Guess Who I Pulled Last Night? (38 page)

Tom leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. 
“I know. That's what I can’t understand either.  Why suddenly do I have
this obsession with you?  That’s the sort of thing that you have when you
are a kid, you know when you realise that a hard on is a good thing and not
something wrong with your tackle.”  Bets’ laugh tinkled in the
silence.  “Seriously though Bets, what are we going to do?  I can’t eat
or sleep, and I’ve gone right off flirting with the customers.”  Tom
smiled at his attempt at lightening the situation.

“I don’t know.  I do know that I feel that same way,
but you and I Tom together, well it isn’t really a very good idea is it?”

“Why?”

“Well for one, I’m your sister’s friend, and older than
you.”

“Yes, plus we are too alike.”

“Exactly, and when it goes wrong can you imagine the
recriminations and the aftermath on everyone we know.  There will be no
more cheesy games of Buckaroo on Christmas Day.”

“I suppose so, and you would probably stop me going to watch
football.”

“Most definitely, so shall we just be friends, what do you
say?”  Bets held out her hand, for Tom to shake.

“Okay, let’s put it down to too much wine and agree that we
are probably suffering from the 'what might have been' phenomena that makes the
most bizarre of people attractive to you, agreed,” he replied rather too
brightly as he took her hand and closed his own around it.

“Yes agreed,” said Bets, ignoring the hammering of her
heart.

“Okay, back to normal then.”

Bets nodded.  “Okay, no problem at all.”

“Well, I’ll be off now,” said Tom standing up.  “Leave
you girls to your girly night in.  Can you give these to Charlotte for
me?”  He passed the keys to Bets, almost knocked over by the thumping of
his heart as he touched her hand.

“Sure, see you Tom.”

With that he was gone, slamming the front door behind
him.  Petula, the cat, disturbed by the noise, stretched out lazily next
to Bets, who reached down to stroke her.

“We are right Petula. It would be disastrous for us to get
together, and it just wouldn’t work.  But, you know, maybe it would have
been nice giving it a try.”

Over the next couple of weeks things got back to some normality
for both Charlotte and Bets, well as far as they were concerned.  Kerry,
on the other hand, was rather more astute and sensed that the two of them were
play acting, but she had agreed with Kelvin, that unless they went to her for
advice, she would not interfere.

On the morning of her birthday Charlotte woke fairly early
after a restless night, knowing as soon as she opened her eyes that today was,
to ' a phrase', the first day of the rest of her life, a life definitely
without Niall.  Bets and Kerry had arranged that they would all go over to
Liverpool shopping, but unfortunately Bets had cried off yesterday.  She
had to work to cover one of the girls, who had gone off sick with flu. 
So, rather than Bets miss out, Charlotte suggested  that they go the
following weekend instead, besides it suited Charlotte as she wasn’t really
sure that she wanted any company today.  She wanted to wallow alone,
before they all went drinking that evening.

She pottered around the house for most of the morning,
taking telephone calls from her family and friends wishing her a happy
birthday, doing some housework and watching a little of Saturday morning
television, all the while trying desperately not to look at the time. 
Then at midday she could stand it no longer. The urge was too great; she knew
that if she left within the next half-hour or so, she could make it over to
Manchester for the service.  It was madness she knew, but heart breaking
or not. She had to go.  She quickly showered and changed, preparing
herself to witness what would probably be the worst experience of her life,
then just as her bottle was going, Kerry rang.  Charlotte, knowing, deep
down, that she needed moral support, blurted out her intentions and asked Kerry
to go with her; she knew it wasn’t really something that she could do alone.

“Charlotte, of course I will come with you, if that’s what
you really want to do.  Is it?” There was no response from the other end
of the line; Kerry couldn’t see Charlotte nodding her head. “Charlotte?”

“Sorry, yes it is.  I’ve got to finish this once and
for all.  Otherwise, I will always be thinking that he's going to walk
through the door one day, and tell me that it was all a bad dream.

Kerry sighed full of sympathy for her friend.  “Okay
sweetheart, give me ten minutes to sort Kelvin and Esme out, and then I’ll pick
you up.”

“Okay, thanks Kerry I owe you one,” sighed Charlotte,
already wondering whether she could think of a reason not to go.

Twenty minutes later, they were driving north to Niall and Ingrid’s
wedding.

Charlotte looked out of the window, silently watching the
houses rush past. She spoke to Kerry without taking her gaze away.

“You know I’m not really sure where the church is you know.”

“Charlotte!” Kerry screamed.  “We’ll never find it; do
you know how many churches there are in South Manchester?”

“I know which village it’s in, there can’t be that many
churches in one village, can there?” she asked, a look of concern developing on
Charlotte’s face.

Although she felt frustrated, Kerry patted Charlotte’s knee
comfortingly.  “Of course not, I’m sure that we’ll find it easily.” 

“You’re cross aren’t you?” Charlotte asked, her eyes
pleading with Kerry to disagree.

“I’m not cross, but I sometimes think that you and Bets will
be the death of me.”

“I’m sorry; I just wanted to come and didn’t think about
knowing which church it was at.”

Kerry sighed deeply.  “No silly, it has got nothing to
do with knowing which church we are going to.  You both think you can kid
each other, and everyone else, that you are both okay, but anyone can see that
you’re not.”

“Is Bets still down then?  I feel awful I didn’t
realise, she didn’t say anything when I spoke to her yesterday.  She was a
little fed up about having to cancel our shopping trip, but otherwise, she
seemed fine.”

Kerry moved her eyes from the road to smile at
Charlotte.  “That’s my point she thinks that you are fine as well. 
You are both so busy trying to hide how you are really feeling that you are
both missing out on some good old fashioned girly advice from each other. 
I tell you something, it’s a lucky that I came home to sort you two out.”

Nearly an hour later Charlotte had successfully guided Kerry
to the village where the wedding was being held.  Driving through the
village, they had noticed little groups of people, dressed for the occasion,
making their way up to a small hill, towards the sound of bells announcing that
it was someone special day.  They parked in a pub car park at the bottom
of the hill.

“What do you want me to do, stay here or come with you?”
Kerry held Charlotte’s hand in hers, slowly rubbing the back of it with her
thumb.

“Erm, come with me please,” whispered Charlotte, tears
pricking her eyes, and the feeling of nausea rising to her throat.  She
shot a hand to her mouth.  “I feel sick Kerry, what if he sees me?”

“He won’t, He'll be too preoccupied, and we won’t be in
church; will we?” A look of horror suddenly spread across Kerry’s face. 
“You don’t want to go into church, do you?”

Charlotte grinned through her tears.  “No stupid,
although it would be funny to stand up when the Vicar asks if anyone has any
just reason.”

Kerry giggled softly.  “What would you say?”

“That he can’t marry a scrawny, miserable old boot that got
herself pregnant on purpose, to trap him.”

“Hmm, good one.” Kerry nodded solemnly.

“Come on then, let’s get this over and done with so that I
can get on with my life,” said Charlotte, rubbing her eyes and sighing heavily.

As they stepped out of the car, onto the gravel, another
group of people rushed past them.  They were holding onto their hats and
jackets, as they flapped around in the March winds.

Kerry nudged Charlotte conspiratorially.  “Wouldn’t it
be funny if this wind whipped her veil away,” she said.

“Don’t be so awful, but yes it would,” Charlotte laughed.

They made the short walk up the hill in silence, milling
with the other guests moving to the sound of the bells.  At the top, they
could see the church straight in front of them, but they didn’t cross over;
Charlotte pulled Kerry behind a large oak tree.

“If we stand behind this, he won’t see us, but I can see him
quite clearly.”  Her voice trailed off as across the road a large silver
and grey Bentley drew up and out stepped Niall, his best man and surprisingly
Grant. 

All looking very dapper, they moved away from the car as
Niall, and his best man stood a distance from Grant.  Charlotte took an
intake of breath, and a step back behind the tree as Niall turned towards her
and scanned up and down the road, before Grant nodded towards the church, indicating
that they should perhaps go in.

“What has he come in the car with them for, just like him
getting in on the act? I’m surprised that Niall allowed it. I thought that they
had fallen out” Charlotte murmured, shaking her head.

“Well they didn’t seem to be talking very much, and
considering it is his wedding day he did look rather stern.  Anyway, you
kept it quiet how handsome he is madam. He's lovely.” Kerry playfully punched
Charlotte’s arm.

She smiled weakly.  “I know.  Do you think that he
saw me?” she asked anxiously.

“No, I’m sure that he didn’t.”  Kerry put an arm around
Charlotte’s shoulder, and hugged her tightly.  “He did look like he was
looking for someone though, maybe he’s hoping that you will do the old just
reason bit.”

“Nope, I don’t think so; he was obviously looking for
her.  Oh God, he’s coming back out, quickly get behind here.” Charlotte
grabbed Kerry and dragged her out of sight.

“What’s he doing now?” she asked.

Kerry started to giggle.  “Charlotte just because your
eyes are closed it doesn’t mean he can’t see you.”

“He can’t, can he?” Her eyes sprang open.  She sighed
as she could see that Niall had his back to them.

Grant hovered in the background, not looking at anyone,
except his shoes or occasionally down the road in the direction that their car
had arrived.  Niall was speaking with a lady dressed in lilac with
matching hat; Charlotte recognised her as the lady from the supermarket –
Niall’s mother.  Niall did appear to be thinner, but she couldn’t see his
face clearly, but she could tell that it was quite an intense conversation that
he was having with his mother.  Her head was inclined towards him as she
listened, and all the time her hand gently rubbed his elbow.  After five
minutes of staring at the back of her darling Niall, out of the corner of her
eye Charlotte noticed Niall’s best man move.  He went towards Niall and
whispered into his ear and nodded toward the road. Charlotte glanced at the
direction of his nod and saw a Rolls Royce, matching the Bentley, appearing
around the bend.  Niall moved quickly inside the church with his mother
and best man, leaving Grant a few strides behind.

The Rolls Royce pulled up in front of Niall’s car, with the
driver getting out and running around to the back door to let Ingrid and her
father out.  There was quite a crowd of onlookers gathered now as Ingrid
stepped out onto the path, followed by a small Flower Girl.

“Huh, no older bridesmaids then, she probably hasn’t got any
friends to ask!” snorted Kerry making Charlotte smile.

Ingrid moved away from the car, to shake out her full
organza skirt, and then she smoothed down the tight, sleeveless laced bodice,
before arranging her short veil carefully over her face.

“That’s right love, cover up your ugly mug.”

“Kerry,” scolded Charlotte.  “You can’t deny that she
looks lovely.”  She leaned her head on Kerry’s shoulder.

They watched Ingrid glide down the church path, her father
and Flower Girl trailing behind, desperately trying to catch her up.

“Bloody hell, she’s eager isn’t she?”

“So would I be,” sighed Charlotte.

“I wonder how she got into that bodice though, you know if
she is a few months expecting.  I remember my boobs were like barrage
balloons almost post-coital when I fell pregnant with Esme,” commented Kerry.

“Well obviously Ingrid is going to be one of those bloody
sickening women who don’t even have a bump, never mind an arse full of
piles.  Anyway, come on we should go home, the show is all over.” 
Charlotte took hold of Kerry’s hand and led her back to the car.

“You okay Charlotte?” Kerry asked.

Charlotte nodded and smiled weakly.  “Yep, at least now
I can get on with my life.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes, before Kerry
stopped and turned to Charlotte.

“I tell you what, seeing as we are over this way, I’ll take you
to John Lewis’s for lunch, and then we’ll go to Alderley Edge and do a bit of
Wayne and Colleen spotting, what do you reckon?”

Charlotte grinned widely.  “Urgh no thanks, but you
never know who else we might see.”  She hugged Kerry tightly, grateful for
having such good friends who knew exactly what she needed, and when she needed
it.

After spending the afternoon with Kerry, constantly cracking
rubbish jokes to try to cheer her up, Charlotte was grateful for a few hours
peace and quiet back home before everyone arrived to take her out for the
evening.  She had been submerged in steaming soapy bath water for nearly
an hour, wondering how the ceremony had gone, what the reception had been like;
flash probably with all the money Ingrid’s daddy had.  Charlotte had a
little cry for about ten minutes, but soon realised that crying wouldn’t change
anything. She had to get on with her life, so she washed her face and tried to
relax in the water.  Finally, the time arrived for the hordes to descend
upon her to go to the pub for lots of mind numbing, memory losing alcohol.

“Right, what is everyone having?” Dave asked, as they
quickly sat down at two available tables.

“I’ll give you a hand Dave.” Kelvin started to take the
order. “Tom?”

“Lager please.”

“Girls?”

“Red Wine.”

“White wine.”

“Brandy and Coke.”

“Another white wine here, please.”

While everyone gave their order to Kelvin and Dave, Tom made
himself busy, collecting chairs from other parts of the pub, desperate to
create a distraction from gazing at Bets who looked stunning.

When she had finished getting ready Bets had known that she
looked good, yet funnily enough tonight she hadn’t really tried.  She
normally took hours on her naturally curly hair, but tonight she had just
blasted it with the hairdryer, and now it was cascading in shiny ringlets over
her bare shoulders and down her back.  Having not bothered to do any
ironing for the last couple of days, Bets pulled on what was available, a pair
of extremely tight skinny jeans and a leather bustier top, finished off with
some extremely pointed, black Faith shoes, all coming together in a truly sexy
outfit.  Testament to this was the number of male heads that turned when
she slipped off her jacket.

“Bloody hell, you look good tonight.” Amanda smiled at Bets. 
“Is it for anyone in particular?”

Bets shook her head, and frowned questioningly.  “No,
it’s all that I had got that wasn’t either dirty or creased.”

“Right.”  Amanda nodded knowingly.

Kelvin and Dave arrived back with the drinks, followed by
Tom carrying two pints of lager and a glass of wine.  His search for
chairs completed, he went to help at the bar.

Kelvin plonked himself down next to Kerry.  “Well a
toast I think.”  He raised his glass in the air, mirrored by the rest of
the group.  “To Charlotte, here is to a happy birthday, and an even better
forthcoming year; Charlotte!”

“To Charlotte,” echoed around the tables, before everyone
took a hefty slurp from their respective glasses.