Never Mind The Botox: Rachel (14 page)

It was a total and utter mess. She decided she needed more time to think.

She was exhausted and starving by the time she met Natalie. ‘I need food and soon, otherwise I might fall over,’ said Rachel.

They grabbed a table in the corner of the restaurant where they ordered a jug of sangria and enough plates of tapas to feed a small army.

‘Tough day?’ Natalie asked.

Rachel thought about telling Natalie all about her Beau Street crisis but decided she needed to keep the ‘do nothing’ option well and truly open and that meant keeping it to herself. At least for now. She did want to talk to Natalie about Rowan and Shali, though, which suddenly seemed almost like light relief.

‘Yeah, not the best. We’re right up against it with this reporting deadline on Beau Street. I’ve been working late most nights and I guess it’s just catching up with me,’ said Rachel.

‘Have you heard about the summer party “incident”? Apparently the venue has complained.’

‘Yes, I heard; my team told me,’ said Rachel.

‘The whole place is talking about it, trying to work out who it might have been. Most people reckon it was a couple of the new graduates. Young enough to still have the energy and inexperienced enough not to know better,’ said Natalie, laughing.

‘Natalie, I need to tell you something and you have to promise not to say a word to anyone. I mean it, not a word,’ said Rachel.

‘Rachel, you can trust me. We’ve been friends forever!’

‘I know, I know, but just to make it totally clear, this is between you and me only, okay?’

‘Okay, not a word to anyone,’ said Natalie and sat forward in her chair expectantly.

‘I know who the couple are,’ said Rachel.

‘You do?’ Natalie was amazed. ‘How?’

‘I saw them come out of the side room.’

‘Well, come on then. Who was it?’

‘Shali and Rowan,’ said Rachel.

Natalie’s face dropped. ‘You’re joking?’ she asked eventually.

‘I wish I was,’ said Rachel, rubbing her forehead.

‘God, I’m shocked. You could have lined up half the room, in fact nearly all of the room, before I would have got to them.’

‘I couldn’t believe it either. I was bloody livid,’ said Rachel.

‘What about his wife and baby, not to mention the whole happily ever after bit?’

‘Not that this is any excuse but Rowan hasn’t been getting on that well with Laura recently. He thinks that she’s not interested in him since the baby arrived. And Harry got Rowan totally off his face playing stupid drinking games, which didn’t help.’

‘You know there’s going to be an investigation,’ said Natalie.

‘Are you sure?’ Rachel asked. ‘I heard that wasn’t confirmed.’ Rachel was still worried by the prospect. It would hardly help her reputation.

‘You may be right. I don’t think it has been confirmed. That’s just the general view I’ve heard. They could be wrong, though,’ said Natalie. ‘Honestly, trust Shali – what an idiot she is!’

‘Bloody disgrace, more like,’ said Rachel, unable to help herself.

‘Hmm, well, not exactly helpful anyway and pretty careless to get caught, at work of all places.’ Natalie shook her head. ‘What a nightmare for her.’

‘Don’t feel sorry for her!’ said Rachel. ‘She threw herself at Rowan. It serves her right.’

Natalie looked a bit taken aback by the venom in Rachel’s voice. ‘That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? She might have been a bit stupid but she’s a mate of ours, and if they find out who it was they could have her up for unprofessional behaviour. That could be really serious for her.’

‘What about me?’ Rachel asked.

‘What about you?’

‘Well, it will hardly look good for me either. I invited Rowan,’ said Rachel.

‘Oh stop being so ridiculous,’ said Natalie in her typically forthright way. ‘They’re not investigating Rowan; he doesn’t even work for us. And they can hardly blame the person who invited him. That would be total nonsense. It might be a bit embarrassing for you, but no worse than that.’

Yup, never short of opinion, thought Rachel, annoyed by the fact that Natalie hadn’t just agreed with her.

‘I still think Shali should have known better and she is supposed to be my friend and I really don’t need to be caught up in any more scandals. She’s been texting him since, you know. I wouldn’t put it past her to try to keep something going.’

‘Do you think Rowan might want that?’ Natalie asked.

‘No, he told me he definitely didn’t. He wants to work things out with Laura,’ said Rachel.

‘Well, I really wouldn’t worry then, Rach. They just got carried away and it will all blow over pretty quickly.’

‘God, I hope so. I still think Shali should have known that I’d be upset and backed off,’ said Rachel, not ready to let it go.

‘I doubt she was thinking that laterally at the time,’ said Natalie. ‘I really wouldn’t take it so personally. And anyway, what about Rowan − surely he’s equally to blame?’

‘Yes, yes, I know, you’re right. I had a go at Rowan too, told him what an idiot he’d been.’

‘Look, Rachel, I know it’s not great and I can see how upset you are. But I really don’t think that you should fall out with Shali over it. She’s probably going to need our support, not another bollocking.’

Rachel knew that Natalie was probably right and it was much worse for them than for her, but somehow that didn’t make her feel better or any less cross with Shali.

Chapter 11

Rachel was on the way home to help look after Naomi while Rowan took Laura
away for the weekend. She’d spent most of the last couple of days worrying, lurching from decision to decision on what she should do about the ‘cash for anonymity’ situation at Beau Street and about Rowan and Shali. She’d heard from Natalie that the partners had decided to investigate the venue’s complaint about the summer party and had asked anyone with information to come and talk to them, which of course she hadn’t. Harry had even noticed how uptight she was and had kept asking what was wrong. She’d debated whether he really wanted to know or whether he just wanted her to cheer up as it was spoiling his social life. Somehow she feared it was the latter.

Rachel was glad to be getting away, even if it was a weekend of report writing and changing nappies. She’d have plenty of time to think.

She’d arranged with her mum to be home before Rowan and Laura got there so they could get organised. Rowan and Laura were driving down to Bath, dropping off Naomi and then heading on to a country house hotel about forty miles away.

When Rachel arrived at the station she jumped in a cab. Her dad was playing golf and her mum didn’t like driving in the Friday evening traffic.

Her mum was in quite a state when she arrived. ‘Oh darling, I’m so glad you’re here to help me!’ she announced the minute Rachel walked in the door. ‘I’m so worried about getting everything right; you know how fussy Laura is.’

‘Don’t worry, Mum, we’ll be fine.’ Rachel gave her mum a hug. ‘I’m sure we’ll get plenty of instructions and it’s only for a couple of days.’

‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to have Naomi and I hope this will be the first of many little holiday trips here for her. I just want things to go well,’ said Rachel’s mum.

‘We’ll be a great team,’ said Rachel. ‘Now what do we need to do first?’

‘We need to assemble a cot. Laura was worried that Naomi doesn’t settle well in a travel cot, so your dad popped out and got a proper one. He didn’t have time to put it together before he went to golf. Well actually, he probably did, but he was rather grumpy about having to buy a cot at all. I did tell him that it would get plenty of use, but he wasn’t convinced.’

‘Oh, I see,’ said Rachel.

She hadn’t quite expected to be assembling flat-packed furniture. It took them several tries, with quite a bit of swearing and laughing in equal measures, but eventually they got it up.

Rachel’s mum stood back and admired their handiwork. ‘How cute!’ she said. ‘You never know, maybe one day your own children will sleep in this cot. And just for the record, I would like loads of grandchildren.’ She giggled and clapped her hands at the thought.

‘Oh shut up, Mum,’ said Rachel.

‘Oh I’m sorry, darling, I’m just teasing. It’s just so lovely to have you home.’

Rachel looked at the cot and tried to imagine Harry as a father. What a thought! He could barely look after his own house keys, never mind a baby. Rachel had thought a few times that they might get married eventually, but even that seemed a long way away right now. Might she have children in that cot one day? She guessed so, but she had no idea when or who the father would be. Maybe she should have more of a plan by now.

The loud ring of the doorbell broke Rachel’s thoughts.

‘That will be them,’ said her mum, rushing down the stairs to the front door.

Laura came in holding Naomi, who was wrapped in a pristine, white blanket and wearing a pink stripy babygrow. Rowan followed, laden with bags and baby clutter. He dropped what he was carrying in the hall.

‘Don’t shut the door,’ he said to his mum. ‘There’s more stuff still to come in from the car.’

How much stuff could they have? Rachel watched in amazement as the pile in the hall grew. There was a cool box, a suitcase, some sort of carry bag, a bouncy chair, a huge bag of toys, a steamer type thing that Rachel thought might be for bottles and a complicated looking strappy thing that looked like it could be quite a good bondage accessory but was probably a baby carrier. And even then Rowan hadn’t quite finished.

Rachel went down and hugged Laura. ‘Hi, Laura, you look well.’

She meant it. Laura really looked like she’d made an effort. Her neat bob looked newly cut and she was wearing a pretty floral top over jeans and red wedge sandals. The touch of shimmer on the inner corner of her eyes said party make-up rather than tired mummy make-up. Great start, thought Rachel hopefully.

‘Rachel, thanks so much for offering to help. We’re really grateful. I couldn’t believe it when Rowan suggested this weekend away idea. I think he’s a bit more of a romantic than I give him credit for,’ said Laura.

She smiled happily at Rowan, who shrugged and looked understandably slightly embarrassed at the praise. ‘Well, you know, it was about time,’ he said, looking lost for anything more specific to say.

Rachel’s mum took Naomi from Laura. ‘Now, why don’t I go and sit down with Naomi while you go through everything with Rachel. She’s going to be in charge of remembering everything important.’

I am? thought Rachel. Since when?

‘Oh, that’s great. Well done, clever Rachel,’ said Laura in a way that just about managed not to be patronising.

She opened her bag and took out several pages of neatly written notes. It took a full twenty minutes for Laura to brief Rachel. By the end, Rachel’s head was spinning. She had a full timetable of sleep, feed and play times, instructions for dealing with wind, nappy changes and food preparation, and contact telephone numbers set out in order of priority, like a disaster recovery plan. God, it looked exhausting!

‘You have got all that, haven’t you?’ Laura asked, looking slightly concerned by Rachel’s shell-shocked expression.

‘Oh yes, totally, no problem at all. No more complicated than one of my deal timetables,’ Rachel said.

‘Okay, good. Let me just talk you through the food in the cool box, which needs to all go in the freezer. Now, as I was showing you on the timetable, Naomi’s now eating solid food − all homemade, of course. Everything you need is in here.’ She opened the cool box. ‘Each pot is labelled and I’ve added colour coding to the labels so you can see which meal each pot is for − green for breakfast, yellow for lunch and red for tea,’ said Laura.

Rachel peered into the blue and white cool box at the perfect rows of neatly labelled tiny pots of food. It looked impressive.

‘There are defrosting instructions here,’ Laura continued, pulling out yet another sheet of paper from the cool box. ‘Ideally get what you need out of the freezer a few hours before she’s having it. You can use a microwave if you forget, but just be really careful and stir everything well afterwards, as microwaving can leave hot spots.’

‘Okay, right, got it,’ said Rachel. So many potential hazards − what a nightmare!

Eventually Laura and Rowan were ready to go. Laura was close to tears as they said goodbye. ‘Please take care of her,’ she said, kissing Naomi for about the tenth time. ‘Bye, sweetheart. Have fun with Grandma and Aunty Rachel. We’ll be back soon.’

Aunty Rachel. She didn’t like the sound of that at all. But she was quite moved by how upset Laura was. Rachel could see how hard she was finding it to leave and couldn’t help thinking that she’d never felt that strongly about leaving someone. This whole baby thing; she had so much to learn.

‘Of course we will, silly,’ said Rachel, hugging Laura. ‘I’ll text you regular updates, let you know how she is.’

‘Oh would you? Thank you. That would be fantastic,’ said Laura.

‘Come on, let’s go,’ said Rowan, taking Laura’s arm and gently pulling her towards the door.

‘Have a great time and see you on Sunday,’ said Rachel’s mum.