Still Thinking of You Read Free Page A

his golf handicap (however feigned), someone with a good heart who would worry about neighbours’ operations (however gory). They thought Tash fitted the bill nicely.
    Tash tried on another outfit. Tight black trousers and a crimson and purple Diesel top. She knew that Rich loved her in this get-up. And she wasn’t daft; she knew why. The trousers clung to her backside, and the top was designed so that you had to go without a bra. Which Tash could pull off with her tiny, 32A boobs – it was one of the rare occasions that small breasts were an advantage. She repainted her toes with a ruby varnish – twice because she was shaking the first time and made a real mess of them – and she carefully applied her make-up. She was ready. She checked her reflection. Cool. She looked good.
    God, it was like a first date.
    Tash wouldn’t have liked to admit it, but she was desperate for Rich’s friends to like her. It really, really mattered. Odd, because as a rule Tash wasn’t one for external endorsements. She liked herself. Of course, she occasionally looked at her waistline and had a fleeting concern that she could pinch more than an inch, but generally her confidence only plummeted at certain times of the month. Then, she would wonder just what could be done with her hair, and why her face shone like her mother’s prized and frequently polished dining table. On the whole, however, she was happy with the way she felt about herself and the world in which she lived. Crucially, she was happy before she met Rich, and now she was delirious.
    Maybe that’s what was making her so nervous.
    Tash walked downstairs and found Rich in the kitchen. He had his back to her, as he was chopping vegetables. She saw at once that he hadn’t changed and was still in his jeans and T-shirt from earlier in the day. Bugger, maybe she’d gone over the top. Rich turned to her.
    ‘Wow, you look stunning, babe,’ he said, as he pulled her towards him and started to kiss her. He broke off. ‘Are you wearing lipstick?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘Shouldn’t I be?’
    ‘Well, it’s up to you, babe. Of course, you look great with full make-up and everything. I was just wondering if I’ve ever seen either Kate or Mia in lipstick.’ He paused, and shrugged. ‘I just don’t want you to feel overdressed, you know, out of place or anything.’
    Tash grabbed a bit of kitchen roll and started to rub off her lipstick. She became impatient with herself. This was ridiculous. Rich liked her in make-up. He’d often said so. More importantly, she liked herself in make-up.
    ‘Well, I won’t feel out of place, with or without my scarlet lipstick. I just thought I’d make an effort. We are throwing this dinner to celebrate our engagement,’ she muttered, peeved with Rich for his implicit criticism, and even more peeved with herself for taking notice.
    ‘Yeah, and you look great, babe. God, if we were going to a bar, you’d turn heads.’
    ‘But you don’t like what I’m wearing to meet your friends?’
    ‘No, I’m not saying that. You look very glamorous.’
    It didn’t sound like a compliment. In fact, this sounded like a disagreement. Their first. Tash wondered if she had time to nip upstairs and put on her jeans again. The bell rang. Clearly, she didn’t.

3. Introducing Kate and Ted
    First to arrive were Kate and Ted. Tash was relieved to see that they had both made an effort and that they had dressed up, too, and she was only a little disappointed to note that Kate and Ted’s interpretation of ‘dressed up’ was shirt and chinos for him, shirt and chinos and pearl stud earrings for her.
    Still.
    Kate and Ted both looked older than Tash had expected. If she’d seen them on the street she would have put them at late thirties or early forties. They were both rotund and, while Kate was quite short and Ted rather tall, they looked like one another. It wasn’t just that they were sporting the same outfit. They both had mid-brown hair (although