Die of Shame Read Free Page B

heard.’
    ‘Jesus…’
    Heather finishes what’s left of her drink, then goes to the bar to get another round. She’s short, thinner even than Diana, but there’s little in the way of make-up and she has made no attempt to hide the smattering of grey in hair that is closely cropped. She wears skinny jeans and trainers, a sweatshirt under a bright orange puffa jacket.
    ‘You got any kids?’ Caroline asks.
    ‘One,’ Diana says. ‘Grown up now, more or less.’ She digs into her handbag for her phone. She stabs and scrolls, then leans forward to show Caroline a few pictures. ‘She’s in her second year at Exeter.’
    ‘Empty nest,’ Caroline says.
    ‘Very.’ For a few seconds Diana scratches at a stain on the table with a scarlet fingernail. ‘What about you?’
    ‘No, but I want to.’
    ‘Well, you’ve got plenty of time.’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘What are you… thirty-something?’
    ‘I’m twenty-seven.’
    ‘Oh… sorry.’
    ‘Doesn’t matter, and you’re right, I’ve got loads of time.’
    Heather comes back with the drinks, muttering about the barman taking his time to serve her because she wasn’t buying alcohol. She pushes Caroline’s Diet Coke across, says, ‘What were you two gassing about then?’
    ‘Kids,’ Caroline says. ‘You got any?’
    Heather blinks and hands Diana a glass. ‘Always meant to, but it’s hard isn’t it, when the only meaningful relationship you’ve ever really had is with a chemical?’ She sits down. ‘It would be great, but you know, time’s running out and buggered if I’m using a turkey baster.’ She produces two packets of crisps from her pockets and tosses them on to the table. ‘Hope you don’t mind these. I’m starving.’
    ‘Don’t be daft,’ Caroline says. ‘You were fine about me having a drink if I wanted one.’
    ‘Sure?’
    ‘I think I can cope with people putting away a couple of bags of cheese and onion.’
    Heather smiles, showing teeth that are far too straight and white to be natural. She tears open both bags of crisps lengthways and nudges one towards Diana.
    Caroline watches them each digging in. ‘I was thinking… bearing in mind that whole “what’s said in the circle” thing, are we OK to talk about some of this stuff? You know, what you were saying about Chris and Robin.’
    Diana grunts and quickly finishes chewing. ‘Long as it’s still within the group, it’s fine, I think.’ She looks to Heather. ‘It’s talking to outsiders about the group that’s not allowed.’
    ‘It’s nothing Robin wouldn’t happily tell you himself anyway,’ Heather says.
    Caroline nods. ‘It’s kind of like when they bend the rules in
Big Brother
, isn’t it? You can’t talk about the nominations to anyone else, you know, why you’ve nominated someone, but you can sort of talk… generally about them.’
    ‘I’ve never seen it,’ Diana says. ‘It’s a bit like experimenting on rats in a cage from what I’ve heard.’
    Caroline laughs. ‘Trust me, that session tonight made the
Big Brother
house look like happy families or something.’
    ‘I thought it was all pretty relaxed tonight,’ Heather says. ‘Chris aside, obviously.’
    ‘So, come on then, tell me about Big Brother.’ Caroline grins and reaches across to take a handful of crisps.
    ‘Tony?’ Diana leans back, thinks about it. ‘He’s an interesting bloke, but he doesn’t give a lot away. Well, you can’t really, can you, doing what he does? They have to draw a line, I suppose, not allow their clients to get too close.’ She turns to Heather again. ‘You’ve been going the longest, what do you think?’
    ‘His family’s from Sri Lanka,’ Heather says. ‘But he was brought up in Scotland, I mean you can hear that, right? I know he used to be a bit of a songwriter, might still be for all I know. That’s what the piano’s about.’
    ‘We still don’t know who’s playing it though, do we?’ Caroline says.
    ‘Well, we do know he’s married, or has