Page 60 of A Summer of New Beginnings
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The day of the reunion rolled round and, in light of her non-existent shopping trip, Zara raided her wardrobe for something to wear. She settled on a plum-coloured dress and matching shoes that she had purchased for a media awards ceremony she had attended with Noah a couple of years before.
Marco offered to be, not just her date, but her pretendboyfriendfor the night if she wanted to showoff her hunky partner. ‘I mean, I don’t reallylookgay as such so no one would know.’
She smiled and kissed his cheek. ‘No, but youdohave a roving eye. So I’m thinking we just say we’re friends and then you can be free to flirt with whomever you choose. How’s that?’
He sulked. ‘But I wanted to pretend to be straight for a night. It’d be a giggle.’
She snorted. ‘I can assure you it’s notevencloseto being a giggle for me right now.’
He rested his arm loosely round her shoulders and stared at her reflection in the mirror as she applied make-up. ‘Ah, honey, I do feel for you. Maybe you should just bite the bullet and forgive him?’
She scowled at her best friend. ‘Since when are you all for forgiving the man who cheated on me?’
He shrugged. ‘Since I’ve seen how sad you are nowthat you’re back home. I don’t want you running off back to the Highlands to that farmer, so Josh is a safer option.’ He grinned.
She shook her head vehemently. ‘Running off to Lachy? Not a chance. I’ve had enough of bloody rejection for one year, thank you very much. I’ll stick to being melancholy and liking him from a safe distance.’
Marco sighed. ‘I suppose six hundred and fifty miles couldbe classed as a safe distance.’
There was a knock on the main door and Shelley shouted through from the hallway after letting herself in. ‘Hey, you guys! We’re here. We brought wine to start the night off properly. The cab will be here in twenty minutes so get a move on!’
Zara and Marco walked through to the kitchen to find Shelley and Jake chatting there. The wine was already poured.
‘I wantto make a toast,’ Shelley announced. ‘Here’s to being yourself and thinking fuck ’em all.’ She held her glass aloft.
The others chimed in unison with, ‘Fuck ’em all!’
*
Being in a room full of people she vaguely recognised was bizarre to say the least. She perused the high-school photo board and she wore the obligatory name badge. She stood against the wall as Marco went off to chat to someoneacross the room that had been making eyes at him since they arrived.
Before giving him permission to abandon her she had laughed. ‘It took you all of five minutes to prove my point, Marco.’
Shelley arrived moments later carrying a glass of punch. ‘Look at you, you’re being all wallflower when you should be all centrepiece.’
‘Ooh, very profound. Ugh, this is just mind-bogglingly boring, Shells.I’d rather be at the pub with you, Marco and Jake.’
‘Nope. Come on. Time to get your boast on. Stephanie Watson is over there. Remember her?’
‘The gorgeous one that all the boys adored but who was a total bitch?’
‘Yup. She’s all wrinkly from too much sun and looks a bit like a leather handbag. She runs a hotel in Spain with her husband and can’t seem to stop bragging about it. Come and sayhello.’ Shelley winked, grabbed her wrist and dragged her across the room.
‘Stephanie, look who I found! It’s Zara Bailey!’ Shelley announced as they arrived before a rather orange-faced woman who looked ten years their senior.
‘Zara! It’s so lovely to see you! You look… erm… lovely,’ Stephanie said as she eyed her up and down with disdain. She had always hated Zara at school and it appearedtime had changed nothing.
‘Hi, Stephanie. You’re lookingwell. How are you?’
‘Oh, not too bad. Well, considering I’m rushed off my feet running a very successful boutique hotel in Spain. I don’t get much time for myself, you know how it is.’ She flicked her indubitably bleached blonde hair over her shoulder.
Shelley leaned closer. ‘Ooh, it’s aboutiquehotel now. It wasjusta hotel beforeyou joined the conversation,’ she whispered discreetly. ‘A teensy bit threatened, methinks.’
Zara smiled and nodded. ‘That sounds lovely, Stephanie.’
‘Oh, it is. Francis, my husband, he’s a lot older than me, you know, but he’s very business savvy. But all the wealthy ones are, aren’t they? He calls me his young strumpet.’ She giggled.
