Yes Chef, No Chef - By Susan Willis Page 0,10
sternly and left the table.
Feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment she stood up and quickly walked out of the room and into the kitchen where she could hear Lynne having a go at Tim.
She stood at the Belfast sink griping the edge for all she was worth. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes but she willed herself not to break down. The bastard, she seethed, fancy telling his parents that she’d hung up on him. Well, if he’d been looking for sympathy from Lynne and Graham it had certainly backfired on him because it was obvious they were just as annoyed with him as she was. Oh God, where do we go from here, she thought? She choked back the tears and then felt Lynne’s thin steady hand on her shoulder.
“Come on,” Lynne asked. “What’s going on?”
Katie took a deep breath and with false bravado tried to smile. “Oh, it's just a tiff,” she muttered, walking away from Lynne who looked hurt at the snub. But Katie knew if Lynne put her arms around her she’d break down altogether because the hurt and embarrassment was unbearable.
“J… just need to nip to the loo,” she stuttered and then flew up the stairs taking them two at a time.
The minute she locked the door and sat down on the toilet she felt guilty. She really liked Lynne and they got along so well together. She often thought when, or if she married Tim she’d make a lovely mother-in-law. She knew she’d have to apologise when she went back downstairs because she’d been off-hand and Lynne had only been trying to help.
Wiping her eyes with a tissue she looked around the huge bathroom which was probably her favourite room in the town house. It had a free standing roll-top bath in one corner and a wet room in the other and the floor was laid with black and white tiles typical of the Georgian period of the house. The chrome furnishings were second to none. She remembered the first time she’d come into this bathroom and had decided it was at least five times the size of her mum’s bathroom. How the other half live, she could hear her saying but then pushed her mum’s image aside - she really would lose control if she thought of her now. Heading back downstairs she decided to go and talk to her mum tomorrow - maybe she could make some sense of all this mess.
Tim was waiting in the hall. His face was red and he looked thunderous. “Let’s get going,” he snapped.
Lynne hurried into the hall with their jackets but Graham didn’t join her so Katie poked her head around the lounge door and saw him sitting in his armchair with a face as red and angry as Tim’s. They must have had a fight she decided and called out a goodbye to him while pulling on her jacket and hurrying back towards the front door. Tim was already outside standing by the side of the car.
Lynne gave her an encouraging smile. “He’s stressed with work,” she said nodding her head slightly towards Tim outside.
Katie smiled and put her arms around Lynne. She gave her a big warm hug to make up for her previous abruptness. “I know,” she said. “We’ll be fine.”
Taking a deep breath she walked slowly in the fading light to the car. The crunching noise of her boots on the gravel resounded in the quiet stillness of the late afternoon and they sat in stony silence all the way home. The minute she pulled up outside the apartment he jumped out and went inside without waiting for her.
She sat for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. She was still angry but at the same time scared because things had built up all day and now they were coming to a head she didn’t know what would happen if they argued to such a pitch that neither of them could back down. It had never happened before and she wasn’t sure how far to push it. Lisa and Sarah had been telling her for months that she was a mug to put up with his arrogance and selfishness but she’d kept hoping that once the pressure of work eased her sweet-natured Tim would resurface.
Climbing out of the car she shivered and pulled her wool jacket further around her chest against the biting cold wind. But, as Lisa had rightly stated, the trouble with bad behaviour going