Becky? Jenny had known that he and his ex were still on good terms, but not that good. She played with her food, trying not to listen as he laughed heartily at something Rebecca was saying.
“I can imagine. Typical …” Mike prattled on for a few minutes more, before promising that he would ‘sort it out’ and speak to her tomorrow. Then he put the phone back on the table. “Sorry about that. Anyway, what were we talking about?”
“You were asking about my weekend.”
“Yes, I’ve a few more properties to view on Saturday, so if you’re not doing anything, fancy coming along again?”
“Only if you promise to come shopping after. I need to get something for Karen – her birthday’s coming up. Actually,” she said, the thought of another outing with Mike pleasing her more than she cared to admit, “you could come in very handy, now that I think of it.”
“Handy,” he said flatly, his chin resting on his hand. “I’ve been described many different ways in my lifetime – intelligent, funny, sexy, gorgeous – but handy? That’s a new one.”
35
Karen hurried down the street in the pouring rain, battling against the wind with her umbrella as the bus drove away from her stop.
She put the key in the front door, dived inside and slammed it behind her, relieved to be home at last. She removed her sopping wet jacket and wiped the dirty rain spatters off the back of her tights. A nice warm bath with some lavender oil and plenty of bubbles was exactly what she needed she decided, the thought of it warming her up already.
But first, she needed something to eat.
“Please, please, let there be something decent in the freezer,” she muttered out loud to no one in particular. Luckily, there was a frozen lasagne at the very back of the icebox. Perfect. That would only take ten minutes in the microwave. She was starving too and in no mood for cooking this late on a Friday evening.
Shane was out with workmates for a leaving party, soshe was looking forward to having the place to herself. She switched on the microwave and padded upstairs in wet stocking feet to switch on the hot water. Grabbing a towel, she changed into a T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, sorely tempted to put on her comfy bathrobe, but that could wait until after her bath.
Then went back downstairs to check on her lasagne. It was a little overdone and rubbery at the edges, but what the hell. Karen shrugged, plonking it unceremoniously out of its plastic tray and onto a plate, tomato sauce and pasta running everywhere.
She moved into the sitting room and cringed a little at the sight that greeted her. It looked a state, even by her standards. Yesterday’s newspapers were strewn all over the sofa and the coffee table was covered with overflowing ashtrays, empty glasses and crisp packets. A plate of dried-up noodles lay on the floor alongside Shane’s armchair, along with a pair of trainers, a fleece top, and a copy of this month’sCosmo.
She’d clean it up later – or nah, it could wait ’til tomorrow. Tonight, all she felt like doing after her bath was flaking out on the sofa in front of the telly by herself in a big fluffy bathrobe, bottle of wine, and a ginormous bag of crisps.
She finished her ready meal and leaving the plate on the coffee table along with the rest of the previous night’s debris, went upstairs to run her bath.
Minutes later, Karen felt the weariness simply melt away as she closed her eyes and sank into the warm, frothy bubbles. She was still smiling happily to herselfwhen she heard the phone ring. Let it, she thought, there was nowayshe was giving up this for anyone. Not after staying behind for two extra hours in the office on a Friday evening trying to clean up the mess her assistant had made,andgetting drenched trying to battle home in the pouring wind and rain.
No way.
She sank further and further into the water until her ears were covered and she could no longer hear the ringing.
Some twenty minutes later, feeling revived and wrinkled, Karen dried off and stepped into her precious comfy bathrobe; fluffy, full-length chenille embroidered with yellow stars and blue moons. It had been a Christmas present from Shane one year, and she absolutely adored it. She wondered if he’d be late home tonight. Didn’t matter, she decided, wrapping a towel around her head and rubbing moisturiser on her face. They could stay in bed for as long as they wanted at the weekends.
Karen loved Saturday mornings almost as much as quiet Friday nights. She and Shane would wake up whenever they fancied, and enjoy some sleepy, lazy sex, before getting up and lounging around for the rest of the day, reading the newspapers and watching the football results on the telly. One of the major plusses of having your own place really - no housemates or anyone else’s schedule or needs to consider. Just her and Shane lazing about and doing what they liked when they liked.
She padded back across the landing towards herbedroom to grab a pair of slippers before going downstairs. As she did, she thought she heard rustling or movement downstairs. It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet – her fiancé must have decided to come home early after all.
Coming back out of the bedroom, the pile of wet towels and underwear on the bathroom floor briefly caught her eye. Nope, that would be a job for tomorrow too, she decided firmly. The towels were all due a wash anyway, so it wouldn’t matter at this stage whether they got damp on the floor or damp in the laundry basket - which at any rate was downstairs in the kitchen by the washing machine.
Putting on her slippers and sliding a hair comb into the robe pocket, she went downstairs, idly hoping Shane had picked up a pizza or something on the way home from the pub. She was still a bit peckish.
Then Karen did a double take.
There was – not Shane – butNellieQuinn pottering around the living room, picking up newspapers and emptying ashtrays.
“Nellie?” she gasped incredulously. “Is Shane with you?”
“Oh, hello Karen,” his mother said airily, scraping the remains of yesterday’s noodles into a refuse sack. “I didn’t think there was anyone here. I phoned ahead to let you know I was on my way over. I was in town for a bit of shopping and with it being such a stormy night, I thought I’d stay over.”
She thought she’d stay over….
Then Karen thought of something. “But how did you get in?” she asked, her voice rising in confusion as she had visions of Nellie unceremoniously climbing in the back window or something.
