Читать книгу What Happens In Tuscany... - T A Williams - Страница 11

Prologue

Katie sat in the lounge by the entrance to the fancy restaurant for almost half an hour, waiting in vain for Dean to turn up. On Jenny’s advice, and against her better judgement, she had chosen to take him out for an expensive dinner to celebrate his birthday. The hope was that maybe, just maybe, this might inject some romance, or at least some interest into their relationship. As eight o’clock came and went without sight of him, and the rather forbidding maître d’hôtel started giving her ever frostier glances, she muttered an excuse and headed out of the door, determined to seek him out. She knew that after football matches he and his mates usually went to the Lighter Inn, just a few hundred yards away in the middle of Bournemouth.

The rain was coming down hard and, in spite of her umbrella, her feet and legs were wet by the time she got there. This didn’t improve her rapidly deteriorating mood. As she splashed up to the entrance she could hear that the pub was packed. She left her umbrella in a bucket by the door and squeezed her way inside. The noise was deafening and it took her a while to get her bearings. Unsurprisingly, the noisiest spot was where the football players were, over by the bar. She thought she glimpsed Dean’s head for a second, but then she lost sight of him again. With difficulty, she made her way through the crowd towards him. As she approached the bar, she heard a chorus of hoots and whistles, and she was almost knocked over as a bunch of men pressed back towards her. She struggled to keep her balance and pushed forward until she managed to reach the bar and stand on the bar rail. This allowed her to see over the heads of some of the shorter players. The scene that greeted her was definitely not what she wanted to see.

In the midst of the throng of men, a woman was just in the process of peeling off the last of her clothes. She had dyed blonde hair, implausibly huge breast implants and enough fake tan to probably make her glow in the dark. From the sequins and glitter sticking to her body and the breathtaking height of her heels, she was clearly a professional. The two men behind the bar were protesting half-heartedly, but appeared to be making no attempt to stop proceedings. As Katie looked on in horror, the girl tossed her thong into the crowd and stepped forward. Directly in front of her was Dean. He was holding a half empty pint glass and you didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to see that he was very, very drunk.

The woman stretched a pair of no doubt experienced arms around his neck and pulled his face down towards her bust. To Katie’s horror, Dean disappeared into her cleavage, to reappear seconds later with a silly smile on his face. His hands dropped to her bare bottom and cries of ‘Go for it, Deano,’ and ‘Get in there, boy,’ resounded around the room.

Katie had had enough by this time. She turned and retraced her steps towards the door as fast as she could. She was so furious she was shaking. When she finally managed to reach the entrance, she saw the rain coming down even harder and the pavement swimming with water. To add insult to injury, she saw to her fury that somebody had stolen her umbrella.

Nevertheless, determined to get away from there at all costs, she launched herself out into the downpour. It seemed to take forever to get back to the car and, by the time she reached it, she was soaked through to her underwear. Her hair was plastered down onto her head and an icy stream was running down her back. She unlocked the door and slid into the driving seat. How could he be so stupid, so uncouth and so inconsiderate? What sort of man stands his girlfriend up on his birthday and drinks himself stupid? And getting himself involved with a stripper? She was appalled, soaked and freezing.

But at least this resolved one problem for her. This last straw had broken her camel’s back and she knew that this latest disappointment marked the end of things between them. She went back to the flat, packed a couple of bags and headed round to Jenny’s house.