Unforgettable Embrace (2 page)

I can spend all my money on shoes now, she reflected to herself as she began to bin the last few of Anthony's half-empty toiletries in the bathroom, replacing his shelf with her myriad collection of bath oils and perfumes.

I wonder what sort of shelves Ikea has in stock, she daydreamed. Ikea was like storage heaven for Rachel. She spent hours browsing through their catalogue and imagining various wardrobe and cupboard combinations in her apartment.

She was a bit of a DIY enthusiast and really enjoyed putting flat pack furniture together. Tony was hopeless at DIY. It was the one thing he wasn't remotely good at and had no interest in whatsoever. He couldn't even fix the aerial on the portable television!

Rachel owned all the tools and DIY sets-in pink, of course. “I'm glad they're in pink,” Tony had often joked, “otherwise I might start to feel like your bitch, especially when you strap on your tool belt.”

The shrill ringing of her mobile phone woke her from her pleasant reverie. It was Jenna Price, her best friend calling.

“
Hey, Jen,” Rachel smiled down the phone.

“
Rachel! My love, have you done it? Is the mission accomplished?”

Jen had a very excitable way of talking, and tended to talk in military terms sometimes. It was an odd habit that she'd picked up from an ex-boyfriend, and which highly amused Rachel.

She was an enthusiastic person by nature, but never more so than when talking to her friends. Jen chose her friends carefully as she considered her friends to be her chosen family. She'd had a difficult childhood.

Her mother was an alcoholic and her father couldn't cope with raising children on his own, so Jen had been fostered by several families when she was growing up. She said that she never felt like she belonged with anyone, when she was growing up, but that her friends were the constant relationship in her life.

Rachel and Jen had known each other since their first day at school. Jen would always say that she couldn't pick her family, but she could certainly choose her friends, whom she loved dearly and chose wisely.

“
Yes, the mission has been accomplished Jen,” Rachel replied, feeling a bit like a character in a James Bond film.

“
Excellent,” Jen enthused, “now we can become partners in crime on the singles dating scene.”

“
I'd like some time just to enjoy being by myself for
a while,” Rachel responded. “I haven't been alone since Anthony and I first started dating when we were sixteen.”

“
Hmm, that is a long time to be with the same person,” Jen agreed. “What is it the experts say-you need one month to recover for every year you've been in a relationship, which means fourteen months for you.”

“
Actually,” Rachel interrupted, “I read in a magazine last month that it's half the time you were in a relationship, so I might need to be alone for seven years.”

“
Forget that!” Jen exclaimed, “you don't want to take too long before you get back out there, after all, you're not getting any younger.”

“
That's the second time someone has said that to me today,” Rachel was starting to get a touch irritated. “Are people trying to tell me something? Do I need to start slapping on the anti-ageing creams?”

“
Now, now, Rachel, my love, you're as gorgeous as ever. I'm just saying that there's a whole world of men out there to explore and you don't want all your gorgeousness to go to waste now do you?” Jen coaxed.

“
I suppose not,” Rachel conceded.

“
OK, I'll give you a week to get to know yourself and then we're going out dancing next weekend,” Jen said in her usual incorrigible manner. “Anyway, must dash, darling, another date lined up for this evening. So many men, so little time.”

Rachel poured herself a glass of red wine and sank into the soft leather sofa. She could feel the stresses of the day slowly evaporating with each languorous sip. She was relieved, but also a little sad, that it was well and truly finished with Anthony. She raised her glass in the air and made a somewhat half-h
earted toast aloud to herself “to me and my future.”

Chapter 2

The bright spring sun streaming through the curtains woke Rachel earlier than usual. Please let it be Saturday morning, she willed, as she groggily reached across her bedside locker to check the time on the alarm clock. Nobody should be awake at this ungodly hour, she thought wearily, half past five on a Friday morning i.e. another work day loomed ahead. She contemplated calling in sick but would have felt like a raging alcoholic if she did.

She was still feeling the effects of the red wine from the night before. She'd managed to drink the entire bottle, and had tumbled into bed very tipsy. She was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open, and the glaring sun wasn't helping the hangover headache which was just starting.

I can't believe I have to drag myself out of bed and into work in this condition, she thought, as she rolled from under the covers to sit carefully at the edge of the bed. She surveyed her bedroom, with one eye open. Slowly, she opened both eyes and tentatively stood up. The room was spinning a little.

Note to self, no more drinking on a work night, she scolded herself as she made her way to the kitchen. Coffee, I need coffee, very strong and very hot.

She shivered as she gathered her fluffy pink bathrobe around herself. She cranked the heating up several notches, filled the kettle and poured several spoons of coffee into her biggest mug. She sat at the kitchen table inhaling the strong aroma of the coffee beans, hoping they would clear the fog which enveloped her brain.

The thought of food made her feel slightly nauseous, so she decided to just stick with the coffee.

So much for today being the first day of the rest of your life, she thought to herself, nothing like starting the rest of your life with a raging hangover. Pull yourself together, woman, and get in the shower.

Rachel was glad that Tony had insisted on installing a top of the range power shower. All the weeks of listening to him rambling on about this model versus the features in another model had been worth it, she thought as the water beat down on her tired body. They'd spent several tedious Saturdays trawling around hardware shops, trying to find the perfect model.

Rachel didn't care as
long as it had hot water and worked, but Tony was almost obsessed with finding the best.

She couldn't believe the difference between their old trickle of a shower and the new power range version. It was on mornings like this that she really appreciated the force of the water to wake her up.

The combination of hot water and citrus shower gel was beginning to energise her and clear her head slightly.

She surveyed the clothes in her wardrobe and decided to wear something different to her usual style. Usually, she dressed for comfort rather than style, but today she felt like trying something new, so after a search around the back of her wardrobe she discovered a tight-fitting black A-line pencil skirt, a white blouse with some funky cuff links and her highest stiletto heels.

She meticulously straightened her long brown hair and left it loose, instead of tying it up in her usual bun or ponytail. She spritzed herself with her favourite perfume, Aqua di Gio, grabbed her handbag and headed out the door for work, with a definite spring in her step.

Rachel was quite pleased and a touch surprised at the appraising looks she received at the bus stop as she waited for the bus to work. She always got the bus to work as it picked her up just across the road from her apartment and dropped her outside her office block, right in the centre of the city. It just wasn't worth the stress driving through the morning and evening traffic jams, when she could jump on board and listen to her IPod all the way to work.

Rachel worked at Sherrington Resorts, a multinational call-centre, which made international hotel reservations for Sherrington's hotels and hol
iday resorts world-wide. She was supervisor of the French team, which comprised seven team members. It was her job to organise holidays, monitor telephone calls and train the team on how to upsell hotel rooms. She also had various reports which she had to produce on a monthly basis for senior management, but all in all it was a job which she very much enjoyed.

By 8.30am she
was sitting at her desk, reading through her emails, and setting up her plan of work for the day. She had several meetings in the morning but had a two hour free period in the early afternoon.

Usually, she would meet Anthony for lunch. Today would be her first day eating alone. She felt a little pang, and a little lost, but she quickly brushed the feelings aside.

This is your life now, she reminded herself, embrace it. No more, what would
we
like to do for lunch, now it's what would
I
like to do for lunch?

She couldn't think of anything she particularly wanted to do. All she could think about was how attached she had been to Anthony. She wondered if he was feeling the same withdrawal symptoms as her.

You need to make some new habits of your own, she told herself. She'd read somewhere that it takes six weeks to break an old habit and replace it with a new one.

She decided to throw herself into work-related matters for the rest of the morning, in an effort to stop her mind obsessing over what she would do for lunch.

The morning flew by, and her 12.30pm to 2.30pm lunch period loomed ahead of Rachel. She contemplated working through the two hours but decided that she had better start as she meant to go on and start embracing her single life with all its ups and downs. She had been so focused on the ups of being single that she'd neglected to take into account the downs.

She contemplated joining her work colleagues for lunch in the canteen, but she didn't think she could face it in her current maudlin mood.

She picked up her bag and made her way into town. She walked by her and Anthony's usual lunch-time haunt and briefly glanced inside. She was surprised to spot Anthony sitting at a table by the window.

She waved hesitantly at him. He nodded curtly and turned back to his companion, with whom he was having a very animated conversation. Her heart sank at his reaction, and she had to remind herself that it was she who had broken up with him.

House of Fraser loomed welcomingly across the road and Rachel scuttled hurriedly inside. She breathed a sigh of relief to be in the luxurious safety of her favourite shop, away from the busy lunch-time crowds outside, and the mean glares of her ex-boyfriend. They were having a fifty per cent discount across the store.

Rachel felt her mood suddenly lighten as she made her way to the shoe section. It wasn't long until she spotted her Louboutins, specifically the Louboutin “Miss 120”, an absolutely divine ankle boot, covered in the softest black suede.
The new love of my life, she thought adoringly.

“
Do you need any help, madam?” the sales assistant asked Rachel politely.

“
I'd like to try these in a size five please.”

“
Certainly, madam, I won't be a moment.
”

The sales assistant scurried away and very quickly returned with the most beautiful shoes Rachel had ever seen. She shook slightly as she slipped her foot tenderly into them.

“
They're a perfect fit,” Rachel murmured.

“
They suit you,” the sales assistant smiled encouragingly at her, no doubt thinking of the commission she could earn.

Rachel paraded up and down in front of the mirror. The shoes made her look and feel so elegant.

“
They are stunning on you,” the sales assistant smiled.

“
Completely irresistible,” Rachel sighed, as she admired the shoes longingly. “Is there any discount on the Louboutins in the sale?”

“
Unfortunately not,” the sales assistant responded, “but there is a ten per cent discount if you sign up to the House of Fraser store card.”

“
What if I sign up to ten store cards, does that mean I get a hundred per cent discount?” Rachel joked.

“
Hmm, not quite,” was the indulgent response. “They are a timeless shoe,” the sales assistant enthused, “a classic.”

“
Yes, but with a price tag to match it,” Rachel sighed. Reluctantly she removed the Louboutins from her feet and placed them lovingly back in their box.

“
Would you like to try any other shoes?” the sales assistant asked kindly.

“
No, I'll take the Louboutins,” Rachel couldn't believe what she was saying. Even the sales assistant looked taken aback.

“
You'll take them?” she asked incredulously. “Yes and please hurry, before I come to my senses,” Rachel replied.

She handed over her credit card, punched in her pin number and before she knew it she was walking out of the shop, the very proud owner of her first pair of Louboutins. That was painless enough, she thought to herself, blocking out the massive dent in her finances, as she floated up the high street and made her way back to work.

She couldn't resist peeping into the box several times that afternoon to examine her purchase. “I deserve some extravagance in my life,” she justified to herself. She couldn't wait for Friday night to show the girls her new loves.