The Desperate Bride’s Diet Club

by Alison Sherlock

  Violet had been told to sit at the head of the table. She didn’t have a hat in front of her. Instead were a pair of bright pink ‘bride-to-be’ boppers, trimmed with feathers and diamanté jewels.

  ‘Wait!’ cried Wendy, grabbing the headband and flicking a small switch underneath.

  The words ‘bride-to-be’ were now flashing on and off.

  ‘Excellent!’ cried Wendy as she plonked it on to Violet’s head.

  But that wasn’t all. There was a matching pink sash, also with flashing lights spelling ‘bride-to-be’. Plus a pair of flashing pink angel wings. And a fluffy pink L-plate. Violet knew even she couldn’t hide in a dark corner in that outfit. She smiled but wished she were at home.

  Everyone ordered their food and then Julie and Wendy began to ask everyone about their weight losses.

  ‘I lost three stone,’ Lucy told them. ‘Wish I’d done it ages ago.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Kathy. ‘It’s like I’ve emerged from a dense fog. I bounce around with an energy that I never knew I could have.’

  ‘That could also be down to having found yourself a hunky boyfriend,’ Maggie told her, nudging her in the side.

  ‘Oooh!’ said Wendy in a loud voice. She had obviously begun hitting the wine early. ‘Hunky boyfriend?’

  ‘He was actually one of our weight-loss group,’ said Maggie, smirking at Kathy. ‘He’s called Edward and he’s lovely.’

  ‘He is,’ said Lucy, nodding.

  ‘As for me,’ said Maggie. ‘I wish I’d lost weight years ago too.’

  ‘If only for the sex life, eh?’ said Kathy, nudging Maggie in the side.

  ‘No!’ screamed Lucy, covering her ears. ‘Not my mum and dad!’

  Everyone giggled.

  ‘So do you just eat rabbit food?’ asked Julie.

  ‘No,’ said Kathy. ‘It’s changing the way I think about food. Every now and then I’ll cook steak and chips. But the steak will be grilled and the chips are healthy too. But I always eat well the next day if I have pigged out.’

  ‘Bet you would kill for a McDonald’s though.’

  ‘I’m not sure I could eat too much greasy stuff these days,’ said Kathy. ‘I don’t think my stomach could take it.’

  Violet watched and listened, enjoying hearing the group sounding so positive.

  Wendy drained her glass of wine and reached for the bottle. ‘You should start your own weight-loss club,’ she said to Violet.

  ‘Humph,’ snorted Julie. ‘Mark would never let her go. He thinks she’s the best thing since sliced bread.’

  Maggie took a sip of wine. ‘Is that the hunky Italian I saw the other week?’

  Wendy nodded as she sloshed the wine into her glass.

  ‘Don’t know about hunky,’ muttered Julie, her eyes lighting up on the chunky, muscly waiter who was handing out plates of pizza. ‘Bit too scrawny for my liking.’

  Kathy glanced across at Violet, who was shuffling in her seat, looking uncomfortable. ‘How many people work in your office?’ she asked.

  ‘About half of them,’ replied Julie, deadpan.

  Wendy snorted with laughter and took another glug of wine. They all took a mouthful of wine as well, if only to try and keep up with Wendy.

  Once the pizzas and desserts had been eaten, Julie brought out a small board game that she had ordered over the internet.

  ‘Truth or Dare,’ she told everyone as another two empty bottles of wine were replaced with full ones.

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Kathy.

  ‘You have to answer the question truthfully or you perform a dare of our choosing.’

  ‘Excellent,’ slurred Wendy, who was now feeling no pain. ‘Me first.’

  Wendy spun the arrow on the wheel in the centre of the board and read out the question it pointed to. ‘Have you ever had sex in a theme park?’ She burst out giggling.

  ‘Well?’ asked Julie.

  Everyone leaned forward in their seats. They couldn’t help it.

  Wendy nodded as she carried on giggling.

  ‘Oh my God!’ cried Julie. ‘Which one?’

  ‘Disneyland Paris,’ sobbed Wendy, now crying with laughter.

  ‘Where?’ asked Lucy, her eyes wide.

  ‘Late at night on It’s a Small World,’ Wendy told them. ‘They’ve banned us from ever going back.’

  Everyone was feeling a bit giggly by now. Except Violet, who was dreading any questions.

  ‘My turn,’ said Lucy, spinning the dial.

  ‘Have you ever been in love?’ read Julie, before looking at Lucy. ‘Well?’

  Lucy shook her head. ‘Nope. Next!’

  Maggie and Kathy exchanged a look. Lucy’s voice had gone far higher than normal.

  Kathy spun the dial. ‘Have you ever been unfaithful? No, not me. Some of the lowlifes I’ve been stuck with over the years but not me. I wouldn’t sink that low.’ She looked at Violet. ‘Your turn.’

  Violet flicked the arrow with her finger and watched it spin before stopping at a question.

  ‘Have you ever thought of someone else whilst having sex?’ read Julie. ‘Probably not, eh?’

  Tears pricked Violet’s eyes as she shook her head. As Julie begun to spin the wheel, Violet excused herself and went to the ladies’.

  She stood in front of the mirror for a long while, watching her accessories blink on and off. Deep in thought, she didn’t hear Maggie come in.

  ‘You all right, love?’ asked Maggie, coming to stand next to her.

  Violet nodded and tried to smile. But it all went wrong and she found herself crying. Maggie swept her into a hug.

  ‘It’s the boss, isn’t it? Your Italian?’

  Violet’s sobs began to subside. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered, wiping the mascara away from under her eyes.

  ‘Nothing to apologise for,’ Maggie told her. ‘You’re in love with this guy, aren’t you?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ sighed Violet. ‘He seems to have got under my skin and I can’t stop thinking about him.’

  Maggie looked at her. ‘What about Sebastian? Are you sure he makes you happy? Because I’ve never seen such an unhappy bride.’

  Why did everyone keep saying that? Violet wondered.

  ‘You don’t understand,’ Violet told her. ‘I’m not brave like everyone else. I do the right thing. I keep the peace. It’s easier that way, to keep quiet.’

  ‘But what about following your heart?’

  ‘I do love Sebastian,’ said Violet.

  ‘Even though he cheated on you?’

  Violet nodded. ‘That’s over now. We’ll get married and everything will be OK.’

  ‘Marriage is a two-way street,’ Maggie told her. ‘There’s got to be give and take from both of you. You’ve got to be equal partners otherwise you’ll always be unhappy.’

  Violet attempted a smile and grabbed some tissue paper to sort out her mascara.

  ‘I’ll be down in a minute,’ she told Maggie. ‘I just need to sort my face out.’

  ‘Everything all right?’ Kathy whispered as Maggie sat back down.

  ‘Not really,’ she replied, before looking down the table to where Wendy was swaying in her chair to the background music. ‘But I think there’s a way it might be.’

  Chapter Fifty-two

  THE GIRLS MADE their slow journey to the nightclub. The lack of pace was to allow for their high heels and because Wendy could barely walk now that the fresh air had hit home.

  ‘Hello,’ she beamed drunkenly at a group of men, peering at the one closest to her.

  ‘Come on,’ said Julie, dragging her away. ‘Before you’re sick and we have to take you home. I want to get a few dances in yet.’

  ‘Thanks for the phone,’ said Maggie, giving the phone back to Wendy.

  Wendy beamed at Maggie as if she wasn’t really taking in what she was saying. So Maggie opened Wendy’s bag and put the mobile back in herself.

  ‘What did you need it for?’ asked Lucy, with a frown.

  ‘Had to ring yo
ur father and I’ve got no credit,’ replied Maggie, keeping her voice casual.

  Lucy frowned, wondering why her mother hadn’t borrowed her phone.

  Violet followed the group, going wherever she was told to. As per usual, she realised. A fine drizzle began to fall as they reached the nightclub.

  They bought more drinks when they got inside and then began to dance. There were two other hen parties already fighting for space on the dance floor but Julie was having none of it and elbowed them all out of the way for Violet and her friends.

  The beat thumped around her but Violet was going through the motions, bopping this way and that. She was on cruise control. She hadn’t even noticed the compliments and wolf whistles from a group of men as she walked past.

  On and on she danced, following the music and letting her mind rest. She was exhausted. She didn’t think she’d ever been so tired.

  Violet glanced at the other hen parties while she danced. The other brides-to-be were wearing their sashes were grinning and laughing. This was how she was supposed to be feeling that night. Excited and happy.

  Her eyes drifted beyond the dance floor to the crowds behind and that was when she saw him, pushing his way through the crowd. She blinked and peered into the darkness, beyond the flashing lights. It was definitely him. It was Mark.

  Violet stopped dancing and walked towards him, her eyes held by his. His gaze drew her in until she was standing in front of him.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she said, her voice loud over the music.

  He glanced around him. The place was packed and noisy. He gestured with his head to follow him.

  Maggie watched Violet disappear into the crowd after Mark.

  ‘Where’s she going?’ shouted Kathy, also watching.

  Maggie smiled. ‘She’ll be fine.’

  The cold air hit Violet as she followed Mark outside. It was still raining.

  ‘How did you know where I was?’ she asked as he went past the smokers huddled in the doorway and further down the dark road.

  Mark finally stopped walking and spun round to face her.

  ‘You’re showing up on the National Grid,’ he told her in a wry tone. But his face remained serious.

  Violet gave him a small smile. ‘I suppose I am a bit bright,’ she said, glancing down. Her boppers, sash and angel wings were blinking away in the darkness.

  ‘Why are you here?’ she asked him.

  He took a deep breath. ‘I want you to tell me about Easter.’

  ‘About what?’ Perhaps she was more drunk than she had realised.

  ‘I mean, what happened with the cake?’ he said gently. ‘The one you stole from my hands.’

  Violet was amazed. ‘Now? But that was a lifetime ago.’

  He stayed silent, his green eyes fixed on hers. Watching, waiting. Violet knew he was stubborn enough not to take no for an answer.

  ‘I was upset,’ she told him, shrugging her shoulders. ‘It used to be my crutch for everything, that chocolate cake.’

  ‘And now?’

  ‘I don’t rely on food whenever anything bad happens.’

  ‘What was so bad about that day?’

  Violet gulped. ‘It’s not important.’

  ‘Tell me.’ His voice was fierce and low.

  But Violet couldn’t tell him. She was too ashamed. She dropped her head.

  His hand grabbed her chin and brought it up so she had no choice but to look at him.

  ‘He cheated on you, didn’t he?’

  Violet was stunned. ‘How did you know?’

  He dropped his fierce hold on her chin and let his hand fall to his side. ‘It’s not so hard to work out. He hurt you badly and you’re still unhappy, aren’t you?’

  ‘No,’ she said, putting on her brave voice. ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Has he cheated on you since?’

  ‘No. It was just the one time,’ she told him.

  He snorted a mirthless laugh. ‘Are you sure?’

  Violet got cross. ‘Look, it wasn’t easy for either of us. Sebastian loves me. And it was difficult for him, you know. I was fat, gross. Why wouldn’t he sleep with someone else?’

  Mark was angry. ‘Is that your justification?’

  ‘No. Yes. But everything’s different now. I’m different.’

  ‘Did you only get thin to stop him cheating?’

  Violet took a deep breath. ‘Initially, yes. I think I did.’

  ‘Come with me,’ he said, taking her hand.

  She was shocked at his warm touch, of his hand holding hers, as he dragged her over to a nearby shop window. ‘Look at yourself.’

  Violet stared at her reflection, flashing dots of light all over her.

  ‘Do you know how beautiful you are?’ he told her in the reflection. ‘How beautiful I’ve always thought you were?’

  Violet laughed but there was no humour in it. ‘Even now?’

  Mark shook his head and turned away from the window. ‘You can’t see it, can you?’

  ‘Of course not,’ she told him, turning to face him once more. ‘You’re only saying that because I’m thin now.’

  He frowned at her. ‘No, I’m not. I’ve always thought you were beautiful.’

  Violet stared at him, stunned at his words.

  But before he could carry on, there were cries from down the road. A group of drunken girls were coming. The rain was beginning to come down a little more heavily now and they were all shrieking.

  Mark dragged her away from the shop window and into a small alleyway where they wouldn’t be seen.

  He grabbed her by the shoulders. ‘Let me tell you something, Violet Saunders. You’ve always taken my breath away, from the first time I saw you.’

  ‘I have?’

  ‘I even went back to that shop to loiter in the cake aisle, hoping you would return,’ he told her. ‘Why do you think I gave you the job?’

  ‘But I was huge,’ she stammered.

  He glared at her. ‘So? You think I am so shallow that things like that matter to me?’

  ‘Then why did you date all those gorgeous thin women?’ Violet shouted at him.

  ‘I’m Italian,’ he told her, with a shrug of the shoulders. ‘I dated a lot of women, yes. But I only dated them to try and track down the one.’

  ‘The one?’

  He reached out and stroked her cheek with his hand. ‘You know, the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. The one I can’t live without.’ His eyes crinkled up at the edges as he smiled at her. ‘You.’

  Violet drew in a deep breath as he carried on talking.

  ‘The main thing that struck me was how sad you were. And how much I wanted to make you happy. To see those blue eyes of yours shine.’

  Violet drew herself up. ‘But I am happy now.’

  ‘That’s crap,’ he told her. ‘Why else did your friends ring me? And how can you be happy with him? What if he cheats on you in the future? How can you trust him?’

  Violet bit her lip. She didn’t know what to think any more.

  He took her face in his hands. ‘If you were mine, I would never cheat on you. Ever.’

  Violet’s eyes filled with tears. It was everything she had ever longed to hear. But it was Mark speaking, not Sebastian.

  He stared into her eyes, his face closer now.

  ‘If you were mine,’ he told her, brushing a tear from her cheek with his thumb. ‘I’d take you to Italy and marry you in our local chapel. Just you, me and the priest. I don’t need anyone else. Just you. Only you.’

  The tears were rolling down her face now as she stared at him, trying to take in his beautiful words.

  ‘Ti amo, Viola. Do you know what that means?’

  Violet nodded. He loved her. He actually, truly loved her.

  Suddenly Mark dropped his hands to his side.

  ‘But you are going to marry him, aren’t you? After all that he’s done, you’re still going ahead with the wedding. Well, I wish you luck, Violet Saunders. I hope you can be happy
with him. But you’d be happier with me.’

  Violet watched him walk away as the rain began to pour down from the sky, soaking his shirt and making it stick to his skin.

  It was her hen night. The night when she should have been celebrating her future marriage to Sebastian. But none of it mattered. Sebastian didn’t matter. All that mattered to Violet was walking away down the street. And getting further away from her.

  And then it struck her. All that mattered was Mark.

  Violet began to run down the road, her heels slipping on the rain-soaked pavements.

  ‘Mark!’ she cried, running up to him. Stop!’

  He spun round upon hearing her shout. She was breathless as she crashed to a halt in front of him. They stared at each other for what seemed a long, long time.

  Then Violet spoke the only word she could think of.

  ‘Marco,’ she whispered.

  He stepped forward and crushed her to him, kissing her hard on the lips. Violet grabbed at him to hold her even closer, kissing him with a passion she never knew was within her.

  Finally, she felt truly alive.

  Chapter Fifty-three

  ‘I DON’T THINK much of this Christmas cake,’ said Sebastian’s mother, screwing up her face. ‘It doesn’t taste right.’

  ‘That’s because it’s panettone,’ said Violet, picking up the remaining cake from the coffee table.

  She stalked out of the lounge, taking the plate back into the kitchen and closing the door behind her. She’d had enough. Violet surveyed the mess. Serving a dozen people a full Christmas lunch with all the trimmings was exhausting. Not that anyone had offered to help, she had noted.

  But actually she wanted to be alone; she craved the solitude. She was content to hide in the kitchen, her Andrea Bocelli folder on constant play on her iPod speakers. Sebastian had whinged about it being ‘boring’ but Violet had ignored him, playing it at every opportunity. Especially the songs in Italian.

  She sliced off a piece of the glorious panettone and took it with her, nibbling at it as she stared out of the kitchen window. She sighed as Andrea Bocelli sung soft words of love to her through the speakers.

  Five nights ago, the words hadn’t been sung by another gorgeous Italian man. They had been whispered in her ear, tenderly at first and then more fervently. So ardently, in fact, that she had let him take her back to his flat and make passionate love to her.