Unforgettable Embrace (36 page)

"Oh, you remember last night, do you?" Jen asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, course I do," Rachel said, unsurely. "I remember you lot not wanting to dance with me but I went and danced anyway."

"Do you remember anything else?" Holly asked her sister carefully, as she straightened her hair.

"I think Scott was there and we had a few dances together."

"More than a few dances," Liz muttered.

"Pardon?" Rachel asked, starting to panic a little. "What's that supposed to mean exactly?" "You two were snogging the faces off each other for most of the night," Holly continued.

"What? No way!" her sister slithered back down under the duvet, covering her head with the pillow. "Are you sure?" she mumbled eventually from under the covers.

"Yes!" all three said in unison. Rachel lay there for some minutes trying desperately to recall her antics of the previous night. She couldn't for the life of her recall kissing Scott. She thought she'd only danced with him.

"Get up! We have to be at the airport by one o' clock and we have a two hour drive before we get there." Holly yelled, pulling the duvet unceremoniously off her sister.

"Ok, ok," Rachel stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom. She was horrified at the state of her reflection in the mirror. She hadn't taken her makeup off from the night before and her bronzer and foundation had worn off in patchy, brown circles on her face. She had big black panda eyes from her smudged mascara and her hair was a tangled bush that was standing up in all directions.

She could barely open her eyes as her eyelashes were almost stuck together and were very bloodshot. An ugly red pimple was developing on her chin and all in all she looked like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. She turned the shower on to full power and let the hot water run over her hair and body for a few minutes. She felt a little better from the steam and shower gel. She almost fell over when she tried to dry in between her toes. Still drunk from last night, she thought miserably.

Liz had taken pity on her and had gone to get her some coffee and toast. Jen found some painkillers in her handbag, and Holly gave her a big bottle of water to sip.

"What came over you?" her sister asked. "I've never seen you behave so badly before."

"I know it's no excuse but I was very upset about Batt's text and I drank way too much to try to forget about him."

"Are you going to tell Batt about your shenanigans last night?" Liz asked.

"I can't even remember my shenanigans, let alone tell him about them," Rachel said curtly, taking a long sip of the strong black coffee. She felt too sick with her hangover to eat the toast and had to stop after a few bites.

"The painkillers should kick in shortly," Jen said, "you should start to feel a little better then." "I hope so," Rachel sighed, downing the tablets in one gulp.

Rachel thought the drive to the airport was never going to end. They had to stop the car twice for her to throw up at the side of the road. Every bump and twist made her stomach heave. Finally, they arrived at their destination. Rachel had never been so happy to see an air hostess in her life. Her friends had been very short with her all morning, so it was good to have someone be pleasant to her. They sat in the departures lounge in relative silence until their flight was called for boarding.

"You better not puke on me," Holly warned her sister, as made their way to their seats.

"Oh, get over it already," Rachel said, getting annoyed with her sister's attitude.

"I will not get over it," Holly said, "and you can lose your tone. You've ruined a perfectly nice weekend with your dramatics."

"I wouldn't go that far, Holly," Jen said, feeling a bit sorry for Rachel. "It was only a few hours last night, and in fairness she was very upset, other than that I had a brilliant time."

"I don't care," Holly said, "I'm tired of her always wanting to be the centre of attention."

"I do not always want to be the centre of attention," Rachel protested, su
ddenly finding her voice again.

"Will you two keep your voices down please
!" Liz hissed at her friends. “People are starting to stare."

"Who cares?" Rachel hissed back, "you're always so concerned about what everyone else thinks. If people want to listen then let them listen, if their lives are that boring then I hope they find us very entertaining."

"Oh, get over yourself, Rachel, honestly," Liz said, raising her voice now herself.

"Right, that's enough from you three," Jen said, "if you lot don't pipe down we'll be removed from the 'plane and that definitely wouldn't be a very pleasant way to end our weekend."

"Fine," the three girls said in unison, before proceeding to ignore each other for the rest of their flight.

"Twenty minutes to landing," the pilot's voice announced over the intercom system.

"Thank goodness for that," Holly said, "the sooner we land, the sooner this fiasco can end." "Not really," Rachel responded, "you three are staying with me tonight, remember?"

"No, actually, I've just decided to drive back to Cork tonight," Holly said, "and Liz and Jen are more than welcome to get a lift with me if they like."

"Suits me just fine," Rachel sniffed. "You're not welcome anyway, Holly."

"I'd like to stay tonight, Rach, if that's still ok," Jen said, "I really can't face the thought of driving all the way home after flying."

"Fine," Rachel said shortly. "I think I'll go back to Cork with Holly," Liz said.

"Good, more room for us," Rachel replied, not making any sense. Jen looked at her quizzically but thought it best not to say anything else to wind her friend up.

They made their way through passport control and arrivals in relative silence. Holly and Liz got into Holly's car, barely saying goodbye as they left and Jen and Rachel drove away in Rachel's car.

"Are you ok?" Jen asked her friend as they drove back to Rachel's house.

"Never better," she responded shortly. "Well, there's no need for sarcasm."

"Can we just be quiet for a while please, Jen? I'm not in the mood for another argument today. It seems like I've fallen out with just about everybody and I'd rather not start fighting with you too."

"Ok," Jen said, sitting back in her seat and closing her eyes.

They drove the rest of the journey without speaking another word to each other, their silence only broken by the hum of the radio.

Chapter 50

Jen left early the following morning. She'd tried talking to Rachel the previous night but she had rebuffed her attempts at conversation. The two friends hugged goodbye.

"I am sorry for my behaviour," Rachel apologised to her frien
d.

“
I
really hope I didn't ruin your hen party."

"You didn't ruin anything," Jen said kindly, "I had a ball, so thank you. Promise me you'll call me if you need anything."

"I promise," Rachel said, hugging her friend even tighter. She waved Jen goodbye as she drove away.

Rachel closed her front door softly behind her and heaved a deep sigh. It was at moments like this that she was glad she lived alone. She made herself a cup of sweet tea, threw another log on the fire and pulled her armchair closer to it, savouring the heat from the roaring flames. She thought about the weekend that had just passed and she did feel ashamed of her drunken behaviour. She couldn't remember most of it. She vaguely recalled kissing Scott and dancing wildly, but that was about it. She felt her cheeks burn a little in embarrassment because she knew how outrageous her behaviour could be when she'd had too much to drink. She decided to text apologies to Liz and Holly and see if Batt had bothered to text her yet.

She hadn't switched her phone on in a few days so she expected to have several messages waiting for her. She had a text from Scott telling her how much he'd enjoyed their dance together and how he wished it could have been more. She cringed at the memory. What was I thinking? She sighed to herself, I didn't even really fancy him. She jumped when she saw a text from Batt beep on her phone. She couldn't open the message fast enough, all thoughts of Scott forgotten.

"Hi darling," she read, "sorry about that text I sent you in French, that was for my daughter. I haven't been in touch with you because I was in the mountains, bird-watching, and didn't have any reception. I hope you had a good weekend. Let me know when you are free and I'll pop over to see you. I love you and miss you loads xxx."

Rachel read his text several times. He was texting his daughter, she thought, her heart sinking. Oh no, trust me to jump to the wrong conclusion. Now I have to tell him that I kissed someone else. What's he going to think of me? She decided to ignore his text for now, not knowing how to respond to it. There was no way that she wanted to see him until she got her head straight.

He would know immediately just by looking at her that she was guilty of something if he saw her face any time soon. She started to panic at the thought of losing Batt for a stupid meaningless kiss with a stranger who she didn't even find particularly attractive.

She turned on the television in an attempt to distract herself from her churning mind. She wanted to call her friends to discuss her situation but she figured she'd bothered them enough for one weekend without annoying them again. Do I really try to make myself the centre of attention, like Holly said? She asked herself. I hope not. Her mind raced for most of the morning. She didn't know whether or not she should tell Batt about the kiss, after all it was just a kiss, nothing else. She tried to convince herself, but she didn't think Batt would be very impressed with her behaviour.

She admitted to herself that if he confessed to kissing a woman, stranger or no stranger, that she would feel very disappointed and let down. She also knew that she wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of not telling him what she'd done, so she knew she'd have to tell him eventually. Not yet, she thought to herself, I will tell him, just not yet. I need to stop thinking about it, she told herself, I need to stop analysing the situation.

She decided to get busy as it was the only way she could keep her mind off the kiss and Batt. She wasn't due back at work until the following morning but she decided to pop in to the shop there and then as she couldn't stand being stuck in the house all alone with her own thoughts any longer. She walked along the sea road to work, hoping the fresh air and waves would clear her head. It was good to be outside in the sun. She started to feel a little calmer.

"Hi Rachel," Helen, her sales assistant looked up in surprise as she pushed the door open.

"Hi Helen," Rachel smiled weakly at her. "How has business been in my absence? Any dramas?"

"Everything's been fine," Helen said, "lots of orders coming in which I've written in the diary for you to have a look at, but there haven't been any dramas. Busy, but I managed."

"Thanks so much, Helen," Rachel said gratefully, "I knew I could count on you."

"Anytime," Helen smiled at her boss, before continuing with a rather complicated looking flower arrangement.

Rachel busied herself with the shop diary and reading through her emails. There were even more orders on the computer as well as the usual junk mail. She was glad of the distraction that the shop offered her. She spent several hours pottering about and almost forgot about having to tell Batt about the kiss until Trista came blustering into the shop. Rachel didn't even have to look from her desk to know that Trista had arrived. The heady scent of her perfume announced her entrance ahead of her.

"Rachel, darling, when did you get back?" she asked, swinging into the shop, dressed in head-to-toe winter white.

Rachel was almost dazzled by the brightness of her outfit. She wore a long, floaty cape over a cashmere polo neck jumper and skin tight trousers. Rachel was mesmerised by the four and a half inch high heels she was wearing.

"How do you get around in those shoes?" she asked her friend in wonderment.

"Practice, darling, practice," came Trista's response. "I thought you weren't due back to work until tomorrow, sweetie."

"Technically, I was due back tomorrow but I got a bit bored at home by myself."

"Well, that just won't do at all," Trista tutted, "gather up your belongings my dear, I'm taking you out to dinner and I won't take no for an answer so you can wipe that look right off your face, missy."

"Ok, ok," Rachel laughed in defeat, "give me two minutes."

"I don't mean to sound rude, Trista," Rachel said as they left the shop, "but would you mind dreadfully if we had dinner at yours? I'll pick us up a Chinese on the way, my treat. I honestly don't feel like sitting in the pub for dinner, making small talk with the locals and I don't particularly feel like sitting in my own house for the evening looking at the four walls."

"Not at all, darling, not at all, my house it is then," Trista said lightly. "I'll cook us dinner and you can tell me all about the weekend."

Half an hour later and Trista was opening her front door. She had a lovely home, very elegant but at the same time homey and comfortable. Trista kicked off her heels as she entered the hall and breathed a sigh of relief, instantly looking much shorter.