kissed Katie on the cheek. “Of course you won’t. Now, take it easy while I’m away and remember to make yourself completely at home. I’ll text you when I get to York.”
Katie’s stomach churned with agitation while she waved to Sarah and headed off to Holborn to start work. It was obvious Tim had no intention of making the first move after the argument she thought indignantly, which was rich considering it was his fault in the first place. She knew he could be stubborn and she hadn’t been expecting flowers and please forgive me messages but he could at least have called to see where she was and if she was all right.
Argh, she wailed silently in frustration as she sat at her desk, what was the saying, bloody men - you couldn’t live with them and you couldn’t live without them.
“Still no news from Tim?” Frances asked when she joined her with two coffees.
She’d taken Frances for a drink the night before and told her the whole sorry mess about the Savoy, the massive bust up and that she was staying at Sarah’s.
Katie bristled. “Nope, I might as well face the fact that he’s in no rush to get in touch and beg me to go back, or even if he wants me back at all?”
“Now, you don’t know that,” Frances soothed. “He could be just cooling his heels for a few days and you might hear something from him tomorrow?”
Katie squeezed her arm gratefully. “You know, Fran, I’m beginning to wonder about our relationship. I mean, has it all been one-sided? It looks to me as though he’s not even worried about where I am, or if I’m OK. And I know if it was the other way around I’d be beside myself with worry about him.”
They both sipped their coffee thoughtfully. “Plus, he’s not a stupid man,” Katie said. “And he must know that the longer he leaves getting in touch the bigger chance he has of losing me altogether?”
“Hmm,” Frances mused. “Men are weird buggers,” she snorted in her deep Somerset accent, which made Katie smile.
Draining her coffee Katie clashed the mug none too lightly down on the desk. “Well, I’m not going to sit about brooding over him. If this is the way he wants it then he couldn't have cared that much about me in the first place,” she retorted. “Come on, let’s go down to the development kitchen and taste the lemon dessert samples the Shrewsbury guys have sent in.”
The department’s meeting to discuss the launches of desserts continued longer than expected and it was after six o’clock when Katie left for Sarah’s house. She’d received a text from Sarah to say the design course in York was good, the hotel fabulous and she was getting ready for Mark to arrive. Oh well, she smiled, at least one of them was having a good time and, just as she wondered what Lisa was doing for the evening, she saw her Mazda Sports car parked outside Sarah’s.
Lisa jumped out of the car still dressed in the black pin-striped trouser suit she wore for work. “Where’ve you been? I was just getting ready to text you,” she exclaimed walking around to the boot. “I decided to surprise you and then started to worry that you’d gone out straight from work.”
Katie locked her car and stared at her in surprise. “And I was just going to ring you and see what you were doing tonight?”
She opened the boot and lifted a small holdall out. “Well, Sarah and I both thought you’d be miserable on your own so I thought I’d come and stay until she gets back,” she said grinning. “Well, that’s if you want me to, of course?”
Katie grinned at her and once again thought how fortunate she was to have such great friends. “Oh Lisa,” she said and felt tears prick the back of her eyes with their kindness. “That’ll be great, thanks. To tell you the truth I was dreading being on my own.”
Lisa put an arm along her shoulders and gave it a squeeze. “Still no word?”
“No, nothing. I’ve made my mind up now that he’s never going to get in touch…”
“Come on,” she said slamming the boot closed. “Let’s get inside, open a bottle and make a plan.”
Katie pulled together a scratch dinner, opened a bottle of wine and they ate ravenously for a few minutes without talking. “Gosh, I didn’t realise how hungry I was until I smelt the