It’s Now or Never

by Carole Matthews

  Chapter 65

  The early part of the week has passed without event. It has also passed without Greg and me resolving our differences or me having raised any more money for my trip.

  Still, I don’t want to think of any of that now. Tonight my mind will be filled with nothing but thoughts of fun.

  Lauren and I are going to this utterly fabulous Party Party event later this evening and I just can’t wait. My knees might even be shaking a bit.

  This is the first time I’ve ever been invited to attend one of our company’s dos and it looks like this is going to be lavish beyond my expectations. The only flash parties that I’ve ever attended have been at Chelsea’s behest, and it’s nice to have a marvellous affair to go to that’s all down to my own efforts.

  Tonight’s bash is the launch of a new ready-blended cocktail called Totally Tropical. An intoxicating blend of warm Amaretto, smooth cherry brandy, zesty lime and the sweetness of pineapple juices created on the island of Hawaii that’ll make you think of long, hot days beneath the Caribbean sun and soft, sultry nights beneath the Caribbean stars. All that from a drink, eh?

  It sounds a bit sickly for my taste, but I’m sure that if I get to sample enough of it then I’ll become a convert.

  The party’s being held on an enormous boat, a river cruiser on the Thames, and there’s a guest-list of over 200 people and a seemingly unlimited budget. I feel like clapping my hands in glee. All the costumes and props have been packed into a lorry and sent down earlier in the day – I could just about see from the reception windows as a veritable forest of palm trees was loaded into the back.

  Now, at four o’clock, a mini-bus pulls up outside for the staff and we all pile inside, chattering excitedly. I sit next to Minny at the front.

  ‘Wow,’ she says. ‘You look amazing, Annie.’

  ‘Thanks.’ A warm glow goes through me.

  ‘New dress?’

  ‘Yes.’ I have to confess that I slipped out of work at lunchtime to have my hair done and, shame on me, I couldn’t resist a flirty little number with a tropical design which I thought would be perfect for this evening. My credit card was less impressed and the dress will have to be hidden at the back of the wardrobe as Greg would have a fit if he knew. But it’s so rarely that I get the chance to go to anything like this that I really wanted to look the part and enjoy it to the full.

  The bus sets off and we’re heading towards the M1 and the bright lights of London. Someone has put a CD of sunshine hits in the player to get us in the mood. Lauren is joining us down there at the dockside and I’m sure she’ll be surprised to see me looking so spruce. As I sing along to ‘Club Tropicana Beach’, I’m trying to convince myself that I haven’t just done this to try to impress Blake Chadwick.

  He’s already down at the boat and has been since early this morning, along with several members of Party Party staff who are setting up the event. I haven’t seen BC that much this week since our lunch on Sunday, so I’m not sure how things lie between us. Nothing was said, or anything like that. Don’t get me wrong. There was no impropriety at all. Though BC did give me a peck on the cheek as I left him back at the car park that might have lingered a little too long.

  As he left this morning, he did say, ‘See you tonight.’ And then he winked at me. My stomach swirls with nerves at the thought of it.

  What will I do if he wants to . . . progress . . . things this evening? Is that his ulterior motive for inviting me? I guess that I’ll have my sister there to look out for me and prevent any mischief from happening. I don’t even know how I can be thinking like this. Greg and I have been happy for so many years. I’ve never looked at another man in this way before. I’ve never looked at another man and thought, What if? What if I wasn’t married, what if he wants me to kiss him, what if he wants us to be together?

  I realise that Minny is talking to me and pull myself back to the present.

  ‘How’s the fundraising going, Annie?’

  ‘Great,’ I say. ‘My sister and I have been washing cars at the weekend dressed as Bunny Girls.’

  ‘Fabulous,’ she cries. ‘And at your age!’

  ‘Yes.’ Has Minny been talking to my husband? I wonder.

  Relations are still very strained between Greg and me, and I wonder if we’ll ever get back to the way we were. Then I wonder if I would ever want to.

  Chapter 66

  Zak had been cool with her for a couple of days. And it bothered her. Lauren didn’t want to lose his friendship. He’d been really good to her, particularly over the last few months, and she realised that you could push a friendship too far – even a good one.

  She vowed to make amends, so at lunchtime she wandered over to Zak’s desk. ‘Come for a sandwich with me?’ she said. ‘My treat.’

  Zak looked up from his computer. ‘Jude not available?’

  Her lover was busy in his office.

  ‘That’s not the only reason I wanted to see you, Zak,’ she said, stung. Although he’d had every right to bowl a low one at her. ‘I felt bad about Sunday and I wanted to hear how it went.’

  Her friend sighed. ‘One of the reasons I’m cranky is that I still have a monumental hangover.’

  ‘Three days later?’

  ‘The Monopoly board is a lot bigger than you think.’

  She laughed at that and Zak managed a smile. ‘And the other reason you’re cranky?’ she asked.

  ‘You missed a monumental event,’ Zak said. ‘And I nearly did too.’ He ran his hand through his hair in an exasperated way. ‘When you decided not to come, I thought about not going either. Then I realised that I was doing exactly what you do with Jude. I was going to hang around and wait to see if you called again, had changed your mind. I don’t want to be like that, Lauren. I don’t want to miss out on life while I wait around for the pleasure of your company.’

  She sat down heavily on the edge of his desk. ‘I had no idea that you felt like that.’

  Zak shrugged. ‘Well, now you do.’

  ‘Does that mean you don’t want ham and mayo on granary with me?’

  ‘I think it’s best if I don’t see you,’ Zak said. ‘Other than in the office. It’s just too . . . difficult.’

  ‘But we’re mates,’ she insisted. ‘We should talk about this. I don’t want to lose your friendship.’

  ‘And I’m not sure that I want to be one of your friends, Lauren.’ He looked at her sadly. ‘You don’t treat them very well.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Zak. I hope that you’ll reconsider.’

  He shook his head. ‘I need to get out, start dating again. See other people.’

  ‘I’ve never stopped you from doing that,’ she said.

  ‘No.’ He sighed. ‘I stopped myself.’ His eyes returned to his computer screen. ‘I’m busy, Lauren. I should get on.’

  ‘I hope that you find someone wonderful out there.’

  ‘And I hope that you won’t wait around for Jude for ever,’ Zak said. ‘But I think that we’ll both be disappointed.’

  ‘He loves me,’ Lauren heard herself say. ‘It’s not like you think it is.’

  ‘Whatever.’ Zak turned back to his computer. ‘I won’t call you again, Lauren.’

  ‘But—’ Then she stopped. What could she say to him? In so many ways he was right. Her shoulders drooped and she walked away from his desk.

  In his office, Jude was also tapping away at his computer. Lauren popped her head round the door. ‘Lunch?’

  ‘Can’t.’ Jude barely looked up. ‘Busy.’

  ‘Don’t forget I’m leaving early tonight,’ she said. ‘I’ve got that party with Annie.’

  ‘Oh. Right. Have a great time.’

  She wondered if she could sneak Jude on to the guest-list too. There were bound to be some spare invitations kicking around. There always were at that kind of thing. ‘You don’t fancy coming along, do you?’

  Jude shook his head. Finally, he looked up at her. ‘I’m stacked out,’ he said, raising his hands at hi
s computer. ‘I’ll be burning the midnight oil here.’

  ‘Another time,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah,’ but his attention had already drifted away from her.

  So lunch alone it was, Lauren thought miserably. She couldn’t wait to get out of this place. Tonight she was going to make sure that she had a thoroughly splendid time!

  Chapter 67

  Lauren is already waiting on the jetty when we pull up in the mini-bus. All the staff burst out, exuberant after a rousing chorus of ‘Caribbean Queen’. The pontoon has been strung with colourful lights and the enormous shiny white boat that’s moored there looks very luxurious. There’s a hive of industry with people rushing up and down the gangway taking packages on board. I’m almost beside myself with joy.

  I rush over and hug my sister. ‘I’m so excited,’ I tell her. ‘I’ve been looking forward to this for days.’

  ‘Me too,’ Lauren agrees. ‘I need something to cheer me up.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Usual,’ she says dismissively, then holds up her hands. ‘But I’m not going to talk about any of my problems. Tonight, I’m going to forget all about Jude and have some fun.’

  ‘Spoken like the sister I know and love.’

  ‘You look great,’ Lauren says. ‘We are so shaggable. Let’s go and find two unsuspecting men and give them hell.’

  ‘Why not?’ But I don’t tell my sister that I already have my beady eye on one particular man.

  So we link arms and follow the rest of my colleagues up the gangway and on to the boat.

  When we enter the main salon, the sight that greets me nearly takes my breath away. A tropical jungle has been created on board. The palm trees that I saw being loaded on to the lorry this morning are all in situ and, at one end of the huge room, there’s a silver sand beach where a steel band are warming up for the evening. A bar has been created in the style of a beach hut and already the glasses are lined up waiting to dispense shots of Totally Tropical.

  ‘This looks amazing,’ Lauren says, and I’m so proud that my company has created this breathtaking tropical island.

  Waiters in Hawaiian shirts are starting to drift in with trays of exotically colourful canapés. Young and impossibly slender nubile women dressed in skimpy straw hula skirts and flower leis bring more food.

  ‘I can’t wait to get stuck in,’ I say to my sister.

  ‘Me too,’ she says and, to start the ball rolling, she picks up two shot glasses and we down them.

  ‘To us,’ I toast belatedly.

  ‘To us,’ my sister agrees, and picks up another two glasses.

  Blake Chadwick approaches us, grinning. ‘Hey,’ he says. ‘No drinking on duty.’

  We laugh at that.

  He sweeps an arm round the room. ‘How do you think it looks?’

  ‘Marvellous.’ I’m a little too breathy when I reply. ‘Is this all your handiwork?’

  His smile widens. ‘Modesty prevents me.’

  ‘I’ve never been to anything quite like this before,’ I say. ‘Thanks for asking us.’

  ‘No worries.’ BC shrugs away my thanks. ‘Later, there are hula dancers and a couple doing limbo. It’ll be a blast.’ My boss checks his watch. ‘You’ve got about fifteen minutes to get into your costumes.’

  There’s an abrupt screech in my head. Costumes?

  ‘Minny’s in charge of them,’ he continues. ‘She’s at the back of the boat – in the stern. They’re going fast though.’

  Lauren gives me the blackest of black looks. When I say nothing, she nudges me in the ribs. Hard.

  ‘Costumes?’ I venture.

  ‘All hands to the pumps,’ Blake says briskly, and claps his hands in a manner that says he means business.

  ‘You wanted us here to work?’ My voice is small and uncertain and very disappointed.

  BC stares at me, then bangs his forehead with the heel of his hand. ‘Oh God,’ he says. ‘You thought you were here as a guest?’

  My cheeks flush with embarrassment.

  ‘That’s why you’re all dressed up like that?’

  I look down at my beautiful new sunshine island dress. I’m so humiliated that I can’t speak. Lauren looks like she’s about to clobber me.

  ‘I feel terrible,’ Blake says. ‘This is such a big event that we needed everyone’s help. I’m really sorry, Annie. I don’t know how this misunderstanding happened.’

  I do, I think. It was me being stupid, silly, optimistic. ‘Can’t you manage without us?’

  My boss sucks in a breath. ‘’Fraid not. You don’t mind, do you?’

  ‘No, no.’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ Lauren mouths behind his back.

  ‘We’ll go and get our costumes then,’ I say miserably.

  ‘Good girl,’ Blake says, and claps me on the shoulder before striding away to attend to something else.

  ‘This is the last time I’m ever coming out with you,’ Lauren says when he’s gone.

  ‘I’m sorry, Lauren.’ My spirits are in my strappy shoes. ‘I had no idea. I don’t know how I can have got it so wrong.’

  ‘Bloody men,’ Lauren mutters.

  ‘It won’t be so bad.’

  ‘They’d better be paying us.’

  ‘I’m sure they will,’ I assure her. ‘And we can still have fun.’ I put my arm round my sister and steer her in the direction of the stern and the costumes that await us. ‘Wait and see.’

  Chapter 68

  ‘Ooo,’ Minny says when she sees us. ‘I was starting to get in a panic. I didn’t know where you were.’

  ‘There was a slight misunderstanding,’ I tell her. ‘I didn’t realise we were working.’

  ‘Oh no.’ Minny’s face is full of pity. ‘That’s why you had your hair done and bought a new dress.’

  Yes, I think. Don’t need reminding of that one.

  ‘All the hula outfits have gone now,’ she says regretfully.

  I laugh at that. ‘Not sure that I’d have wanted to show so much skin.’

  ‘Oh, the costumes that are left won’t show any skin,’ my little friend assures us. ‘You don’t need to worry about that.’

  ‘Thank goodness!’

  ‘I’ll get them,’ Minny says, and she totters off to the far side of the room. After a moment, she shouts, ‘Perhaps it would be easier if you came over here.’

  Lauren and I exchange a puzzled glance, but do as we’re told and go over to where Minny is.

  I gasp, loud and involuntarily, when I see what she’s holding up.

  ‘No,’ I say. ‘No way.’

  ‘It’s all that’s left,’ Minny tells us. ‘Besides, they’re great.’

  ‘You wear one then,’ I challenge.

  She looks shifty at that. ‘BC wants me doing other stuff.’

  ‘I’m not wearing that,’ Lauren chips in.

  ‘Please,’ Minny begs. ‘Pretty please. The customer has paid a fortune for these and there’s no one else left to do it.’

  Out of the window I can see stilt-walkers entertaining the guests who are streaming up the gangway and on to the boat. They’re all wearing summery, tropical clothing.

  ‘I’m out of here now,’ Lauren says.

  ‘Wait, wait.’ I pull my sister to one side out of Minny’s earshot. ‘If I refuse to do this, it could cost me my job.’

  ‘They can’t sack you for not wanting to dress up in a hideous costume,’ Lauren points out.

  ‘But suppose I get a name for being difficult – it might make things uncomfortable for me on our trip to Peru.’ I tut – which doesn’t go anywhere close to expressing my frustration. Not within ten miles of it. ‘Do it,’ I urge Lauren. ‘Please do it. For me.’

  She sighs unhappily. ‘For you,’ she says. ‘I’ll do it only for you.’

  I turn back to Minny. ‘Okay,’ I tell her. ‘We’ll do it.’

  And, with that, she hands us two big orange plastic pineapple costumes.

  Chapter 69

  Lauren and I regard oursel
ves in the full-length mirror which Minny has brought along, then wish we hadn’t. Dearly wish we hadn’t.

  ‘Fucking hell,’ Lauren puffs out with feeling.

  I couldn’t agree more.

  Our outfits are beyond awful, beyond hideous, beyond a joke. My lovely dress is on a hanger beside me, looking forlorn. My new hairdo is squashed flat.

  ‘Whatever they’re paying us,’ my sister snarls, ‘it isn’t enough.’

  The pineapple costumes fit tightly round our neck and then the rigid plastic goes right down to our knees. It’s like trying to walk while encased in a great big orange barrel. Beyond that there are thick beige tights like surgical stockings. My strappy shoes look ridiculous at the end of them – if I could actually look more ridiculous than I do already.

  On our heads we have a sprout of green plastic leaves like a pineapple top, held on by strong elastic under our chins. In no way, shape or form is this a good look. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

  We can poke our arms out of the sides of the pineapple, but moving them about is another matter. Minny hands us orange gloves and we reluctantly pull them on for each other.

  ‘You owe me for this,’ my sister snarls as I yank her glove in place. ‘Big time. I don’t know what and I don’t know when, but you will pay me back for this.’

  ‘I will,’ I promise. ‘I’m so sorry, Lauren.’ Misery is raining down on me. ‘And I thought we were going to have such fun tonight.’

  ‘You thought you’d be snogging Lover Boy under the swaying palms,’ she huffs.

  It’s better to say nothing.

  On cue, BC appears. ‘Ladies, ladies,’ he says, rubbing his hands. ‘You look fab-u-lous!’

  We don’t.

  ‘You’re needed in the main room,’ he continues. ‘Chop, chop.’

  Lauren and I shuffle towards the door. ‘I’d like to bloody well chop, chop him,’ my sister mutters darkly.

  I want to cry. And when I find that we can barely squeeze through the doors, I want to cry more. Lauren pushes while I pull and then, like a cork out of a bottle, we both shoot out.

  The boat is already in the middle of the Thames and, even with a slight sway, it’s hard to stay upright in these damn suits. We shuffle into the palm-treed paradise, both grumbling in a manner that’s probably not fitting for a pineapple – which is generally, I would assume, considered an inoffensive fruit.