Read Online Something From Tiffany’s by Melissa Hill - Free Book Online Page B

too!’
    Rachel laughed out loud. ‘Oh I really shouldn’t be laughing, but thank you. Telling someone is such a load off my mind.’
    Fifteen minutes after the start of Kim’s ‘ten-minute break’, the two of them were still chatting away. ‘It’s funny,’ Rachel was saying, ‘I suppose you just never know who you’ll end up with. I don’t know . . . there’s just something about Gary. This is so like him: hitting me out of the blue like this, catching me completely off guard. It’s exciting. He’s exciting.’
    ‘Exciting is good. Hell, so are big rocks on your finger. Not that I would know, mind you,’ Kim said with some sarcasm, looking at her own hands. ‘But you be sure you’ve got the lasting friendship stuff going on too. That’s one thing Al and I have. I was only kiddin’ before about him choosing the Ducati over me – at least I think I was,’ she said, smiling at her own joke. ‘We’re really pretty crazy about each other, you know. Got married young, and have been together a long time.’
    ‘I want to be like that,’ Rachel said dreamily. ‘Gary believes in me and that means a lot. He’s a builder, you know, and last year he helped my best friend and me turn our dreams of opening a restaurant into reality. He gave us the cheapest quote by far, and later admitted it was only because he wanted to ask me out,’ she said, fondly. ‘He worked day and night to get the refurbishments finished on time, and then the day before we opened he pulled up to the bistro.’ She smiled at the memory. ‘We were just having the equipment hauled in, and I was covered in dust and paint. I was exhausted and looked a complete mess, and suddenly I heard someone revving a bike. It was Gary. He insisted on helping us out, as a favour.’ She shook her head. ‘Looks like he’s surprising me for the second time, and again it worked.’
    ‘It almost worked,’ Kim clarified. ‘You make sure he gives you a proper proposal too. Don’t you let on for a minute that you know about that ring.’
    ‘No, of course I won’t. I’m just dying to have it on my finger, though. Oh you should see the size of it, Kim,’ she cried excitedly. ‘It’s absolutely breathtaking. It must be worth a fortune.’
    Kim smiled and Rachel noticed her twisting the wedding ring on her own finger. It was a simple gold band. ‘I would say one thing – and don’t get me wrong now, this is just the standard advice I give to all of my friends who have got engaged, mostly ’cos marriage is such a huge leap.’
    ‘What?’ Rachel sat forward, only too happy to get the benefit of this lovely woman’s experience.
    ‘OK, here it is: you just make sure that he thinks you’re worth more than you think that ring is worth. There. And I don’t just mean the way you look with that body and that hair and those huge blue eyes . . . uh, you can stop me any time . . .’ She paused, laughing. ‘But seriously. You know what I mean. Make sure he really, you know, knows you, loves you, cares about what makes you happy.’
    Rachel didn’t answer for several seconds. She took a long sip of her coffee.
    Kim reminded her of Terri, in a way. Her friend was a real rock of sense, naturally cautious, and, unlike Rachel, wasn’t prone to mad bouts of reckless enthusiasm. Just as well she was the business brain in the partnership, although of course Terri was an amazing cook too.
    As Rachel thought of Terri, she remembered how her friend also tried to give her advice. ‘Being impetuous can only get you into trouble,’ her friend routinely teased. But Rachel guessed that her impulsive nature had come from her roots, as her dad was second-generation Sicilian. He’d been dead for over ten years now and Rachel had almost got used to being alone, having also lost her mother when she was much younger. Suddenly, a bubble of happiness developed inside her when she realised that after years of being alone, Gary would now be her family. She