Olivia places the chunky necklace around her neck and clasps it at the back. She smooths her hands over it as she checks herself in the mirror before straightening out her collar.

She was wearing a midi length plain white shirt dress that pleated from the waist with a subtle belt and her statement necklace to dress it up a bit. She didn't plan to be out later but when she was out with Amanda she always had to make sure she looked good. Though in her neighbourhood you didn't want to be seen by anyone not looking your best because it would be all around the PTA group chat that they made without you in minutes.

The women around here could be so mean, they'd smile and air kiss you to your face and slag you off the second your back was turned. She tried not to pay attention or let it get to her and she mainly kept herself to herself. She had a good friend Amanda who she'd known for years, they had met through their husbands, Amanda's husband Dominic was an ADA and her husband Trevor had worked with him many times. Over the years the women had grown closer, especially when the children came alone.

Amanda's children were older than her son, Jesse was 18 and going off to college this summer and Billie was 16 so Amanda was back to reliving her youth - not that Liv thinks she ever really left it - and trying to take Liv along for the ride.

Her own son Noah was off for the summer tomorrow, he was going to camp for nearly two months and she didn't know how she would cope without him. He'd gone before but not to for any that lasted more than a few weeks. He started high school this fall and Trevor had convinced her that he needed the freedom to find himself before this big change in his life. She didn't like the idea, he was still her baby, her only baby and she didn't want him to grow up but they had talked her around eventually.

Noah was going out tonight to say goodbye to his friends that he wouldn't see for a while. She was upset he didn't want to spend his last night with her but she knew she needed to get used to that feeling with a boy of his age.

Trevor was still at work, as always. So she'd decided to take up Amanda's offer of joining her for drinks. It was late afternoon and the sun would still be out for a while yet so she places the shades on her head and heads out of their apartment building to hail a cab.

She finds Amanda and some of her friends she's met a few times out on the balcony area of the restaurant enjoying the rest of the sunlight and she gives them each a kiss on the cheek before taking a chair and ordering a Pinot from the waiter that had promptly arrived to take her order when she had sat down.

"I'm so glad you came! Start as you mean to go on for the summer right?" Amanda says with a wink.

"I don't plan on day drinking the summer away with you, you know. Maybe I'll take up a hobby"

"What are you going to do? Knit Trevor a scarf?" She asks with an eye roll. "Let your hair down for once, aren't you bored of just being a mother and a wife? Who is Olivia?"

Olivia takes a sip of the glass of wine that the waiter had just placed in front of her and avoids her question. Amanda was always trying to push her, make her more "fun" but she felt too old for that. Fun was for girls in their 20s. She was a wife of a respectable lawyer and a mother to a teenager. Amanda didn't seem to mind if she embarrassed her kids or her husband with her antics. Carisi was used to her ways, she had never calmed down when they had married and he accepted her as she was. Trevor, well not so much. He always pushed for them to be perfect. Her house looked like something straight from a perfect home magazine and her wifely duties she was sure could get her the cover of a good housekeeping magazine. He had high expectations and she'd spent the last twenty year making sure they were the perfect family.

"This is who I am Amanda. When will you realise that?"

"There's more to you than you think. There's a fire in there I want to see"

Liv rolls her eyes and joins the conversation that the other women were having, Amanda had much more faith in her than she did herself.

"He is gorgeous.."

"And I heard he's quite skilled"

The ladies across the table giggle and Livs curiosity gets the better of her.

"Who's this?"

"This new personal trainer. All the ladies are trying him out"

"Oh right"

"Why don't you liv? You said you wanted a hobby?" Amanda suggests. She'd heard the rumours about extra this trainer gave and she thinks Liv deserves a little eye candy if nothing else.

"The gym wasn't quite what I had in mind"

"He offers much more than that!" Says her friend Casey on the other side of Amanda. She picks up her phone and sends Liv a text message. "I've sent you his number if you ever want to you know, relieve some stress"

"Or exercise" Amanda reminds her, making sure Casey didn't scare Liv off. Amanda may be married but she had no worries about the odd session with a PT, a masseuse or the only straight hairdressers on the upper east side. She always found it crazy that Liv had never succumbed to temptation. She could tell by her uptight attitude that she wasn't getting any from Trevor regularly. She had tried to tell her that everyone does it, she didn't believe that Trevor hadn't gone with a twenty something leggy assistant over the years but she hadn't wanted to be that honest with Liv, though she doesn't think she'd really be that bothered if she was to find out he had.

"Hmm. I'll keep it in mind".

The girls trying to get her to step outside her marriage aside maybe a personal trainer wasn't sure a bad idea, she had said she wanted a hobby and some eye candy to go with it might be exciting.

She leaves around 8pm. Her and Trevor had to be up early to take Noah off for the bus for camp and she wanted to make sure she had a clear head to enjoy the morning as she hoped they could get one more family meal in before he leaves.

She collects her bag from the back of the chair and blows a kiss the ladies sitting around the table, they were all starting to get a little loud and she was glad she had an excuse to get out before the men started to join them. Her bangles clang as she pulls her phone out of her bag to see a message from Noah to say he will be home around 9 but nothing from Trevor. She hadn't bothered to tell him she was going out and if he was home he hadn't even bothered to ask where she was. She throws her phone back in her bag and sighs. She was about to have a very lonely summer.