Sarah was a true old fashioned romantic but at the age of thirty was still single. Katie had never been able to understand why because she couldn’t begin to count the number of guy’s Sarah had been out with. But Sarah was still adamantly looking for her Mr Right and was desperate to be married and have masses of children - sadly for some reason it just wasn’t happening.
“Morning,” Katie said quietly not wanting to startle her. “I brought you a coffee.”
Sarah swung around to face her, smiled and took the cup. “That’s great, thanks,” she said pointing to a cold coffee cup on the end of the desk. “I always forget I’ve made one and let it go cold. How are you feeling this morning?”
“Better, in fact I’m much better. And thanks again for last night, Sarah,” she said sitting on a stool next to the desk. “I’m going to shower, get ready and go into work at lunch time.”
Sarah waved her hand redundantly. “No thanks necessary, I know you’d do the same for me. But take your time with going into work and I meant what I said last night you can stay as long as you want to. In fact I’m going up to York on Wednesday for a two day design course so you’ll have the place to yourself,” she said. “But Tim will probably have rung by then and you could be back at the apartment.”
Katie sighed. “You know, Sarah, even if he does ring I’m not sure I’ll be able to bounce back so soon. Although I’m not angry anymore I’m still so rankled about it all and even if he was to crawl on his belly full of apologies well, I’m just not sure…”
“Then take your time to think things through properly,” she said sipping her coffee.
Katie nodded in agreement and turned around on the stool to look at the family photographs on the wall gazing at one in particular of Sarah and her twin sister, Libby. She often thought Sarah’s longing to be married stemmed from the tragic time when Libby had been killed in a car accident when they were in the last year of secondary school. It had been a devastating time for Sarah and everyone worried that the loss of her twin was something that would scar her for life and she’d never get over. Katie thought back to that time and how she hadn’t known Sarah very well at school but knew Libby much more because they’d been in the same athletics’ club together.
It was only when Sarah’s grandmother had died and left the house to Sarah in her will and she’d moved into Carmalt Road that they’d become close friends.
Sarah followed her gaze. “I often wonder about Libby. I mean, if the accident hadn’t happened and she was alive today, I wonder if she would have been married with babies yet,” she said wistfully.
Katie took her hand and rubbed it comfortingly between hers. “I know, hon,” she said pausing to think of some words of comfort. “But I suppose if she’d grown up like you, well she too would probably still be looking for Mr Right.”
“Hmm,” Sarah pondered and shook her head. “Anyway, did I tell you Mark is coming up to York for the night?”
Katie grinned at her. “Oh my God, no you didn’t!”
“Well, when I told him about the course he decided to take the day off work and join me in the hotel to have dinner. There’s a fabulous pool and spa so it’ll be a good chance to relax and unwind, and the food is supposed to be out of this world…”
Katie drained her coffee. “And how long has he lasted?” she probed. “It has to be at least six or seven dates now?”
“Seven but I’m insisting on single rooms or at least until we get there,” she giggled.
“Seriously though, Sarah, give him a chance. I think he’s lovely and he’s obviously crazy about you,” Katie said without much hope. Over the years both her and Lisa had cajoled her into giving men a proper chance to see if they could, in time be Mr Right but Sarah was always adamant that it should feel right from the beginning and if the men weren’t instantly her Prince Charming she kicked them into touch without a second glance.
Leaving Sarah to her design she showered, dressed and felt her spirits lift a little when she stepped outside and looked at her Micra. Remembering how upset she’d been last night in the dark she decided that the saying, everything always looked better in the daylight, was true. The street was quiet, and as Katie slid into the driver’s seat she noticed a woman about her own age wearily pushing a toddler in his buggy who was crying loudly. The woman looked tired and miserable as though the last thing in the world she wanted to do was care for the child, and yet there upstairs in her studio sat Sarah who would give anything to be in this woman’s position with a child to love. Life certainly seemed unfair sometimes, Katie mused, pulling away from the kerb.
Driving across the city to work she wondered if Tim would be too embarrassed to ring her now that he would have calmed down and maybe he’d send an email instead, or perhaps he’d just call around to Sarah’s and Lisa’s looking for her? Well, probably not Lisa’s because he knew the hostile reception he’d get. Parking her car and heading into the office block she decided to push him and the argument firmly out of mind until she’d finished work.
Stepping out of the lift on the third floor she looked around the big room at the sales team in one section, the buyers in the furthest corner and the planning team in the middle next to her own product development section. When she’d first started at the company the work area had been carved into two corridors with numerous offices leading from it but two years ago the whole floor had been re-designed into one open plan office. At first there’d been grumblings from the staff who felt as though they were sitting in a new-fangled call centre but everyone had eventually settled and now they liked the fact that all the teams were together.
Walking across the room under the bright strip lighting she gazed at the desks with smart professional men and women going about their daily jobs and thought how fortunate she was to work with people she’d known for years. It was the type of national retailer that looked after their work force well and a place where people were happy to work, hence staying in the jobs for much longer than in other companies. And in these times of recession she decided, that counted for a lot.
Removing her grey suit jacket and sitting down at her desk she decided everyone looked the same as they had done when she’d left on Friday and it was definitely only her that felt different. Booting up her computer she picked up Tim’s photograph from her tidy minimalistic desk and placed it carefully face down under a pile of papers - she couldn’t bear to look at him today and wanted to keep her mind firmly on her work.
Fiddling with the mouse cable she connected straight through to her inbox and speed read the names. There were no emails from Tim and she read through her to-do list which she’d written on Friday. Sighing heavily she remembered how excited she’d been looking forward to the party at the Savoy with her new dress to wear - it seemed like two months ago rather than two days because so much had happened. And none of what had happened had been very good.
“Hey there, are you feeling better?” Frances called walking over and perching on the edge of Katie’s desk. “You still look at little peaky to me?”
“I’m much better, thanks,” Katie answered and lowered her head hoping Frances wouldn’t notice her sore puffy eyes from all the tears she’d cried the night before. She couldn’t face going through the whole saga again and decided to tell her later.
“Now,” she said briskly opening the folder in front of her. “Let’s get our heads around the two new lemon desserts we’re launching next week.”
Frances stared with concern but shrugged her shoulders. “OK, honey,” she said quietly. Katie knew Frances had figured that she didn’t want to talk because she squeezed her shoulder lightly.
Katie asked, “Would you do the check list for sign-off procedures and I’ll spend the rest of the day going through the suppliers specification to double check it’s all in place.”
Frances nodded and stood up to return to her desk. “No problem,” she said. “I’ll take Alice and Harry through the list at the same time and they’ll get to know exactly what we’re r
esponsible for.”
Katie smiled her thanks and looked around her organised desk. A bright red ceramic pot filled with pens, pencils and markers stood on one side of the computer and three product folders sat on the other side with a jotter pad just next to her right hand near the mouse. She groaned silently, put her head down and began to read through the suppliers details. The specification document was on her PC but she always liked to print it out and use a pencil and the jotter pad for scribbling notes just to make sure it was checked thoroughly. The afternoon progressed with phone calls, emails and queries that Frances had noticed, and by six o’clock they both agreed their preparations were complete. The travel arrangements for the following weeks visit to the supplier’s site in Shrewsbury, where they would be watching the factory produce the lemon desserts, were sorted and she breathed a sigh of relief.
As she called goodnight to the few remaining colleagues in the office she momentarily forgot she wasn’t driving home to the apartment and because there was still no word from Tim she decided to call at her mums first and let her know she was staying at Sarah’s house.
Pulling up outside her mums old terraced house on Abbotshall Road in Lewisham, she noticed the three stone steps up to the front door were crumbling slightly on the edges and the white paint on the old sash windows needed touching up. The street was full of familiar sights and sounds although most of the families and children she’d played with when growing up had long since moved. Locking the car door and looking up at the big family home she still puzzled at her mums insistence to stay there after her father had died because a small bungalow would suit her lifestyle so much better. But all their memories were locked in this house and street and if she closed her eyes now she could almost hear her dads whistle as if he was sauntering happily towards the front door. Smiling with the thought of him she hop-scotched up the three steps like she’d done when she was a little girl – familiarity always reassured her.
Her father had worked in the building trade all his life and her mum had always stayed at home to look after her and her two brothers apart from once when she was nine years old.
“I’m going to start a part time job to make some extra money for our holiday to the Isle of Wight,” she’d announced one night and they’d all gasped with shock. But, the job had only lasted for six months and when the holiday was over they all agreed, especially her father that they’d much rather she was at home when they got back from work and school. “That’s far more important than any holiday,” her father had said and Katie remembered the genuine look of gratitude and relief on her mums face - she’d always been much happier at home with her family rather than in a work situation.
Standing on the top step now she scuffed at some of the peeling paint with the toe of her black court shoe and decided to ask her brother, Jack, to find a decorator. At the same time as Katie opened the front door her mum came through the kitchen doorway. “Katie, what a surprise,” she said. “I was just thinking about you this afternoon.”
Katie hugged her and planted a big kiss on her cheek. “You were?” she asked.
“Yes,” she said and started telling her a long drawn out story about one of her neighbour’s cousins. But when Katie took her jacket off and slumped down at the kitchen table her mum stopped abruptly, switched the kettle on, sat down opposite her and searched Katie’s face. Her mum always did this because she reckoned she could tell at a glance when something was wrong with any of her three children, and Katie knew better than deny there was anything wrong. She told her exactly what had happened.
Her mum’s big hazel eyes widened with shock. “But I can’t understand it? I mean, why is he behaving like this?”
Katie looked at her mum’s hands clasped together on the kitchen table and her finger slightly swollen around the wedding ring she’d worn since she was eighteen.
“I don’t know, Mum,” she wailed. “It just seems to be since he got his new job! Maybe it’s the stress…”
It was eight years since her father had died and at the time they’d all been totally devastated with the shock of him being there one minute and gone the next with a massive heart attack. For years afterwards every time she looked into her mum’s eyes she saw the absolute misery and loneliness of living without him and it was only during the last two years that she seemed to be coming to terms with it.
Her mum stirred three heaped teaspoons of sugar into Katie’s tea and she protested, “Er, I don’t take sugar, remember?”
“You look like you could do with it. It’s the best thing for shock,” she warned and stirred it quickly with the spoon while Katie watched the liquid quickly swirling around.
Katie sighed. “I’m not in shock now, Mum. I’m fine, honestly. I was upset last night but not now. In fact, now the temper and tears have gone I just feel really sad about it all.”
Her mum brightened. “Look, I’m sure he’s sorry by now and he’ll probably be ringing you by tonight, or you might get back to Sarah’s and find a bouquet of flowers waiting for you.”
Katie played along with her positive vibes and sipped the tea although she couldn’t help screwing up her face with the sweet sugary taste. Her mum smiled and told Katie she could always come home to stay if she didn’t want to be at Sarah’s and then changed the subject back to her neighbour’s cousin story.
Katie relaxed her shoulders and sank back into the chair in the warm homely kitchen and with only half of her attention on the story she looked around the room letting all her childhood memories flood through her. She remembered the smell from wet washing drying on the old radiator and standing on the stool next to the old knotty pine table where her mum had taught her how to cream sugar and butter together in the big ceramic mixing bowl for cake mixes. Maybe this was where her love for cooking had come from she wondered and subconsciously she always associated cooking with warmth and family love.
She knew according to all the books she read and the people in her immediate circle of friends that her normal happy childhood was unusual now-a-days and most women her age seemed to be from dysfunctional or one parent families with horrid memories to haunt them. Yep, she’d definitely been one of the lucky ones and shook herself to nod in agreement at the shocking end to her mum’s story. After helping her mum with a couple of household jobs she eventually left just before seven o’clock and made her way back to Sarah’s.
Chapter Five
By Wednesday morning with still no phone call, text or email from Tim she was full of fight and determination and had stubbornly decided if he could get through these days without contacting her then so could she.
Feeling more in control than she had since Sunday, she said to Sarah, “I mean, there’s no way I’m going to allow any man to ruin my life.”
They’d pulled up outside Kings Cross station and Sarah collected her case from the back seat of the Micra then kissed Katie on the cheek. “Of course you won’t. Now, take it easy while I’m away and remember to make yourself completely at home. I’ll text you when I get to York.”
Katie’s stomach churned with agitation while she waved to Sarah and headed off to Holborn to start work. It was obvious Tim had no intention of making the first move after the argument she thought indignantly, which was rich considering it was his fault in the first place. She knew he could be stubborn and she hadn’t been expecting flowers and please forgive me messages but he could at least have called to see where she was and if she was all right.
Argh, she wailed silently in frustration as she sat at her desk, what was the saying, bloody men - you couldn’t live with them and you couldn’t live without them.
“Still no news from Tim?” Frances asked when she joined her with two coffees.
She’d taken Frances for a drink the night before and told her the whole sorry mess about the Savoy, the massive bust up and that she was staying at Sarah’s.
Katie bristled. “Nope, I might as well face the fact that he’s in no rush to get in touch and beg me to go back, or even if h
e wants me back at all?”
“Now, you don’t know that,” Frances soothed. “He could be just cooling his heels for a few days and you might hear something from him tomorrow?”
Katie squeezed her arm gratefully. “You know, Fran, I’m beginning to wonder about our relationship. I mean, has it all been one-sided? It looks to me as though he’s not even worried about where I am, or if I’m OK. And I know if it was the other way around I’d be beside myself with worry about him.”
They both sipped their coffee thoughtfully. “Plus, he’s not a stupid man,” Katie said. “And he must know that the longer he leaves getting in touch the bigger chance he has of losing me altogether?”
“Hmm,” Frances mused. “Men are weird buggers,” she snorted in her deep Somerset accent, which made Katie smile.
Draining her coffee Katie clashed the mug none too lightly down on the desk. “Well, I’m not going to sit about brooding over him. If this is the way he wants it then he couldn't have cared that much about me in the first place,” she retorted. “Come on, let’s go down to the development kitchen and taste the lemon dessert samples the Shrewsbury guys have sent in.”
The department’s meeting to discuss the launches of desserts continued longer than expected and it was after six o’clock when Katie left for Sarah’s house. She’d received a text from Sarah to say the design course in York was good, the hotel fabulous and she was getting ready for Mark to arrive. Oh well, she smiled, at least one of them was having a good time and, just as she wondered what Lisa was doing for the evening, she saw her Mazda Sports car parked outside Sarah’s.
Lisa jumped out of the car still dressed in the black pin-striped trouser suit she wore for work. “Where’ve you been? I was just getting ready to text you,” she exclaimed walking around to the boot. “I decided to surprise you and then started to worry that you’d gone out straight from work.”
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