Practically Perfect Read Free Page B

take. I used to go with him, before the boys came along.’
    ‘Do you miss it?’
    Chloe considered this. ‘Not as much as all that. I miss Mike, of course, but being an ex-pat wasn’t all joy. Although I’d worked as a temp in offices all my life, it wasn’t easy to get work when they knew you’d be off soon. That’s how I met Mike,’ she added. She looked at Anna, retrospectively mischievous. ‘I was working at his office. We met in the morning, went out for lunch, and never went back! I felt awfully guilty, I usually took my temp work very seriously.’
    Anna laughed. Although Chloe did a lot of talking she was fun, and could be a useful source of information. ‘So have you lived here long?’
    ‘Bruno – he’s the eldest – was a baby when we moved here. It seemed ideal for us then. Now, two more babies later, it seems a bit cramped.’ She smiled sleepily. ‘You wouldn’t tip a bit more wine into my glass, would you?’
    Anna obligingly tipped.
    ‘It’s not that I’m an alcoholic or anything – or at least, I don’t think so – but it’s so nice to have company in the evening, and I never drink when I’m alone.’ Chloe sipped and then, as if going over old ground, said, ‘We’d move if we could afford to, probably, but it took all our money just to get our foot on the property ladder.’
    ‘You don’t seem exactly cast down by your poverty, if I may say so,’ said Anna.
    Chloe laughed. ‘Well, no! Being broke can become an absorbing hobby and it makes you terribly resourceful.’ She undug herself from the sofa and crossed the room. ‘See this table?’
    Anna nodded. It was holding a small table lamp.
    ‘Nappy box, with a cloth over it. But don’t look too closely – there isn’t a hem on the cloth.’
    ‘Wow! That’s such a good idea,’ said Anna.
    Now she was on her feet, Chloe drained her glass. ‘I’m going to put the kettle on. Mike’s parents think I’m a terrible slut. They don’t think making furniture out of cardboard boxes is clever.’
    ‘I do, but I usually use something more substantial myself …’
    ‘You probably don’t have access to nappy boxes like I do.’
    ‘Well, no.’
    Chloe frowned. ‘I did use cloth nappies as well, but when you’ve got three … So, coffee, tea, or hot choc?’
    ‘Coffee please.’
    ‘And grown-up biscuits?’
    ‘I didn’t know biscuits grew, I thought they just came the size they were always going to be.’
    Chloe laughed. ‘You are funny. I mean biscuits I don’t let the boys have except for a treat. Too expensive.’
    ‘So why did you move to this area? Do you come from round here?’ Anna asked.
    ‘It’s more or less equidistant between the parents,’ replied Chloe as she filled the kettle, ‘which is a bit of a mistake, but I’d spent holidays here as a child and have always loved it. And I must say, although property prices are obscene, it’s a great place to live.’
    ‘That’s good to hear.’ Anna got up from the rather low armchair that was beginning to make her back ache and sat down again on something more upright.
    ‘Oh yes, it’s got everything,’ said Chloe from the kitchen. ‘Lovely countryside, views … a really good primary school, playgroups, things like that in the village. You probably know about the shop and the post office, but there’s a great market on Saturdays, although there’s another one in town, too. We have a pub that does really good food, a Chinese nearby—’
    ‘I know about that. There were menus from it stuck up on the wall in my house.’
    Chloe smiled and rummaged in the cupboard for the grown-up biscuits. ‘And we’ve made some good friends here, all within pushchair distance, which is great when you go to dinner with each other: you just totter home on the stroke of midnight for the babysitter.’ Chloe stopped and sighed. ‘Sorry! I’ve completely run off at the mouth again. I do that. Mike’s always telling me off, but when he’s away I do miss adult company