Bombay Mixx (15 page)

Luckily, she didn’t press the Angus topic and as we settled into much more fun topics (Anya’s latest client, Dolph, Gabrielle’s new conquests, new nights we needed outfits for, etc) and a few more glasses of wine, I didn’t realise how late it was and promised to continue the gossiping tonight at the flat, whilst I rushed back to the office.

Pre
tending to listen to Ann, whilst she shouted out figures at me to input into a spreadsheet, I wondered about how Angus would introduce me to his family and friends.
‘
W
ould he throw caution to the wind and as soon as the divorce is through declare his undying love for me and tell his family and friends that no matter what they say he is marrying me straight away. Or would he be more sensitive to the situation and introduce me as his girlfriend and after a few months tell everyone we’re getting married? Either way as long as we’re married I don’t mind. I’ll still be there for my man
,
’
I mused as Ann came to the end of her list.

Luckily,
6pm
came quite quickly (a little overtime doesn’t hurt especially when your trying to get a promotion. I would like to say I wanted the promotion to develop my career but it really meant a pay rise and being closer to the salaries of Gabrielle and Amelia instead of always feeling like it was my first ever job and it was minimum wage!) and I ran out of the building as though it were on fire.

A much need bottle of white wine was chilling in the fridge, so I found it was worth fighting my way through the rubble, dust and wooden planks left by the work men who were working on refurbishing the two top floor apartments into one, to get a big glass and my favourite chocolates. Kicking off my heels, getting one of the box of chocolates Geron bought for Amelia throughout his week of begging for her forgiveness, I joined her on the sofa for our daily instalment of the soaps. ‘Have you seen all the rubbish they are making out there?’ Amelia scowled as she looked at the card with the description of chocolates on it.

She pointed out my favourite chocolate, Turkish Delight (it’s great as all the others don’t touch these chocolates and look at them like they are poison) and I savoured the smooth chocolate coating and the aromatic jelly rose interior as I continued, ‘I know it’s disgusting but it’ll be fantastic when its finished. Just imagine how big it’ll be? Whoever’s bought it must have paid a pretty penny for them both!’

We both nodded as we thought about how much it would cost to buy the two flats, knock them together and make the refurbishments.

Walking into the hallway, when I got home, I could see some of the packaging which couldn’t fit into the overflowing skip outside on the road. ‘Six person marble Jacuzzi, 50 inch television, expensive looking kitchen accessories, etc.’
‘It must be someone in the media who’s going to move in
,
’
I thought as I pretended to watch the television but really thinking about how I would decorate the space upstairs.

‘Surprise
!
’
shouted Gabrielle as she bounced through the door, gliding into the front room with her hand in the air.

As we both looked up from our heaps on the couch, we saw this elegant, sparkling platinum band, encrusted with sparkling diamonds which wouldn’t look out of place on a WAG. ‘OMG, what is that rock blinding us?’ screamed Amelia as she jumped out of her seat and ran towards the light shining from the jewel.

Gabrielle basked in her new found audience as she glided towards the TV area with Amelia in tow. ‘I know it’s sudden but whilst out to dinner tonight, John popped the question and I accepted,’ she responded as she flexed her hand to show the ring at different angles to a much intrigued Amelia, ‘but you’ve only been dating for a few weeks. Isn’t this a bit sudden?’ I enquired as I begrudgingly moved towards the sparkler.

My reality check did nothing to dampen Gabrielle’s superior state as she explained, ‘not at all Neets. We’ve known each other longer than we’ve been dating and I thought since I’m not getting any younger, why not? He’s a decent man, he loves me, has a good, secure job, he treats me good, so why not?’

‘I’m confused. Who is she marrying?’ Amelia asked puzzled. I got her up to speed on the ‘Gabrielle and John Saga’ and she continued to admire this new accessory on Gabrielle’s hand.

I was astounded by the light that caught the ring at every angle and inside I could feel my jealously begin to rise.
‘
H
ow is it possible that she is engaged to a man
who she hasn’t even known for six months
? She doesn’t even love him; it’s just convenient for her! I wonder what happened to the footballer
,
’
I thought and before I could stop myself I blurted out, ‘but I thought the footballer was the love of your life last week?’

There was an awkward silence and Amelia pretended there was something more interesting to look at in the old TV Times. ‘I decided he was a little too high profile for me,’ she retorted as she composed herself.

Before we could continue the discussion, Anya walked in with three bottles of champagne.

Anya looked slightly tipsy which is strange for her as she can normally handle her alcohol so we were captivated by her new found friendliness. ‘Darlings, how are ve all tonight?’ she enquired in her stronger Russian tone (Anya’s accent was always enhanced when she was either very angry or when she was in the company of other Russians) before she saw Gabrielle’s engagement ring and grabbed her hand, ‘vot is this?’ she gawped.

Gabrielle told her the story and I went to the kitchen with one of Anya’s champagne bottles, opened it and poured a big glass before taking a large swig of it from the bottle.

As happy as I was for my sister and her impending wedding, it also brought to light that I was really nowhere near this with Angus and this made me feel dejected and in need of alcohol, to take me to the happy place where everything is funny, carefree and optimistic until the morning. ‘Here’s to my little sister and her upcoming nuptials’ I shouted as I came out of the kitchen with the bottle and an extra glass for Anya to make a toast. ‘I hope he makes you the happiest bride in the word, Gabs.’ Amelia seconded this as she raised her glass to meet mine in the air. ‘I hope he makes you as happy as Dolph makes me,’ Anya announced as we all looked at her in surprise as she never showed her emotions and this sign of sentiment for Dolph was new and very unforeseen.

However, we all managed to compose ourselves in time to congratulate the new bride-to-be and settled down to an evening of wedding talk, speculation on our new neighbour upstairs, Anya’s new declaration about Dolph and when Gabrielle should have her engagement party. ‘Well, I think you should make it big and glamorous with all the trimmings! You only do it once you know!’ Amelia declared as we nodded in agreement. ‘How about the country house where mum and dad had their anniversary party last year?’ I asked as I remembered the beautiful, spacious dining hall with the regal cornicing on the ceiling. ‘That actually sounds like a good idea Neets,’ approved Gabrielle as she started writing down all our ideas.

The ideas came thick and fast but just as I was enjoying contributing to it all; I was starting to get tired so after finishing the remains of champagne bottle number three, I decided it was time for bed.

After crying into my pillow about the state of my love life and how much champagne I had consumed in such a short period of time, I was out cold, in a deep, peaceful sleep.

**********

‘
What a difference a month
can make
,
’
I daydreamed
as I sat at my desk pretending to work whilst looking at the latest celebrity spilt on the internet.

Work was going really well. I aced the interview for the research assistant’s position so I moved floors and had an office (which I had to share with one other person but it was a start) with a nice view and an even nicer pay cheque!

My relationship with Angus recovered from ‘the hanging up on him’ incident and we were back to romantic meals at the Golders Green apartment, although we didn’t see each other as much as we used to but I put this down to him trying to make sure his wife doesn’t find out about us and cause difficulties with the divorce, so I never complained…much!

Amelia was going on a few dates but no matter how hard she tried to hide her feelings, we all knew she still loved Geron but we also knew that the wound was still open so she wouldn’t take him back just yet.

The engagement party and wedding plans were in full swing and Gabrielle was enjoying her moment of attention by trying to steer all conversations and arrangements towards her and the wedding. No one could blame her for this until my parent’s poor neighbour, Mrs Hastley, died of old age and as we all went to pay our condolences, Gabrielle decided to give the following soothing words to her daughter, ‘well she picked a nice day for it. I hope I have a similar day for my wedding,’ before being dragged away in utter embarrassment by mum.

Mum had given up on speed dating and instead opted for weekly salsa lessons at the local community centre with Brenda from next door and a Friday night out with the ladies from the hospital.

She still refused to speak to dad, ripping up any letters that came from him and would hang up as soon as she heard his voice. ‘Mum, you know you’ll have to speak to him sooner or later, don’t you?’ I pleaded as I went round for my regular mid week catch up (I no longer needed to stay throughout the week as she seemed to have got most of the rage out of her system, much to Gabrielle’s annoyance as she found one of the crystal vases she bought mum for her birthday in newspaper in the bin!).

‘Let
say later then,’ mum coolly replied as she sipped her hot tea and diverted the conversation to Gabrielle’s engagement party.

Renesh and Shilpa’s marriage seemed to have improved as they were arguing less and Renesh looked happier and healthier. ‘The gym is really turning you into a different man, bro’;’ I commented one Sunday as we all inspected his new glow.

He laughed it off before Gabrielle added, ‘yeh, maybe now Anya might give you a second look.’

We all laughed as we all knew about his crush on Anya but he smoothly ignored our mocking and continued to eat.

‘Maybe I should join the gym and get rid of this muffin top I’ve developed, having eaten all those delicious puddings Angus allows me to eat at these fancy restaurants, when we manage to leave the flat
,
’
I thought as I looked down at my struggling button on my jeans. ‘Do you still go to the same gym, Ren?’ I asked as I patted my stomach to show the much needed exercise. ‘Errm, no I go to the one near my work place as that one was starting to get too crowded at the weekends,’ he replied as he chuckled at my expanding waistline.

The thought of my waistline increasing any more threw the thought of more gym fanatics on a Saturday morning out of my head and I made a mental note to join and go to my first session this weekend.

I decided to keep this new regime to myself so that when they all saw me at the engagement party looking slim, toned and gorgeous it would be more of a shock and I could have a tiny bit of the limelight.

I know it should be Gabrielle’s moment but she has the limelight all the time, I only want a few minutes. That’s fair, isn’t it?

Anya was working away quite a lot and although she was always very vague when she returned, we all thought it had something to do with her new found love for her popular client, Dolph but she never admitted it.

It was good she was away a lot, as the work on the building project upstairs was becoming unbearable.

Dirt coming in under the door, noise from the badly tuned radio the workmen listened to from the time they got on site to the time they left, banging, drilling and this wouldn’t be so bad if it was just in the week day but it developed into weekends too.

‘Look can’t you come later tomorrow. It’s the weekend, we’d all like a lie in,’ Amelia requested of the two large, burley builders. Before they answered, they decided to take a sneaky peek into the hallway to see me in my rollers and replied, ‘sorry but we have strict working hours but if you and your girlfriend want to speak to the boss I’ll ask him to pop round. I’m sure he’ll be happy to,’ the one nearest to the door sniggered as he looked at Amelia in a suggestive manner.