BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (84)
  1. Chapter one
  2. Chapter two
  3. Chapter three
  4. Chapter four
  5. Chapter five
  6. Chapter six
  7. Chapter seven
  8. Chapter eight
  9. Chapter nine
  10. Chapter ten
  11. Chapter eleven
  12. Chapter twelve
  13. Chapter thirteen
  14. Chapter fourteen
  15. Chapter fifteen
  16. Chapter sixteen
  17. Chapter seventeen
  18. Chapter eighteen
  19. Chapter nineteen
  20. Chapter twenty
  21. Chapter twenty-one
  22. Chapter twenty-two
  23. Chapter twenty-three
  24. Chapter twenty-four
  25. Chapter twenty-five
  26. Chapter twenty-six
  27. Chapter twenty-seven
  28. Chapter twenty-eight
  29. Chapter twenty-nine
  30. Chapter thirty
  31. Chapter thirty-one
  32. Chapter thirty-two
  33. Chapter thirty-three
  34. Chapter thirty-four
  35. Chapter thirty-five
  36. Chapter thirty-six
  37. Chapter thirty-seven
  38. Chapter thirty-eight
  39. Chapter thirty-nine
  40. Chapter forty
  41. Chapter forty-one
  42. Chapter forty-two
  43. Chapter forty-three
  44. Chapter forty-four
  45. Chapter forty-five
  46. Chapter forty-six
  47. Chapter forty-seven
  48. Chapter forty-eight
  49. Chapter forty-nine
  50. Chapter fifty
  51. Chapter fifty-one
  52. Chapter fifty-two
  53. Chapter fifty-three
  54. Chapter fifty-four
  55. Chapter fifty-five
  56. Chapter fifty-six
  57. Chapter fifty-seven
  58. Chapter fifty-eight
  59. Chapter fifty-nine
  60. Chapter sixty
  61. Chapter sixty-one
  62. Chapter sixty-two
  63. Chapter sixty-three
  64. Chapter sixty-four
  65. Chapter sixty-five
  66. Chapter sixty-six
  67. Chapter sixty-seven
  68. Chapter sixty-eight
  69. Chapter sixty-nine
  70. Chapter seventy
  71. Chapter seventy-one
  72. Chapter seventy-two
  73. Chapter seventy-three
  74. Chapter seventy-four
  75. Chapter seventy-five
  76. Chapter seventy-six
  77. Chapter seventy-seven
  78. Chapter seventy-eight
  79. Chapter seventy-nine
  80. Chapter eighty
  81. Chapter eighty-one
  82. Chapter eighty-two
  83. Chapter eighty-three
  84. Chapter eighty-four

This is clearly the end of our girly bonding, as the studs, in return, seem to have set their sights on us. The three smoothies sidle round us to start their campaign of divide and conquer.

‘Hi,’ one of the guys shouts at me over the din. ‘So where have you been?’

‘Nepal,’ I oblige, shouting back.

‘Oh,’ he yells. ‘Interesting.’ He looks not the slightest bit interested. ‘I thought you might have been on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!’

‘No,’ I yell back. ‘Unfortunately not.’

‘Oh.’

My feet hurt too much for me to be bothered to be polite. This is desperately hard work. And I feel that I’m far too old for this chatting-up business. Is this what I have to look forward to in life after Jake? Will I go back to being a desperate single trying to pull dubious men in dubious bars? In order to commiserate with myself, I throw back some more champagne.

Monica and Charlotte are flirting wildly with their hunks, all thought of me, their needy friend whom they persuaded here against her will, conveniently forgotten. The man who has attached himself to me leans forward and speaks quietly. ‘Shall we get out of here?’ he says. He flicks his eyes over me so that I can be in no doubt of the message he means to convey. He’s clearly not into prolonged foreplay.

‘No, thanks.’

He sneers just enough to really piss me off. ‘You’re not shy, are you?’

‘No,’ I say. ‘I’m fussy.’

His sneer dies and he pushes away from me, muttering something that’s probably very uncomplimentary to his mates as he passes. He turns back and gives me an unpleasant snarl and the finger.

Oh, what a shame! I can’t help but smile. It looks as if I’m not going to get lucky tonight after all.

Chapter seventy-three

Chapter seventy-three

We polish off three bottles of champagne. Monica will never get all of those through on expenses and I must remember to stump up for one in the morning.

I’m not in a great mood. I’ve been hanging around on the fringes of my friends’ conversations, but it was obvious that they weren’t planning to give up available men that easily. I amused myself by plodding my way through rather too many glasses of fizz to numb my pain, before excusing myself and heading home alone.