A Taste of Love (3 page)

Helen
fidgeted now as Karen stared at her chest. She flicked the strap on the cream bra. ‘And how old is this?’ Karen asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. ‘I know your boobs are small but all you need is the support of a good plunge bra and you’ll have a great cleavage.

‘Will
I?’ Helen croaked.

‘Of
course. You can get your teeth whitened at the dentist, then a really good haircut. And the rest,’ – she waved her hand nonchalantly – ‘is nothing that a beautician can’t put right with eye make-up to accentuate your eyes. You’ll look fabulous.’

‘I hope so, because I’ve already made an appointment at the salon and hairdresser for tomorrow morning,’ Helen replied, to which they both giggled.

‘Now
– the shambles that is my wardrobe.’ Helen grimaced, and opened her side of the wardrobe. She closed the doors with a bang on Rob’s empty side. ‘This is where I need the greatest help with my clothes…’

For the next hour they went through every item of clothing Helen possessed. They were left with a huge pile to throw out, a pile for the charity shop and a small pile of good quality skirts and jackets that could be altered. They’d laughed and teased each other, remembering all the old-style clothes that Helen had hung onto and some of the hilarious fashions from their teenage years.

As
Karen made her way back downstairs to Greg, who was waiting outside in the car, Helen hugged her. ‘Thanks for tonight,’ she said, smiling affectionately. ‘You’ve helped me so much. And just for the record I’m making a pact with myself here and now. This time next year I’ll be one month from hitting the big four zero and by then I will not only look very different I’ll have made every effort to live my life to the full.’

Karen
giggled. ‘That’s fine, but don’t go changing too much. I’m quite fond of my baby sister the way she is…’

‘I
won’t.’ She waved to Greg while Karen made her way to the car.

*

The following morning Rachel arrived home from university and Helen called hello from upstairs as she stepped out of the shower. She was dreading the conversation about Rob that would have to take place and cursed him for leaving it all up to her – he could have phoned and talked to Rachel, she thought, but he’d naturally taken the coward’s way out. She dressed hurriedly in an old tracksuit hoping and praying that Rachel wouldn’t react too badly to the fact that he’d gone. As she imagined the hurt on her daughter’s face when she heard about twenty-three-year-old Stephanie, she cringed with shame.

Rushing
into the kitchen she threw her arms around her daughter and hugged her tightly. It was a lovely spring morning and Rachel had thrown open the patio doors to the garden after dumping two bags of washing on the floor in front of the washing machine.

‘Hey,’
Rachel said, detangling herself from Helen’s arms. ‘I only saw you last Sunday…’

Helen
switched on the kettle, feeling flustered. ‘I know. Sorry. It’s just I’ve missed you.’ Rachel had always looked like Karen and her mum when she was little but now the older she became the more striking the resemblance was.

Rachel
jumped up onto the bench in her tatty jeans and swung her trainers against the cupboards like she’d done as a teenager. She wound a tress of her long black hair around her finger and examined it for split ends. ‘Where’s Dad?’ she asked.

Helen’s
stomach slumped. She’d hoped to chat first and then tell her the news gradually, but knowing she couldn’t lie to her daughter she took a deep breath. ‘Darling, there’s something I’ve got to tell you and I’m afraid it’s not good news. Why don’t we make some coffee and go out into the garden while I try to explain what’s happened…’

Rachel
jumped down. ‘Shit. Is he okay? Has he had an accident?’ she barked.

Helen’s
heart began to thump, realising she’d alarmed her unnecessarily. ‘No, oh no, love. He’s fine – he’s not physically hurt. I’m sorry. I should have explained it better but I’m trying to…’

Rachel
sighed heavily. ‘You’re trying to protect me and wrap me in cotton wool as usual instead of just explaining and talking to me in a rational adult manner.’

Helen
added milk to the cups and stirred the coffee. ‘Probably, but I’m hoping to, what they call nowadays, minimise the damage. Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s take this outside. It’s such a beautiful morning.’

They
strolled into the eighty-foot-long garden that was surrounded by high shrub fencing, and sat together on the wood bench facing the small pond that Rob had built. Helen lifted her face to feel the warm sun and revelled in the peace and quiet. Rachel was right, she thought, it was high time she treated her like the lovely young woman she was and not a vulnerable teenager. She sipped her coffee and told Rachel the whole story, but omitting the details about Stephanie.

‘I’m
not totally surprised,’ Rachel said. ‘In fact I’m amazed you two have stayed together for so long. You should have left him years ago.’

Helen
was gobsmacked. ‘Wh-what? But how did you know?’

‘Oh, I didn’t know about this one.’ Rachel turned to face her. ‘But I saw him with the last one three years ago in the town centre. I didn’t want to tell you though in case it upset you even more.’

‘So, we’re actually one of a pair – not telling each other things to avoid upset,’ Helen said nodding. ‘I’d like to make a pact now that in future we don’t keep secrets and we tell each other everything – no matter what.’

Rachel
put her hand in Helen’s and shook it. She giggled. ‘You’ve got yourself a deal, Mum.’

They
drank their coffee, laughing together, and Helen tried to explain why she hadn’t wanted Rachel’s last few years at home to be lived amidst horrible arguments, and then she reluctantly broke the news about Stephanie.

Rachel
gasped and her big brown eyes bulged. ‘Yuk! How gross is that!’ she cried. ‘So he’s shacked up with a twenty-three-year-old. But that means she’s only five years older than me.’

‘I know, darling, and I’ve told him he’s making a complete fool of himself, but…’

Helen’s
heart ached when she saw the disgust and hurt on Rachel’s lovely young face – she wanted to wrap her up in the old baby blanket to protect her.

‘I’ll
never speak to him again after this,’ Rachel pouted. ‘He’s like a bloody perv creeping around young girls.’

‘Oh, don’t do that,’ Helen begged. ‘I’d hate this to ruin your relationship with him. He does love you to bits, Rachel. No matter what he thinks of me, he worships you.’

Rachel
huffed and her chin trembled. ‘He can’t love me that much or he wouldn’t behave like this, Mum. He’s nothing but a total embarrassment.’

A
tinkle on Rachel’s mobile vibrated in the pocket of her jeans and she read the text. She giggled, and with her fingers racing over the front of the phone at breakneck speed she replied while Helen looked down the expanse of the garden.

That
was the gift of youth, she mused thoughtfully. Rachel would pull through this much better now she was away from home with her new friends and life at university. If she’d still been at home she would have missed Rob more and would possibly have got caught up in the upheaval.

Tucking
the mobile back into her pocket Rachel told Helen about the funny text from her friend and Helen told her about the makeover she had planned at the beauty salon and how she was meeting Karen for shopping and lunch.

‘OK,’
– Rachel looked at Helen dubiously – ‘Maybe I could leave the washing till later and come into the city with you and Aunty Karen?’

Helen
grinned. ‘Of course you can. We’ll get round to the washing over the weekend. And Aunty Karen will be cock-a-hoop to see you.’

*

Helen sat in the salon with her eyes closed, not wanting to look at the finished result, while the beautician made up her face with new foundation and blusher, and widened her eyes with brown eyeliner. Her pink manicure had dried and when the beautician excitedly pronounced, ‘Ta-Dah’, she slowly and apprehensively opened her eyes and looked in the mirror.

Dear
God, she thought, looking closer into the mirror at her face, was this really her? The transformation was unbelievable and she loved it. The new make-up was subtle and in keeping with her complexion. Her eyes looked brighter and more alive than she’d seen them for years. Her lips were coated in a soft pink gloss and she pouted playfully in the mirror. But it was her hair that made the biggest difference. The long layers that had been cut into its length made it fall around her face in a wavy, tousled affect as though she’d just got out of bed. The warm chestnut highlights were perfect, and foolishly she felt a ball of emotion gather in the back of her throat.

Karen
and Rachel came back into the salon and she swung around in the chair grinning at them both.

‘OMG!’
yelled Rachel. ‘Mum, you look fabulous!’

But
it was Karen’s eyes, awash with tears, that made her choke back her own. ‘Well, my lovely,’ Karen said. ‘You won’t ever get sick of looking at yourself like this, will you?’

After
lunch the three women shopped on Oxford Street. Karen and Rachel chose clothes for Helen to try, and then shook their heads in dismay at Helen’s own choices. Finally, armed with piles of clothes, shoes and underwear, Helen went into the changing room in John Lewis while Karen and Rachel sat outside.

‘It’s
a bit like the Pretty Woman film,’ Rachel giggled.

Karen
laughed and hugged her excitedly. ‘You’re not trying to tell me that my sister looks like a prostitute, are you?’

Suddenly,
they both stopped laughing and gasped in awe as Helen emerged dressed in a brown, knee-length pencil skirt and cream shirt. The top two buttons of the shirt were open at the front and the plunge bra, as Karen had predicted, gave her an amazing cleavage. A wide, chunky leather belt over the waistband of the skirt nipped in her waist and the brown, one-inch, kitten heels added to her height.

Rachel’s
eyes were practically standing out on stalks as she stared at Helen’s breasts. ‘Christ, where have you been hiding them, Mum?’ she grinned.

Helen
was delighted with their reaction and with her new image. ‘I think it’s what’s called hiding your light under a bushel,’ she tittered nervously. ‘Is it too much?’

After
reassurance and encouragement from them Helen returned to the changing room, removed the skirt and teamed the shirt with skinny jeans and two-inch ankle boots – she loved the casual look just as much and felt an excited buzz that was totally alien to her. By the time they left Oxford Street she had three new work-wear outfits, two pairs of jeans, four tops, boots and shoes and a bag full of new sexy underwear.

Chapter Four

Trying to remember Karen’s advice to walk tall and proud Helen pulled her shoulders back, and in the black fitted jacket she teetered on her heels into the office on Monday morning.

Annette
glanced up at Helen to bid her good morning then took a double take and stared in surprise. ‘Wow! Helen, you look fantastic…’

Helen
flicked a wave of her hair and smiled. ‘Do you think so? I’ve been worrying it’s too much all at once.’

‘Not
at all. If you are going to have a new look it’s best to do the whole image altogether,’ she said. ‘Let’s have a coffee and you can tell me all about it.’

Helen
relaxed and began to enjoy the attention. It felt totally different now that she knew she looked good, but more importantly felt good about herself, and she revelled in the compliments. While Annette chatted about her weekend Helen signed into her computer. She glanced at the photograph of Rob and Rachel, taken at Rachel’s school prom, on the corner of her untidy desk. She decided to find a replacement photograph of Rachel on her own because now, she couldn’t bear looking at Rob’s face. Now, every time she thought of him she remembered her daughter’s sad and shocked face on Saturday morning. And, although over the weekend they’d talked it through together until Helen was confident that Rachel was coping, she loathed Rob for letting her down in such a spineless way.

As
the morning progressed and Helen made preparations for the samples she needed in the kitchen, Annette called her back through to the office and introduced her to the new business manager, Richard Scott. He sat next to Annette’s desk and as she walked towards him he stood up and smiled. He was tall and slim, dressed in a dark grey suit but she could tell by the stretch of his white shirt underneath that he had a strong broad chest.

She
put out her hand to shake his. ‘Hello, nice to meet you,’ she said, and as he took her hand she gasped in surprise at the rush of heat that surged through her.

He
leaned in closer as she let go of his hand and the unmistakable stylish blend of spicy Ralph Lauren aftershave wafted towards her.

‘Nice
to meet you too, Helen,’ he said. ‘Annette has been showing me around and introducing me to everyone in the commercial department.’

‘That’s good.’ Helen gazed into his dark brown, hooded eyes. ‘We’re three in this office but Tom, our packaging technologist, is out this morning. I think he should be back for lunch though…’

He
sat back down and she settled herself at her desk, turning her chair to face him. He was, she guessed, around her own age but possibly a little older, and although not what she would call a particularly good-looking man he did have a certain something about him.

While
he told them both in a quiet but steady voice a little about his background in the food industry and where he’d previously worked she stared at his clean shaven, and what Karen would call, well-scrubbed face. The brown eyes were shaded by bushy eyebrows that furrowed slightly while he talked, but when Annette made a small joke he laughed and his whole face seemed to light up.

‘This
morning is pretty much mapped out for me with personnel introductions but maybe when Tom gets in we could all have lunch together,’ he suggested.

They
all agreed and he went back to his office while Helen took a deep breath and tried to understand what had just happened to her. At the weekend Rachel had asked her if she wanted the new image to grab herself a man and she’d pooh-poohed the idea explaining that she only wanted to feel better about herself and have some good times. And, she supposed, if that included a little harmless flirtation with some nice men along the way surely that could only help with her new lifestyle.

Just
before one o’clock Tom bounded into the office in his usual gay, outlandish manner raving about new tray linings which were microwave friendly. He was twenty-six, always impeccably groomed, and at the moment sporting a beard which had grown in slightly darker than his blonde hair.

‘I’m
loving the new you, Helen,’ he oozed in an exaggerated camp voice.

She
laughed, threw a paperclip across at him and then explained how Richard would be joining them for lunch. Annette relayed the small amount of information they’d found out about him.

‘Great.
But please tell me we’re not eating sushi again?’ he asked grinning.

Richard
appeared in the office doorway. ‘No, we aren’t. I’ve been off site to get a mobile phone so I popped into M and S for a sandwich platter.’ He held out a carrier bag towards Helen.

She
got up from her chair, took the bag from him and headed into the kitchen, calling over her shoulder. ‘I’ll find some plates and make coffee. Or do you prefer tea, Richard?’

He
followed her into the kitchen, agreeing that coffee would be fine, then stood behind her while she switched on the kettle and briefly explained the kitchen layout. She could feel his closeness behind her and then felt her previously cool, cotton shirt become warm and sticky on her skin with excitement. He told her that he was married with a sixteen-year-old daughter and his nineteen-year-old son was at Durham University.

‘So
because home is just outside Cambridge it’s too far to commute on a daily basis,’ he said smiling. ‘I’m renting a flat in Acton near Gunnersbury Park.’ He lifted the sandwiches from the plastic cartons and arranged them on a large plate.

‘That’s
a lovely area near the town centre,’ Helen replied.

‘Yeah,
it looks to be. I chose to be near the park because I love running and wasn’t too sure about the rest of the area in Acton,’ he said as he poured boiling water into the cafetière and milk into mugs.

She
smiled as she cautioned, ‘Try to stay away from East Acton as it’s a bit seedy and run down. I know I wouldn’t want to run around those streets on a night-time…’

Enjoying
their conversation she opened two packets of crisps, tipped them into a bowl and explained where the high street was, the shops they had and the location of a good gym.

‘Is
that the gym where you work out? You must do something to keep this amazing figure.’

In
the past when dressed in her old sloppy clothes she would have felt self-conscious at such a compliment. But now with her new fitted style she felt on cloud nine and decided to have some fun. As she remembered Karen’s words, she pulled her shoulders back and smiled confidently at him. ‘Oh I don’t go to the gym but I do love walking and try to keep fit in other ways,’ she teased.

He
grinned playfully back at her just as Tom and Annette appeared in the kitchen. Carrying the lunch and coffee they all made their way into a room adjoining the back of the kitchen which was where they usually held taste panels and customer presentations. It was a small room with only one square window which Helen threw open to freshen the stale air then they settled themselves around the round pine table in the middle of the room. Tom and Richard introduced themselves and chatted briefly about how important packaging considerations were going to be over the next six months.

General
conversation followed as they ate and Richard commented upon the posters and photographs of Sushi products that were hanging on the walls. ‘I’ve never worked with Sushi before,’ Richard said. ‘But I do have a fish background, which should help me pick it up quickly…’

Helen
smiled reassuringly. ‘Don’t worry about that. Sushi is a relatively new food line so there aren’t many people in the food industry with much Sushi experience. None of us had when we started but you’ll learn as you go along.’

Annette explained that they had a business meeting scheduled for Wednesday at their most prominent retailer’s head office. ‘It might be a good idea for you to come along and do a meet-and-greet session.’

‘Sounds good,’ Richard agreed. ‘It’ll give me a chance to meet their buyers and strike up a relationship with them even though I don’t know their product range as yet.’

Helen
offered. ‘I’ll be collecting Sushi packs from the factory tomorrow to take along with us to the meeting, so if you want to tag along with me I could give you a quick heads-up on the basic rolls and selections. And a little background history of Sushi.’

Richard
smiled gratefully and nodded. ‘Brilliant – then at least I’ll have a rough idea when we’re all talking about their products on Wednesday.’

*

The next morning, with them all dressed in white factory coats and mop caps, Richard stood next to Helen at the hand-wash trough in the entrance to the production area. ‘Did you have a good evening?’ he asked, smiling at her.

‘I
did actually – I joined a salsa dancing group and it was great fun,’ she said. ‘It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but never seemed to get around to …’

They
dried their hands in the high-powered Dyson machine then proceeded into the production area chatting and laughing at Helen’s description of how she kept turning the wrong way and losing her partner in the middle of each dance.

The
shift manager hurried across to greet them and she introduced Richard, explaining how she wanted to show him the area and collect sample packs to take out to the customer. ‘I thought I’d start in raw material intake and then walk around the prep and chill areas. Is that okay?’ Helen asked, to which the busy manager agreed.

Richard
was impressed with the high standards of cleanliness and precision in the process areas and how fresh the vegetables, fish and meat were. She then guided him through into the assembly areas where the long Sushi rolls were cut and packed into individual black trays. Explaining and talking about the products was an easy task for her because she knew the area very well, and revelled in Richard’s praise.

As
he left the room with their samples Richard held open the clear, plastic flap-curtain and placed his hand upon the small of her back to guide her through carrying the packs. It was, she knew, meant only as a friendly and helpful gesture, but even through the cold, less than five degrees atmosphere in the corridor she felt a warm glow spread throughout her body. She wondered if he felt the same attraction or whether he was just being pleasant and hoping to make good first impressions with everyone.

Back
in the kitchen she placed the twelve packs of Sushi on the bench and put a second set of packs in the fridge for the following day. He dragged two stools up to the island and they sat side by side while she arranged the packs into columns according to price.

‘I
sometimes think this is the easiest way to remember the lines,’ she said. ‘Because we start at the snack entry, containing four small Maki rolls, which only have one ingredient within the rice and seaweed casing. And don’t worry about the Japanese names for now. Once you’ve been talking about them for a few weeks it will all fit into place.’

Richard
nodded. ‘Can we taste some of them?’ he asked, opening one of the packs. Helen smiled in agreement. He ate the Smoked Salmon Maki roll. ‘Wow, that’s good,’ he exclaimed. ‘I’m not too keen on rice so didn’t think I’d enjoy it. But it tastes different somehow.’

She
grinned. ‘Yeah, the rice is sticky with vinegar which gives it an entirely different flavour to say, the likes of basmati rice…’

They
looked through the medium and large sized packs with Richard jotting down details while she talked and relaxed in his company. He was, she decided, one of the nicest men she’d ever met and who for some reason she found very easy to talk with. And although he spoke quietly, she could tell he had hidden depths, was passionate about the job, and was interested in her as a friend and not just a work colleague.

With
Annette in the front passenger seat of Richard’s company car and Helen and Tom comfortably sitting on the back seat they travelled back from the retailer’s meeting to the factory.

‘That all went very well,’ Annette said. ‘And to sum up, everyone agreed the current packs look slightly tired, and that we need to refresh the current range with different packaging, and then slot in a few with different Sushi ideas to re-launch for summer.’

Helen
nodded, smiling to herself. That conclusion, she thought, just about summed up how she’d felt since Christmas, ready to go on the inside but needing to improve her outer appearance. She looked at the back of Richard’s light brown hair shaped into his long neck and saw him raising an eyebrow at her in the wing mirror.

She
smiled at him deciding her own refresh had made her feel at least ten years younger. ‘I’ve got quite a few ideas buzzing around in my head at the moment,’ she said. ‘But I do need to go into the City and peruse the Sushi cafés at lunchtime, and there are a couple of new Japanese restaurants that have opened. So we should go in one night and check out the menus to see if they have any new concepts I can copy…’

Tom
groaned. ‘Oh no. Can I be excused from that trip because I did go last time and it’s such a busman’s holiday having to eat Sushi for dinner when we eat it all day at work?’