The Desperate Bride’s Diet Club (25 page)

An hour later, he had finished.

‘All safe now,’ he told Kathy.

‘Thank you,’ she replied. ‘I won’t have to worry every time I come in the kitchen. Or get hungry.’

‘Something smells lovely in here,’ he said. ‘I’ve been trying to work out what it is for the past hour.’

‘You must mean the basil on the windowsill,’ Kathy told him. ‘I bought a pot to liven
up my spaghetti bolognese.’

‘You make it yourself?’

Kathy nodded. ‘I got the recipe from Violet. It’s really good.’

‘I miss home cooking,’ he replied with a sigh. ‘I only moved out of home a couple of years ago but Mum’s cooking is great.’

So was mine when I had someone to cook for, thought Kathy, trying not to get emotional in front of him.

Edward rolled his eyes. ‘I’m such a typical bloke.
By the time I get in from work and the gym, I can’t be bothered to cook so I’ve still been surviving on those low-fat ready meals.’

‘Well, you’re looking good on them.’ Kathy blushed as soon as the words were out of her mouth. ‘I mean, you’ve done well with the weight loss so far.’

‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘To be honest, I’ve just transferred my evening meals from takeaways to microwave food.’

She
made a face. ‘Doesn’t sound very appetising.’

Edward leant back against the kitchen counter. ‘Not really. Especially as Mum still does a mean roast for us all.’

‘How big is your family?’

‘I’ve got two sisters and two brothers.’

‘Wow,’ said Kathy.

‘They’re all married and I’ve got a handful of nieces and nephews too. When we get together, there’s barely any room in my mum’s house to sit down.’

Kathy suddenly had a wistful longing to be in a family house full of life and laughter. How lovely that would be.

‘Anyway, it’s been a while since I got some home cooking inside me,’ said Edward.

Kathy glanced at the clock. ‘Look, I know it’s not quite six o’clock yet but I was going to make myself some dinner. How about I treat you to my low-fat spaghetti bolognese as a thank you for sorting
out the kitchen for me?’

‘Are you sure?’ asked Edward, breaking into a smile. ‘I wasn’t dropping any hints, if that’s what you were thinking.’

‘I know,’ Kathy told him.

‘I don’t want to put you to any trouble.’

Kathy shrugged her shoulders. ‘The mince comes in a big packet so I was going to have to freeze the rest anyway.’

Whilst Edward went to the bathroom and washed his hands, Kathy put
on some music and began to fry the mince.

‘What happened to the shower head?’ said Edward, coming back to lean against the door of the kitchen.

He was so tall and broad-shouldered that he seemed to fill the kitchen and Kathy found herself having to concentrate on the food so she didn’t keep looking at him.

‘The shower?’ she replied. ‘I think it’s so clogged full of limescale that it couldn’t
cope with the weight
and
fell off this week. Luckily it missed my head whilst I was in the bath.’

Edward pursed his lips. ‘Look, I haven’t got anything with me to fix it at the minute. But I can come back another time, if that’s OK with you?’

Kathy looked at him. ‘Is this a ploy to get some more home cooking?’

His face split into a grin. ‘You saw through my master plan.’

‘So I get my flat
fixed and you get some decent food?’

He nodded. ‘Exactly.’

‘I see.’

Kathy found herself smiling too as she turned back to her recipe.

ONCE AUGUST HAD
arrived, everyone had been going on holiday. Violet had always hated the summertime, the heat being absolutely no good for someone in her shape. Even with approaching a two stone weight loss, it was still a bit of a struggle. But not as much as it used to be, she reminded herself.

Especially as the sun was continuing to shine. Her garden lawn was as parched
and brown as everyone else’s. And the nights were still warm enough for Violet to need only a sheet over her.

The hotline began to quieten down as everyone headed off on their holidays. So the department began to take some time off as well. Wendy had gone camping in Cornwall. Julie went to Greece. Even Anthony had found a fellow nerd to visit California with.

Violet didn’t have as much holiday
entitlement as everyone else as she hadn’t started with the company until May and was saving up the rest of her holiday for the honeymoon at the end of the year. But she
didn’t
mind. The air conditioning was a welcome relief from the heat.

Mark left in the second week of August to visit his family in Italy. Violet found herself quite wistful at the thought of those narrow Sorrento streets and
warm Mediterranean sea, and she found it was strange not having him suddenly appear at her desk all the time.

But Violet took the opportunity to visit Gino’s delicatessen more frequently whilst he wasn’t around. As soon as she stepped inside the café, Nonna’s face lit up and she came over to kiss Violet’s cheeks. This was their accepted way of greeting now.

‘
Ciao, bella
,’ said Nonna, beaming
up at her.

‘
Ciao
,’ replied Violet. ‘Er, parmesan?’ she asked, before remembering what she had learnt online the previous evening. ‘
Per favore
.’

Violet knew her accent wasn’t very good but Nonna’s eyes lit up at her wretched attempt to say please.

‘
Sì
,’ she replied, taking Violet by the hand.

Violet thought she was being led behind the counter as normal, but instead she was taken through the
kitchen and back outside into the courtyard.

Nonna gestured for her to sit and went back inside.

Violet sat at the small table and gazed around as the heat from the sun warmed her back and shoulders. There was a small breeze which made the strands of an ornamental grass flutter in a nearby pot. Bumble bees hovered in the air before gliding from flower to flower in their search for nectar.

Violet raised her face to the sun and watched an aircraft slice through the cobalt-blue sky, leaving a fluffy white vapour trail in its wake.

She sighed. It felt like a holiday just being in this
courtyard
. She really had to do something with her garden, if only to try to make it as relaxing as this.

And it was nice to just sit there without the hotline ringing or having the burden of the ‘big
day’ bear down on her. The wedding was creeping ever closer and the budget was increasing daily. She didn’t believe that expensive cars were required to ferry them about everywhere. And did she really need the most expensive and extravagant flowers in her bouquet and at the reception?

Violet inhaled the scent from a pot of freesias nearby. They were one of her favourite flowers. Why couldn’t
she be brave and tell Sebastian that she would rather have freesias instead? After all, she would be carrying the bouquet.

She realised she was going to have to tackle the issue of the wedding at some point. Things couldn’t continue to spiral out of control. She was dreading the conversation with Sebastian but feeling a little stronger too, these days. Perhaps it was time to speak up.

Nonna
returned, bearing a tray with two glasses of cold water and a plate with various wedges of cheese placed on it.

Violet took the drink from Nonna and thanked her, once more in Italian. Then she waited patiently whilst Nonna sliced off various bits of cheese. A piece was held out for Violet to try.

‘Parmigiano,’ she was told.

Violet smiled and took the small wafer-thin slice of cheese. It tasted
lovely and strong. She looked at Nonna and smiled, wondering whether to give her a thumbs up or not. But Nonna was shrugging her shoulders, as if to say it was nothing special. Then she handed over another piece of cheese.

‘Pecorino,’ she said and gave a noise like a sheep’s bleat. Violet was a bit stunned until she understood what Nonna was getting at. It was cheese made from sheep’s milk, she
guessed.

This cheese also melted in her mouth. Why were the Italians so good at this kind of thing? And why was cheese such a sin for dieters? It just wasn’t fair.

Finally, the last piece. Nonna didn’t say anything this time, so Violet took the slice with a nod of thanks. The taste exploded in her mouth. The other cheeses had been great but this was mecca. This was fantastic.

She nodded frantically
at Nonna, who was looking smug.

‘Parmigiano Reggiano. Reggiano,’ she repeated with emphasis.

Violet understood. It had to be reggiano, whatever that meant. Without that, it was nothing.

Violet mimed the shape of a wedge with her hands.

‘
Sì
,’ said Nonna.

But they took their time over their cool drinks, enjoying the companionable silence. Until Violet glanced over to see Nonna nodding and smiling
at her.

Nonna began to speak in Italian and Violet quickly picked up on the name Marco. She tried not to gape as she recognised the Italian word for woman amongst the quick sentences. Nonna seemed to be talking about Mark and his girlfriends. From the tone of Nonna’s voice, she obviously hadn’t approved of many of them.

Nonna glanced once more at Violet’s engagement ring. Violet braced herself
for the bad-luck talk but Nonna was rummaging around in her apron pocket. To Violet’s surprise, she drew out a black and white photograph and passed it across the table.

Violet studied the photograph. It was of a bride and groom, many decades ago.

‘Gino,’ said Nonna, pointing to the handsome groom, who was smiling at the person taking the photograph. Then she pointed at the bride and then to
herself. It was Nonna’s wedding day.

‘
Bella
,’ said Violet, describing Nonna the bride.

Violet peered closer. Nonna was staring up at her groom with such a look of love in her eyes that Violet found her own eyes pricked with tears.

As she went to return the photograph, Nonna grabbed Violet’s hand and started gabbling away in Italian again. Violet didn’t understand every word but gathered that
Nonna loved Gino very much. That they had had a very happy marriage. That the love was everything.

They sat in silence for a little while longer before Violet exaggerated looking at her watch, indicating she had to head back to the office. Back in the shop, Nonna sliced off a lovely big chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano. Violet couldn’t wait to shave a few pieces off to try out with the summer spaghetti
she had seen in a recipe book.

There was a brief tussle about the money, which Violet won by holding out the change until Nonna had to accept it. She not only received the usual kisses from the old lady as she left but also a warm hug.

It wasn’t until Violet arrived back at the office that she discovered that Nonna had actually got the last word. There were a few extra packets in her shopping
bag apart from the parmesan. Nonna had popped in some olives, tomatoes and a pepper which, when added to pasta, tasted wonderful.

That evening, Violet sat on her sunny patio and ate
her
delicious pasta with a small glass of wine. Somebody somewhere was having a barbeque and the sound of laughter drifted into her garden. Birds were singing in the late sunshine and the sun was still warm on her
face.

She finished her pasta and thought briefly about Mark, wondering if this was the kind of thing he was eating in Italy and whether he would be eating alone like her or whether he would have company. Female company.

She actually blushed, even though she was sitting alone and he was hundreds of miles away. What on earth was she doing thinking about Mark of all people? It must have been all
that food. That was all.

‘I THINK THIS
will do,’ said Maggie, throwing the travel rug and her beach towel down on to the sand.

At the last meeting, the girls had decided to head out to the seaside on the Bank Holiday Monday. Unfortunately Edward had a charity cricket match on that day but at least it meant that they could have a good gossip and slip the straps down on their tops without embarrassing
him.

The weather had still not broken and the sun was blazing down as they spread out on the beach. The beach was busy but not so crowded that they were hemmed in on all sides. Children laughed as they ran in and out of the waves lapping at the shore. It was a perfect summer’s day.

Violet stared in wonder at the others’ summer clothes. They were all so confident in their shorts and little tops,
even though they were big like she was. Well, she corrected herself, none of them were as big as they were. Violet had lost two stone, as had Lucy. Edward was nearly up to a four-stone loss. Kathy and
Maggie
had each lost two and a half stone as well. The pounds were coming off now that everyone seemed to have found their healthy-eating groove. They had worked out that they had lost a whole person’s
weight between them.

‘These shorts are getting big,’ said Lucy with a grin. She held out the waistband to see how much gap there was between her skin and the material. ‘And I only bought them at the beginning of the month.’

‘Back to Primark this week then,’ said Maggie, smiling back at her daughter.

The sun was blazing hot and everyone began to strip down to their swimwear. Everyone except
Violet.

‘Aren’t you hot?’ asked Kathy, as she lay back on her beach towel in her black swimsuit.

‘I’m OK,’ said Violet quickly.

‘I love my new swimming cossie,’ said Lucy, stripping off her T-shirt to reveal a bright blue tankini and matching bottoms.

‘Is that because it’s a smaller size?’ asked Kathy.

‘Size twelve and baggy,’ said Lucy, grinning, before she lay back on her towel. ‘Soon to
be a size ten bikini.’

Lucy was thrilled with her quick progress. In the old days she had associated food with happiness but now there were extra delights which didn’t involve sugar, such as all the fashion opportunities opening up in front of her. She was even beginning to break free of black and colours were making an appearance in her wardrobe.

Maggie looked across to Violet. ‘Haven’t you
got a costume with you, love?’