The Desperate Bride’s Diet Club (26 page)

Violet shook her head. She was too ashamed to admit she didn’t even own a swimsuit.

‘I used to hate undressing on the beach too,’ said
Maggie
, guessing why Violet was uncomfortable. ‘But a few years ago I couldn’t stand it any longer and had to begin peeling off some clothes. Mind you, over two stones off and I feel better about my body than I did.’

Despite her
own two-stone loss, Violet didn’t feel any different about her body.

‘The sun’s lovely,’ said Lucy, putting on her sunglasses.

‘I bet it’s hot at Edward’s cricket tournament,’ said Kathy, stretching out on her towel.

‘Was it an all-day thing?’ asked Maggie.

‘Till at least six o’clock,’ said Kathy. ‘Poor Edward will have fried by then in this heat. Did I tell you what a great job he did with
my kitchen cupboards?’

‘You did. And did he fix that shower for you as well?’

‘Yes, it was so kind of him.’

It had been the second Sunday that Edward went to Kathy’s flat. She had tried to talk him out of it, telling him that he wouldn’t have enough time and that she could live with the few tatty areas in her flat.

‘Actually, I have a sneaky reason for coming to see you,’ Edward had told her.

Kathy’s heart had begun to thump a little harder.

‘Did you know you burn calories even whilst doing DIY?’ he said, breaking into a grin.

Kathy switched on an automatic smile and tried to ignore her confused feelings.

She had cooked him another meal; this time it had been griddled steak, salad and healthy chips. She found she was beginning to look forward to his company on Sundays and dreaded
the day he decided he was bored of her.

‘He’s a good man,’ said Maggie.

‘Yeah,’ said Lucy. ‘He’d make someone a wonderful boyfriend.’

Kathy rose up on to her elbows and found the three other women looking at her with grins on their faces.

‘Shut up,’ she said, and lay back on the towel. ‘Anyway, I’ve told you. I’m soooo over men.’

‘So what are you telling us? You’re a lesbian?’ said Lucy.

‘No. I just seem to attract only the idiot members of the species. I know it’s my fault.’ She looked over to Violet. ‘You’re lucky. You’re one of those nice quiet women that men fall for. I’ve got a gob bigger than the Thames on me. I’m not one of those dainty types.’

‘I wasn’t always quiet—’ Violet stopped suddenly as she realised her statement was true.

‘What happened?’ asked Maggie.

Violet
gave her a small smile. ‘It’s too nice a day to talk about depressing stuff.’

‘Rubbish,’ said Kathy, sitting up. ‘It’s only us. Get talking.’

And then it will stop me talking about Edward, Kathy told herself.

Violet sighed but they waited patiently until she was able to speak.

‘I had a lovely childhood. Normal stuff with parents, lots of friends and parties. It was great.’

‘But then you lost
your mum and dad,’ said Maggie.

Violet nodded. ‘My aunt was so weird. I put on so much weight eating her stodgy food and getting ever more miserable. I was in my teens, I needed a bra and all that kind of girly stuff explaining, but she didn’t really talk to me. So I had to wear a vest until I stole some money out of her purse to buy myself a bra. I
used
to wash it in the bath and dry it in my
room so she wouldn’t know.’

‘OK, so she didn’t know about bringing up a girl,’ said Kathy. ‘But was she never kind? Did she ever talk to you?’

‘Only about religion. It was all thee and thou and grace before meals.’

‘I bet the other girls were right bitches to you,’ said Lucy, speaking from experience.

Violet nodded. ‘They were awful. I was fat and wore old-fashioned hand-me-downs. Great big
ghastly kaftan things.’

‘So in the end, you just withdrew into yourself,’ said Kathy.

Violet nodded again.

‘Couldn’t you have escaped to university?’ asked Maggie.

‘No money,’ said Violet. ‘I was good at languages and was desperate to study and then travel. But it was no use. My aunt said it was an extravagance and they’d already spent so much money feeding and clothing me, it was time for
me to get a job and get out. Basically she’d had enough of me by then.’

Maggie shook her head in dismay.

‘So I went to work and, as soon as I could, I moved out into a tiny flat.’ Violet found that now she was talking she could barely stop. ‘My uncle unexpectedly died of a heart attack a few years ago and left me a small amount as an inheritance. Enough to put a deposit down on my lovely little
house. My aunt never came to visit. But within a year she was dead from cancer. I didn’t grieve. She had never shown me any love. Had never hugged me. She was a horrid woman.’

There was a short silence whilst they digested everything she had said.

Suddenly Violet smiled. ‘But something weird happened, after she died. It turns out that the house was worth a bit of money and all the money comes
to me next year when I’m thirty.’

‘Cool!’ said Lucy. ‘You could do all that travelling now.’

‘Or go back to university and do your studies,’ said Kathy.

‘What do you want to do with the money?’ asked Maggie.

Violet realised that she wanted to do all those things and more. But instead of telling them, she shrugged her shoulders. ‘Sebastian says it’s sensible to put the money down on a house.’

Lucy frowned. ‘But you’ve already got a nice house.’

Violet didn’t know what to say so she buried her face in the coolbag she had brought with her and began to unpack the healthy lunch she had insisted on preparing for them.

The others oohed and aahed at the aromas and colours of the food. Violet had brought individual bowls of salads for each of them. Crisp lettuce had been mixed with slices
of plump tomatoes, red onion, black olives and crumbled feta cheese. A small drizzle of extra virgin olive oil made the leaves glisten.

‘What’s the black stuff?’ asked Lucy, pointing at a piece of discoloured feta.

‘Balsamic vinegar,’ Violet replied. ‘You’ll like it. It adds a nice flavour. There’s also breadsticks to munch on and some fresh melon and strawberries to finish with.’

‘Fantastic,’
sighed Kathy, picking up a fork.

‘This is lovely,’ Maggie said, in between mouthfuls.

Violet had to agree that her cooking skills were improving. The quality of ingredients helped. She had picked up balsamic vinegar that weekend from the delicatessen, making sure that the label specified ‘aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena’, which meant that it had been made to the traditional methods and
was the real thing.

Of course, all this Mediterranean food tasted better in hot sunshine. But her senses, especially taste, were being roused from their slumber by all the new flavours she was now treating her body to.

They were all sucking on the juicy strawberries when Maggie sighed. ‘Maybe I should go to university,’ she said with a wistful tone in her voice.

‘What would you study, Mum?’
asked Lucy.

‘I don’t know,’ Maggie said. ‘But I’ve got to do something. You’re all grown up and off to London. I’m going stir crazy at home by myself.’

She was keeping occupied with her exercise but knew it wasn’t enough to satisfy her.

‘Can’t you go back to work?’ asked Violet.

Maggie shook her head. ‘Gordon’s very proud that his business does well enough that I don’t need to work. So he
feels better but that leaves me with nothing to do.’

‘I know!’ said Kathy, sitting up with a start. ‘I’m going to be on my own in the shop when Mavis retires at the end of the week. But the Alzheimer’s Society says I can go on taking care of the shop if I can bring in some more business. Why don’t you come and help? I can’t work in the shop on my own. Not that there’s any customers most of the
time. But think what a laugh we’ll have!’ Her face fell.
‘But
there’s no money in it, I’m afraid. It’s all volunteer work.’

‘Are you sure?’ asked Maggie.

‘God, yes! I’ve got so many plans to get the shop making more money but it’s impossible with Mavis there. She didn’t even want us to have an electronic till installed.’

‘OK,’ said Maggie, with a nod. ‘You’re on.’

‘Mum! You’ve got a job!’
said Lucy, grinning.

‘Great!’ said Kathy. ‘Let’s celebrate with an ice-cream!’

‘No!’ cried everyone else.

‘I meant a healthy, low-calorie ice-lolly, of course!’ Kathy leapt up. ‘Who’s helping?’

‘Me,’ said Lucy.

Violet and Maggie stayed behind and looked out to the waves.

‘I love the sound of the sea,’ said Maggie.

Violet nodded. ‘My boss is Italian and has been telling me about the sea
near the village where he comes from.’

‘Oh, the Med is lovely. As warm as a bath and that clear you can see the fish swimming in it. You’ve never seen it?’

‘Not yet.’

And Violet realised how much it pained her not to have travelled by the age of twenty-nine.

‘How’s the sneaky diet working?’ she asked Maggie.

‘Brilliant! Thirty-four pounds off and counting! But I’ve been thinking that I really
need to talk to Gordon. He’s got to understand about me getting fitter. If he doesn’t like me losing weight, then it’s tough. It’s my body.’

Violet nodded in agreement, realising that she ought to be thinking the same way.

They sat in comfortable silence, watching families dash in and out of the sea. People were playing football on the sand. The beach was getting busy as people realised that
it was perfect summer weather.

‘Here you go,’ said Lucy, coming back with Kathy and the ice-lollies.

‘I even asked the bloke the calorie count of each one,’ said Kathy. ‘The ice-cream man wasn’t impressed but we’ve got fruit lollies to cool us down.’

‘Only sixty calories each!’ said Lucy.

There was a short silence whilst they enjoyed the fruity lollies in the sunshine.

‘What’s in the bag?’
asked Maggie, once they’d all finished.

‘Something for Violet,’ said Lucy with a grin. ‘From the beach shop.’

They threw the bag into Violet’s lap. She looked down at it and then back up.

‘For me?’ she asked, growing red.

‘Go on!’ urged Lucy. ‘Have a look.’

Violet reached into the plastic bag and drew out a flowery swimsuit.

‘It’s a bit old-fashioned,’ Lucy told her with a grimace.

‘But
we figured it would do for today,’ said Kathy. ‘We guessed your size.’

Violet glanced at the label. It was a size eighteen. She didn’t know what to do or think. ‘Thank you,’ she stammered.

‘You’ll have to try it on,’ said Kathy.

‘The ladies’ loo is just there,’ said Lucy, pointing up the beach.

Violet slowly stood up and headed off, holding the carrier bag in her hand.

‘You bullied her into
it,’ Maggie hissed at them.

‘It’s for her own good,’ said Kathy.

‘I don’t think she’s even got a costume,’ said Lucy. ‘She’s wearing a thick T-shirt and black trousers in eighty degrees. She must be roasting.’

‘She’s lost two stone,’ said Kathy. ‘Maybe we should take her out shopping at some point.’

Lucy nodded. ‘Definitely.’

‘One step at a time,’ said Maggie. ‘Let’s start off slowly with
her. Poor girl’s had a rough life so far. She’s only just starting to open up to us.’

‘Gently does it,’ said Kathy, nodding in agreement.

‘It’s nice to see her starting to come out of her shell though.’

‘Here she is!’ cried Lucy after five minutes.

Violet came to stand next to them, still wearing her T-shirt and trousers.

‘Didn’t it fit?’ asked Kathy, her face dropping.

Violet nodded.

‘Have you got it on?’ asked Lucy.

Violet nodded once more.

Lucy opened her mouth to say something but Maggie shook her head at her daughter. So they all sat quietly whilst Violet began to slowly pull down her trousers. There was a pause and then she peeled off her T-shirt.

Violet stood on the sand, waiting for the roars of laughter. But none came. She glanced at the other people on the beach
but nobody was even looking at her. It was OK. She would be OK. One small step on the sand meant one giant leap forward for Violet.

‘Right!’ said Lucy, leaping up. ‘Last one in buys the next round of ice-lollies!’

And off she ran towards the sea.

Kathy also stood up. ‘Come on, girls. Can’t let the youngster have all the fun.’

Maggie and Kathy began to walk towards the sea before pausing and
turning back.

‘Come on, Violet,’ called Maggie.

Violet slowly began to walk up to where they were standing. Kathy linked one arm with Violet’s and Maggie linked the other. Gradually they broke into a jog, taking Violet with them. By the time they got to the sea edge, they were all giggling.

In the sea they began to splash each other with the cold water. Violet found herself laughing and joining
in. She was in a swimsuit in the sea having fun. And somewhere deep inside, she felt a little spark of something. Of life.

Something had happened when she began to lose weight. She was starting to find her voice. And her life.

Violet wasn’t sure she could stop it now. Or that she even wanted to.

LUCY SAT ON
the train and watched the miles thunder past. It was Induction Day at the college and she was so excited she could barely sit still on the hour-long train journey.

She fiddled with her scarf, whipping it off and then putting it back on again. The mornings and evenings were getting a little cooler as August had finished. But she was happy with the rest of her outfit.
She was now in size twelve skinny jeans, a white long-sleeved T-shirt and a battered leather biker jacket which she had found in a vintage shop.

Her mother had told her that the quick two-stone weight loss in two months was down to her youthful metabolism. But Lucy also knew that it was because she had stuck rigidly to the diet. With only one stone to go, the weight loss had slowed to only two
pounds a week. So Lucy knew she had to up her game. For the past week, she had dug out some old exercise DVDs and begun to use them each morning. Her dad was starting to go nuts about the noise coming through
the
ceiling but she didn’t care. She knew she would need exercise to shift the last stone and, anyway, she wanted to tone up.