain about when it came to their appearances. They might not look as youthful as they had a few years ago but they looked a lot better than other people with kids.

  Charlotte always assumed that it was because the three of them had each other. They’d urge each other when the one got lazy and they were always honest if they saw that someone was slacking off. It was a promise they’d made to each other when they were younger and one that they had managed to keep. It wasn’t always easy going up to your friend to tell them that they had put on weight – but a promise was a promise. I think it was Mia who actually came up with the idea. The three of them had been sitting at the park together, aware that it was starting to get dark and that their parents would worry. They were on the verge of womanhood and they were definitely starting to change. “I don’t want to get fat,” Mia suddenly said which made the three of them laugh. Her statement was so unexpected.

  “My cousin Marta got married and three years later she was fat and dowdy. How does that happen? I want to tell her to try a little harder because she used to be so beautiful. But I can’t tell her – we’re not that close. It’s important to have someone that can tell you the hard things when you need to hear them.” And just like that the promise between them had been made.

  Charlotte, tall and lean, had been dubbed ‘Miss Charlotte’ by her friends when they were all in their teen years. She was always too tall and too gawky when she was young but she had finally grown into her beauty when she was about fourteen years old. Getting the braces taken out also helped. It was as if suddenly overnight she became the popular girl. Luckily for Mia and Sophie they had been friends with her before she was beautiful and the bond had not broken. Whenever people called Sophie or Mia pretty they’d say that Charlottes beauty must’ve have simply rubbed off on them.

  She had never planned to fall pregnant. Her intention had always been to simply get married and maybe own a few dogs. When she met Peter he had begged her to reconsider which she told him she would – but in her head she had already decided. After years of asking she told him that she was willing to give it a try, but without telling him she continued to take her pill in secret. Therefore, it came as a huge surprise, that within a few months of telling him that she was keen to try, she actually did fall pregnant. Of course, she then had to pretend she was happy when deep down instead she wanted to cry.

  The only two people who knew how she really felt were Mia and Sophie – and the two of them were the only pillars of strength that she had at the time. It would break her heart to see how happy her husband was and how deeply upset he would be if he knew just how much she didn’t want this. However, as it turned out – as it so often does – the moment she had Charlie she fell in love with him. His sweet little cherub face and big round eyes made her melt and every day her feelings only grew stronger. She was so overwhelmed by this feeling as it had taken her completely by surprise. She was so lucky – Charlie was the sweetest little boy ever, always wanting to help others and constantly telling her how much he loved her. She would never tell him that she didn’t want to have children. She would also never tell Peter. That would be her little secret – well hers, Mia’s and Sophie’s of course.

  Charlotte and Charlie were inseparable from the moment he was born – the two forming a kinship that was undeniably strong. Which meant that poor Peter had felt slightly left out. Peter was a great dad – it was the only thing he’d ever wanted – but for some reason Charlie always came running to her. It had put a bit of a strain on their relationship but neither of them liked to talk about it. That is why Charlotte knew that this weekend away was probably just what both she and Peter needed. As much as she hated the idea of not being around Charlie for a weekend she knew that it would do all of them the world of good. She knew Peter would be slightly worried at first – after all he had never spent much time with just Charlie. Charlotte was always around to make sure everything was okay. This was the perfect opportunity or the two of them to bond.

  Thinking about the weekend with the girls made her think that she probably needed a weekend away with Peter sometime too. Years had gone by and the only thing that Charlotte ever really thought about was Charlie. That probably wasn’t fair on Peter nor was it fair on herself. She phoned Peter at work to tell him. As she suspected his first words were, “Oooh I don’t know Charlotte. I’m not used to looking after him without you.” But then, after he’d given it some thought and she’d given him a bit of encouragement he changed his mind. Soon he was excited. “You need this Charlotte. You haven’t had a chance to spend time with the girls in a very long time. Plus it’s only for the weekend. I’ll be fine. I’m going to take Friday off so that Charlie and I can spend even more time together. Okay I’m going to go make a list of things for the two of us to do.” Charlotte smiled as she put the phone down. This holiday was going to be good for everyone.

  ***

  Sophie

  And just like that they were on their way. Sophie had managed to find the cutest holiday resort a mere one hour’s drive away – giving them maximum holiday time. She’d tried to get everyone to leave on Friday morning but Charlotte couldn’t get away until midday. Nevertheless, they were on their merry way. They’d all laughed at how many bags she’d bought, but she’d replied, “I’ll be prepared for ALL occasions that come my way and you’ll be left wishing that you had brought more!” She’d always been a heavy packer and could never decide what to bring. So she’d always just bring it all. Luckily the car had a nice roomy trunk and Mia and Sophie’s one little bag each fit in perfectly. Mia jumped in the front leaving Charlotte at the back, who kept popping her head to the front to change the music. The three of them could not stop talking – it was as if they were a bottle of champagne that had just been uncorked and all the bubbles were coming out.

  When they got to the resort the girls all ‘oohed and aah
ed’ – the place was beautiful. Tranquil music was playing in the background and beautiful people lounged around the pool as if this were something they did every day. They looked as if they would just snap their fingers and a waiter would rush to their every beck and call. “Sophie! What is this place? It must’ve cost a fortune,” Mia asked. Mia, who obviously had way more money than the rest of the girls, felt bad that Sophie had refused money from them. “Please,” Sophie replied, “I haven’t maxed out my credit card in a very long time and this was totally worth it!” “SOPHIE!” Mia exclaimed, looking worried. “Mia, don’t worry, I’m just kidding. I had some money saved and I promised myself I’d spend it on something special. THIS is special.”

  They checked in and got taken to their room. Sophie had booked one big room with three beds. Each bed looked to be king size and the room came fully equipped with a stocked bar and a balcony that opened out onto the poolside. Sophie flopped onto the bed, “Can I live here forever?” Even she was surprised at how big this room was – even though she’d booked it herself. If she’d known how big these beds were she would’ve just booked in a room that had one and the three of them could’ve slept in in together. This was total luxury.