The Chocolate Lovers' Club Read Free Page B

Autumn.
    ‘Yes,’ Autumn responds, but she does it in such a distracted way that we decide not to pursue the subject.
    Addison is Autumn’s new boyfriend and they’re totally loved-up. Which is good, because Addison has been Autumn’s only boyfriend since time began as she doesn’thave time for men as she’s so busy Doing Good. It’s really great to see that Autumn is actually doing something that she wants to do rather than propping up her lame, drug-dealing brother and her lame, drug-taking clients at the KICK IT! programme she works on.
    Her brother, Richard, is currently still in rehab in California or Arizona or Nevada – one of the American states ending in ‘a’ – although he absconded out there to escape a posse of thugs who were after his blood rather than through having seen the error of his druggie ways.
    ‘How’s Richard doing?’ I ask.
    ‘He’s okay.’ Autumn shrugs. ‘His emails are very sporadic. Apparently, the clinic limits his time on the computer.’
    Very sensible too. Look at all the trouble computers can get you into if you begin to rely on them. I clench my jaw firmly, so that I won’t be tempted to cry again.
    ‘He’s not coming home?’ I squeak.
    ‘No,’ she says. ‘Thankfully, my parents have very deep pockets. I’m sure Rich will stay away for as long as they continue to fund him.’
    ‘I’m dreading it,’ Nadia pipes up. ‘I’m dreading the whole bloody thing. The last thing I need is any more expense.’
    Nadia’s a beautiful, British Asian woman and, if I were her, I’d dredge up something from my cultural background – or, frankly, make it up – so that I’d got a perfect excuse for having absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas. There’s got to be something, right?
    ‘I used to love it when I was a kid.’ She shakes her head. ‘Now it’s so horribly commercial. Why on earth do we do it?’
    Nadia and her husband, Toby, are also recently estranged. Which, on the positive side, means that it isn’t only my love-life that’s a disaster zone. In present company, we’d still have plenty to talk about.
    Toby had become seriously addicted to internet gambling and was on the fast-track to ruining their lives with his expensive obsession. They’re absolutely up to their eyeballs in debt. But he’s supposed to be clean now – if that’s the right term for a reformed gambler? Nadia’s precarious finances mean that the rest of The Chocolate Lovers’ Club bankroll her visits to Chocolate Heaven, but it’s a small price to pay to enable our friend to continue to use her sanctuary. Besides, out of all of us, Nadia eats the least chocolate, so her bills are relatively small.
    ‘Toby and I are going to spend the day playing happy families for Lewis’s sake,’ Nadia continues. ‘It’s such a farce. I just wish it would all go away.’
    Christmas, I suppose, is a great time of year if you’re a happy, shiny person with no troubles in the world. For the rest of us, it’s the time of year that seems to show up your shitty little life in the worst possible light.
    ‘Blimey,’ I say. ‘We’re all going to be slitting our throats before Christmas Eve. It can’t be that bad.’
    Chantal and Nadia glare at me. Even Autumn joins in.
    ‘Think of all the special edition chocolates,’ I coax them. ‘The selection boxes, the chocolate tree decorations. Chocolate advent calendars. What better way to start a day?’ I’m on a roll. ‘The oversize bars of Galaxy. Whopping great Toblerones.’ Four pairs of eyes widen involuntarily at that. Who could resist those triangles of Swiss milk chocolatelaced with honey and almond nougat? Not me, for one. Even though it meant the risk of losing a tooth. I look at my friends. ‘Surely those will see us through the dark times?’
    ‘Maybe you’re right,’ Autumn says anxiously. She reaches for the last comforting morsel of
pain au chocolat
. ‘Maybe we’re panicking unnecessarily.’
    Then Clive pops up