The Desperate Bride’s Diet Club (31 page)

Maggie was in Gordon’s arms. He smiled down at her and she felt a frisson of something. Romance? Passion, even? Definitely love. Maggie smiled back at him, feeling like a newlywed all over again.

Maggie felt herself come alive.

Kathy looked around the shop in the morning light, checking that everything was in place. It was the day of
the Grand Re-Opening of the shop. A lick of paint, some new lights and a complete overhaul of the layout and window had worked wonders. It actually looked like a place into which customers might want to venture.

‘My feet are killing me,’ said Maggie, who was sitting down on a chair behind the till, rubbing her feet.

‘You should have got the next size up,’ Kathy told her, handing over a mug of
coffee.

‘Thanks,’ said Maggie. ‘The size sixes were too big. It’ll be OK once they’re broken in.’

‘So you’re going back there next week?’

Maggie nodded. ‘Definitely. I felt about ten years younger.’ She gave Kathy a rueful smile. ‘Until I tried to get out of bed this morning. I’ve pulled muscles I didn’t even know existed.’

‘I’d have thought all that running would have helped.’

‘Different
muscles, it seems.’

Kathy wished that she too had found some new muscles but the weight was coming off gradually. Feeling slightly better about her weight loss, she had treated herself to a new skirt and knee-length boots to wear for the special opening.

‘Nice boots,’ said Lucy, who had been fiddling with the mannequins in the window.

‘Thought I’d better make an effort in case the newspaper
people show up.’

Maggie had persuaded Kathy to ring up the local paper about the shop re-opening to try and generate some extra publicity.

As soon as it was nine o’clock, Kathy unlocked the front door and stepped back with a nervous grin.

‘Here’s hoping that somebody actually comes in today,’ she told Maggie and Lucy.

Kathy was secretly hoping that, amongst the crowds of people that she had
been praying for, Edward might find time to pop in as well.

Lucy went outside and stuck a smile on her face. The weather was a little crisper, a sign that autumn had truly arrived.

She stared up at the shop window, secretly pleased with her work. She had grabbed an old denim jacket and reworked it with some new buttons and collar. Teamed with a pair of black leather trousers that someone had
donated that week and a white T-shirt, she had created a young look.

It had been Lucy’s suggestion that they change the inside of a shop to reflect a fashion boutique, hoping to attract the younger and wealthier crowd who might look for a vintage bargain.

She had helped behind the scenes, steaming and ironing clothes, figuring it would be all in a day’s work when she had her own shop. Lucy had
even fixed up a few of the clothes with different belts and buttons to make up some different designs. She found if she kept her hands busy with sewing, then they were also away from picking at chocolate.

She had only two weeks until she left for college and only a couple of pounds left to reach her target. Everything seemed to be coming together at once. She thought back to how she had felt
at the beginning of the year. How miserable, how worthless she had thought herself to be. Now she was designing shop windows and filled with so much energy she thought she might burst.

Life was meant to be exciting and she couldn’t wait for the future.

Violet arrived shortly after opening time and found Lucy outside.

‘I found a fantastic skirt for you,’ said Lucy. ‘It’s a designer pencil skirt.
It’s so you!’

Violet grimaced. ‘Me in a pencil skirt?’

‘Of course,’ said Lucy, as if it were the most obvious
thing
for Violet to wear. ‘You’ve got that classic hourglass that it was made for. Dead sexy too.’

Violet glanced at her reflection. She was quite pleased with her new jeans but wasn’t sure her legs were up to a skirt yet.

Aware of Lucy watching her, she indicated the plate of brownies
that she had made for the occasion and went into the shop.

‘Fantastic,’ said Kathy, taking one of the bite-size pieces.

‘Lovely,’ said Maggie, between mouthfuls. ‘But I can’t believe you’re encouraging us to be so sinful.’

‘I’m not,’ said Violet, breaking into a grin. ‘I’ve replaced the chocolate with cocoa powder and the butter with very-low-fat mayonnaise.’

‘Mayonnaise?’ said Kathy, now
grimacing as she swallowed.

‘You wouldn’t know the difference unless I’d pointed it out,’ Violet told them.

‘I don’t believe it,’ said Maggie, staring at the plate. ‘They taste just the same.’

Violet winked at them and was heading back outside when she bumped into a woman in the doorway.

‘Excuse me. I’m from the
Daily News
.’

Violet turned around. ‘The newspaper’s here.’

Kathy wiped the chocolate
crumbs from her mouth and fixed a smile on her face as she headed outside.

‘Hello,’ she said to the journalist. ‘I’m Kathy, the new manager.’

Violet watched as Kathy chatted away, wishing she had that kind of ease with people face to face. She was still thankful that the hotline wasn’t yet conducted over a webcam.

People gradually began to hover outside the shop,
drawn
to the grand re-opening
by some balloons and big signs that Maggie had had printed.

Violet watched the photographer take a few shots. She wondered if he covered weddings as well. Then she remembered the fancy photographer that Miriam had chosen. She had taken a quick look at the website. From the gallery of shots, it all looked a bit arty. A photograph of a single shoe. A flower head. None of it seemed real, plus it
all came at a hefty cost. Miriam was heading down the route that thought the more expensive the service, the better.

Violet shook her head and focused back on Kathy.

‘Donate, don’t waste. That’s our message,’ Kathy was saying to the journalist. ‘After all, giving us five pounds for a skirt or jacket would pay for one person to attend a half-hour session at a monthly meeting, providing information
and support for both the people with dementia and their carers. It’s so important to have outside contact.’

Violet wondered if she should just hand over her whole inheritance to the Alzheimer’s Society. Lord knew, they would probably do something more worthwhile with it than Sebastian would.

Amongst the crowd that was gradually beginning to build up, both inside and outside the shop, was Edward.

He said hi to Violet and Lucy, before standing and watching Kathy chat to the journalist.

He realised that her face had lost its roundness as the pounds had dropped and now she had cheekbones lit by a pink glow. Her brown eyes sparkled and she had cut her hair a little shorter. She was very pretty and he found he enjoyed looking at her.

A photographer from the newspaper had arrived to take a
picture to go with the article. He was trying to gather everyone together for a group shot and was getting a bit hands on with Kathy, manoeuvring her to the middle by placing his hand on her lower back. An inch lower and Edward would floor him with a punch.

As well as the weight-loss girls, a few of the regular customers had also turned up, including some of the pensioners.

‘Right,’ said the
photographer, before holding up his lens. ‘Everybody smile. And remember, tits and teeth, ladies. Tits and teeth.’

There was a shocked silence and a few looks exchanged.

‘What did he say?’ asked Mavis, who thankfully was slightly deaf.

‘He said his name was Keith,’ said Kathy.

Edward’s shoulders were shaking as he tried to suppress his laughter. He locked eyes with Kathy who was also trying
not to giggle.

As she turned back to smile at the camera, Edward realised he had to keep trying with Kathy. He couldn’t let her go without a fight. She meant too much to him.

IT WAS A
momentous week. Lucy had reached her target of nine stone.

‘And just in time for my leaving do on Friday night,’ said Lucy, grinning.

She was moving into her university digs at the weekend and wanted to go out for a few drinks with her friends from college, as well as the weight-loss group.

Violet felt her stomach plummet. Going out was for other people. Other more
confident and happy people. She always dreaded going to nightclubs with all those slim women and Violet as the token fatty. But the girls had started to talk about the hen night in December and, with only three months until the wedding, perhaps she should get a bit of practice in.

That Friday night, Violet stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror which she had finally purchased. The
image in the mirror surprised her. Nearly as much as the fact that she was now a size sixteen.

She was wearing her brand-new, pale silver
embroidered
camisole with straps thick enough to hide a bra strap. It was too pretty to resist. None of Violet’s bras warranted any kind of display so she had found some courage and headed into Marks & Spencer’s lingerie department. She had never been measured
for a bra and it came as a shock to discover that she was now only a 38C. Up till then, Violet had been wearing a 42E and even that left massive welts across her back and shoulders.

She had just got paid so she treated herself to half a dozen new bras, three in white, two black and one nude. The matching knickers were pretty so Violet bought those as well. She had decided to throw out all her
horrible old knickers, whose baggy material was beginning to show through her trousers.

So with new underwear, top, trousers and her favourite turquoise high heels, Violet was ready. She looked at her reflection and gave herself a little nod. She was all right. She could now see the full length of her body and she looked OK. It was time to stop hiding.

The front doorbell rang and Violet made
her careful way down the stairs in her heels. She opened up the front door and found Kathy and Maggie standing on her doorstep with big grins on their faces.

‘You look great,’ they told each other at the same time.

Kathy and Maggie were also wearing black trousers and heels with different tops. Perhaps it was the uniform for going out.

‘Those shoes are fabulous!’ cooed Kathy at the turquoise
heels.

‘I know,’ said Violet. ‘But I can’t walk in them.’

‘Hang on to us, love.’ Maggie held out her arm. ‘You’ll be fine.’

Violet was smiling but felt nervous. Yet it was a fluttery kind of nervous. As if this were a good thing, an important step. After all, wasn’t this what everyone else did in their twenties? Went out and had a good time? Violet had managed to get through almost a whole
decade without having any kind of good time.

‘Lucy and Edward are meeting us there,’ said Maggie.

‘Where are we going?’ asked Violet.

‘Zizzi’s for pizza and on to that club at the top of town.’

‘You mean The Zone?’ said Kathy, her eyebrows shooting upwards. ‘Aren’t we a bit mutton?’

‘Never!’ said Maggie with a grin.

She was masking her slight disappointment at having to miss her Friday night’s
dancing with Gordon. But Lucy was leaving at the weekend and then they’d have all the time in the world.

They met Lucy and some of her college friends at the pizza place. Lucy gave them a hug, already a little merry after a cocktail or two. Maggie, Kathy and Violet sat at the other end of the table from the teenagers and ordered a bottle of wine.

‘Edward texted me,’ shouted Lucy from the other
end of the table. ‘He’s stuck at work but he’s hoping to come along later.’

Seeing Kathy’s shoulders droop, Maggie immediately poured out a large glass of wine for each of them. The wine helped the conversation flow, closely followed by the laughter.

Violet ate the pizza and tried not to think about the calorie content.

Kathy was also looking concerned but Maggie
thought
that this wasn’t about
the calories and decided to change the subject.

‘So how’re the wedding plans?’ she said to Violet.

Violet swallowed a piece of gloriously cheesy pizza. ‘Sebastian’s mother’s doing most of the organising so I haven’t had much to do, to be honest.’

‘Lucky you,’ said Maggie. ‘It can be quite stressful organising a wedding.’

Violet kept quiet.

Kathy said, ‘But you’d probably quite like to have
a hand in your own wedding, wouldn’t you?’

After a beat, Violet nodded.

‘Can’t you have a word with your fiancé?’ said Maggie.

‘He’s happy with his mother taking charge,’ said Violet, putting down her knife and fork. ‘I shouldn’t have eaten that.’

Kathy frowned. ‘Once in a while isn’t bad,’ she said.

But Violet was still looking upset. ‘I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to get to my goal weight.’

Maggie and Kathy exchanged a look at Violet’s stressed tone.

‘You’re doing really well,’ Maggie told her.

‘You don’t understand …’ said Violet, leaving her voice to trail off.

Maggie and Kathy kept quiet and sipped on their wine, waiting for Violet to speak. But in the end, Violet shrugged and gave them a small smile.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said.

‘Tell us,’ said Kathy. ‘You know you can
trust us.’

‘It’s not that,’ said Violet, before taking a deep breath. ‘Sebastian cheated on me.’

There was a sharp intake of breath across the table.

‘When?’ they said, trying to keep their voices low.

‘Easter. Look, it’s OK. We’re engaged now and he’s committed to me.’

‘Should be bloody committed to hard labour for cheating on you,’ muttered Kathy.

‘How did you find out?’ asked Maggie.

Violet sighed. ‘She rang me.’

‘What a cow!’ spat Kathy.

Violet shrugged her shoulders. ‘She was drunk. Apparently she never meant to hurt me.’

‘I still don’t understand why eating that pizza would upset you,’ said Maggie.

Violet shook her head. ‘Don’t you see? If I’m slim and good-looking then our marriage will work.’

Maggie frowned. ‘Surely it’s not all about looks?’