The Only Way is Up

Part Twelve

She could see him start to clam up, he wasn't comfortable talking about himself, yet she was greedily pushing him, wanting to know more about him.

"My father remarried, he has three sons and a daughter."

There was no love lost, he didn't speak about them and his father the way he talked about his mother, "You're not close."

Almost sighing with relief he nodded, "no. We're not. Are you due back to work? We'll walk you to the office."

And so ended the relaxing chat. She seemed to be doing that a lot these days.

Almost a week later Nicole pulled her diary out of her bag as she waited for Kim to join her at the cafe they always used as a rendezvous point, she had a huge weekend ahead of her. It was less two weeks until the work ball, and today's task was to find a dress. She'd put it off for as long as she could, but a full length dress could need adjusting, she needed time for that. If she'd still been married, she may have had a dress made for her, but those luxuries were relegated to her past. Now she was an off-the-peg kind of gal.

Not that that bothered her, shopping wasn't her favourite past time, but she was no snob. Today's outing wasn't the problem; it was Sunday, the following day that she was dreading, because she had to meet her family. Her parents had summonsed her for a family dinner, and whilst she'd managed to put them off for the last six weeks, there was no escaping the trip now. She was all out of excuses, and dinner at her father's favourite member's club was the epitome of hell.

Her father was one of the biggest names in the financial world, he travelled the globe as head of his businesses, was a huge investor and someone that had power over most walks of life. The pressure on her growing up had been huge. Her father had put all his attention and effort into her younger brothers, he didn't anticipate her gaining a career, she was almost trained to become a society wife. But that wasn't what she wanted; she'd rebelled heavily when they tried to coerce her in to marrying a colleague's son. Fifteen years older than her, unattractive, unfriendly with absolutely no redeeming features in her eyes.

That rebellion had seen her virtually ostracised from the family, heading to University alone. And despite her family name, the wealth she'd been brought up with, she had had to work hard at school, getting little from her father other than the fees. Her mother met her regularly, paid for manicures and pedicures as apparently they were the most important thing in life, and they shopped once a month, but that was the sum total of her parental relationship, until she got married to someone her father liked.

Now that her marriage was over, she had no idea how they would view her, the slump she'd fallen after her discovery had been something that neither parent wanted to deal with. So she had no idea how she'd be viewed or treated at the dinner.

"You look like you've lost fifty quid!"

As usual Kim was able to drag her out of the deepest low with just a few words, "at least a hundred!"

Her friend slid into the seat opposite, "what's up?"

"Tomorrow...family dinner."

Kim grimaced, "shit. Turn them down, come to mine and I'll pull out your finger nails slowly, one by one."

"Sounds relatively painless!"

Reaching for her hand Kim gave it a squeeze, "come on girlfriend, it's time to shop."

They tried several shops; Nicole was fed up with pulling garment after garment over her head.

"I still think that midnight blue one was the best," Kim offered as they entered the boutique opposite the office where she worked. It was the place she'd tipped Nicole about and both women were hoping for success.

One of the staff members came across as they were looking through some racks of dresses, and introduced herself as Patricia.

"What are you looking for? Can I help?"

Nicole sighed, "I need something to make me presentable for a ball where my soon to be ex husband is taking his very young and beautiful girlfriend."

Kim almost choked at her frank admission, but Patricia was unperturbed, instead she tucked Nicole's arm into her elbow and whispered, "the bastard...I have just the thing."

The second dress she tried on caused Kim to shed a tear.

"That bad?"

Kim shook her head, "you look amazing, perfect, beautiful."

"Hardly, I need another six weeks."

Again she shook her head, "no darling, you've lost loads of weight, your whole body shape has changed."

"Huh!"

She turned to the mirror, then froze at her own reflection, the dress was silver, two broad straps came over her shoulders, and covered her ample breasts, a band of the same fabric then wrapped tightly beneath her bust, giving her a well supported cleavage, visible through the deep V that formed between the three bands of fabric. The dress then fell to the floor on loose folds, but was split on the left up to her upper thigh. Sinful yet elegant, opulent yet so simple.

And flattering.

Patricia clapped her hands, "it does really suit you. Though it needs taking in a little, here and there."

Kim chuckled, "see! Told you!"

"It isn't the same drinking wine without you." Nicole stared at Kim's mocktail and sighed, "I feel like an alcoholic."

Kim swirled the multicoloured drink in her hand, "I miss it too. Only two more months and I'll be off work and preparing for this little monkey."

Nicole smiled and could see Kim grimace, "it's ok...I'm ok. Don't think that you can't talk to me..."

"But it would have been next month..."

Nodding Nicole took a steadying breath; it was still painful to think of the baby that she'd lost. The baby that was due in about three weeks time. She'd been so happy when she found out that Kim was pregnant too. For a few weeks they'd imagined how brilliant it would be to have maternity leave together, to discover motherhood together. Instead she had to watch her friend go through it alone. She wasn't jealous or resentful, she really wasn't, and she wanted to share it with her best friend as she should. But it did hurt, deep down. But she wasn't about to let Kim see that.

"So I'm thinking that maybe you could phone me tomorrow, mid meal? Give me a real reason to escape?"

Kim's eyes twinkled, "I'll have to think of something original to sabotage the entire meal. What about a bomb scare? Or fire alarm?"

They both chuckled, chinking their glasses together, "and THAT is why I love you Kim Parfitt!"