Read Online Fandango in the Apse! by Jane Taylor - Free Book Online Page A

I
had to speak to someone.’
                ‘No probs, hun, what are friends for?’
                I had tried to put Eddie’s possible infidelity to the back of
my mind and very nearly succeeded, until something happened a few weeks after I
had spoken to Alison.  It all came to light after a party.  There’s nothing
like a party to illuminate the gaping holes in a relationship, don’t you think? 
Eddie, after a recurring knee injury had given up playing rugby the previous
year.  In an effort to ward off his thickening waist and rounding chops, and on
the recommendation of a work “colleague”, he had joined the golf club. 
    The yearly sycophantic, mutual pat on the back, prize-giving ceremony was
one usually attended by spouses according to Eddie, (although he preferred to called
it presentation night), when he mentioned it two days before the event, after
apparently “forgetting” all about it.
    ‘If you really would prefer not to go, I suppose I’ll manage.  Anyway, I
don’t suppose you’d have time to go shopping for a dress now, will you?’ he
said hopefully.
    Getting a distinct whiff of his reluctance for my company, I perversely
decided I would go.
    ‘No it’s OK , I’ll come.  I’ll nip into town tomorrow, I’m sure your
mother will have the boys for an hour.  I’ll ask her if she’ll babysit too if
you like, it’ll save you the bother?’
    Mistake or not?  I’ll let you decide. 
    It all kicked off admirably in the beginning.  A new hair-do, carefully
applied make-up, combined with a new frock went a long way towards my feelings
of rehabilitation into the land of the grown-ups.  I looked good, I felt good. 
In fact, I felt renewed.  This feeling stayed with me right up to the point of
meeting Heidi Marshall.
    You know when you meet a person, who with just a raise of an eyebrow or a
hint of a smirk can immediately make you feel gauche or inferior – that was
Heidi Marshall.  Unused as I was to the social whirl, I was doing my best to
hold my own in a conversation with half a dozen demigods of the golfing
fraternity, when I first caught sight of her. 
    A honey-blonde (aren’t they always?), with great legs, she had an
assurance of someone used to being admired.  I watched out of the corner of my
eye as she made a beeline for the bar and Eddie – who was supposed to be
getting my fourth brandy incidentally.  Ten minutes later, all out of
conversation and nursing an empty glass, I headed over to them.
    ‘Ah Katie… there you are.  I was just about to come and look for you,” Eddie
said in an odd voice.  He had the appearance of someone who was up to no good.
    ‘Well you wouldn’t have had to look far; I was exactly where you left
me.’  I accompanied my words with a smile in order to cover the slightly acidic
tone I’d used and regretted instantly.  I wasn’t going to give willowy
blonde-haired person, the impression I was in any way miffed at Eddie’s
desertion in her favour.
    ‘Heidi, let me introduce my wife, Katie, Katie this is a colleague from
work Heidi Marshall.’
    ‘Hi there, Katie, great to meet you at last,’ she said, as she held out a
perfectly manicured hand.  ‘You’re looking very…nice.’ 
    It was the slight pause and the way she made “nice” sound as if she was
talking about rather scruffy Yorkshire terrier that did it.  I was immediately
on the back foot.  In a few words this woman, with a precision born of
execution had reduced me to a quivering mass of insecurities.  The cow! 
    ‘Nice to meet you too,’ I muttered, while squirming under her expertly
made up gaze.  As soon as she teetered off on her four-inch heels, I rounded on
Eddie.
    ‘Who is that bitch?’
    ‘Katie, she is not a bitch…’
    ‘Well you weren’t hearing what I was hearing then.’
    ‘We set up the new department together; she’s a very clever woman.  In
fact, without her recommendation I wouldn’t have got into the club.’  This