Breakfast at Sal’s Diner on a Monday feels odd. It’s not our regular day, but with Christmas falling on Saturday this year, we’ve had to reschedule.
Julia had suggested giving the whole thing a miss this week and I’d agreed. ‘Fine by me. We’ll see each other at the Studio Club reunion on Tuesday anyway.’
But Peggy wouldn’t hear of it. ‘We won’t get a chance to talk properly at the reunion. Besides, I’m sure we’ll all need to debrief after Christmas.’ So here we are.
Peggy waves as I wend my way to our regular table, and I make an exaggerated ‘O’ with my mouth to demonstrate my shock at her punctuality. Peggy used to be the most reliable of us all, but these days she has a lot on her plate – too much, if you ask me. Between shooting her long-running TV show At Home with Peggy Carmichael, her church commitments, the charities she runs and her ever-demanding daughter, it’s a miracle she finds time to squeeze in a weekly catch-up with her two oldest friends.
She rolls her eyes at my expression and stands so she can greet me with a kiss. ‘Don’t look at me like that, Sadie.’
Even dressed casually, Peggy is the epitome of style. Her thick blonde hair is smoothed back into a low ponytail, and she’s wearing designer jeans and a white T-shirt topped with a fashionable (and no doubt expensive) coral linen blazer. Personally, I favour comfort over fashion, but today’s outfit – a mustard-coloured velour tracksuit with sneakers – is a particularly poor effort. The fleeting look of distaste on Peggy’s face confirms this ensemble is one that should be reserved for early-morning dog walks only.
‘I can’t believe you’re the first to arrive,’ I say, as Peggy sits and I slide into the opposite side of the booth…
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