Yes Chef, No Chef - By Susan Willis Page 0,5
kaftan-style dress had ridden up exposing her fat puffy arms and Katie gently patted them back down into place.
Heaving in and out she tried to catch her breath. “No, Katie, I’m OK, thanks. Think I’ll cool down a little and have another drink,” she said gulping down a glass of water.
As Katie waited in the foyer overlooking the spectacular view of the Thames she felt her exuberant mood flatten, thinking about Tim, and when she climbed into the back of the taxi it dawned upon her that probably for the first time since they’d met she wasn’t actually looking forward to seeing him. She sank gratefully into the seat and rested her head back, silently groaning at the thought of the inevitable argument that would take place later where she’d accuse him of letting her down again and he’d chant out the same old excuses. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be and it certainly wasn’t like this in all the chick-lit novels she read. The heroines in the books were full of spirit and determination to fight for their men, and a couple of months ago she too had been like that. But now, after trying to hang-on in there, all she felt was bone-weary. Pep talks from Lisa and Sarah about how Bridget Jones wouldn’t roll over and accept Tim’s bad behaviour made her smile and when the taxi pulled up outside their apartment she took a deep breath to bolster herself for what lay ahead, paid the driver and entered their front door.
They always kept their keys in the glass bowl on the small hall table and because it was empty she knew he wasn’t home from the restaurant. She decided to go straight to bed and try to fall asleep before he got back. This way, she decided, they wouldn’t continue the argument where they’d left off earlier. Then, remembering his words about keeping the dress on, she slipped it over her head and chucked it rebelliously into the laundry basket before climbing under the soft white duvet.
Closing her eyes, she tried to empty her mind, hoping sleep would take over but thoughts about Tim and their relationship tumbled around mercilessly. How could things have gone so badly wrong in a couple of months? And, although he was making it damned hard for her with his dreadful behaviour, compared to when they’d first moved in together, she still loved him to bits. Or did she? And, was it just the memory of the former Tim that she was still in love with?
Knowing it wasn’t just her that he was being horrible to helped a little as his family were also complaining about his attitude. She remembered last week when his sister, Jenny, had called him an arrogant, selfish prat, and his father, who was a man of few words, had sadly shook his head in disappointment at him. But when they’d got home and she’d wanted to talk about it, because secretly she agreed with Jenny, he’d simply shrugged his shoulders and denied any wrong doing. At the moment it seemed to be everyone else’s fault in Tim’s eyes.
Turning onto her side, and in an attempt to pin-point exactly when it had started she thought over the last few months week by week and decided the changes had begun more or less from the first week in his new job as head chef at the restaurant, and although she knew how hard he’d worked for the promotion and certainly deserved it, she hated the way the pressure of work seemed to be changing his personality. And he’d had such a lovely personality when they’d first met she thought dreamily, sinking her cheek further into the duck-down, soft pillow.
She let her mind wander through the first week they’d got together, remembering how lovely, kind, and down to earth he’d been. They’d met through Frances at work and it had been, if not love, then lust at first sight, and by the end of their first date when he’d stared at her with those penetrating green eyes and devoured her mouth with the most passionate snog she’d ever had, she’d known he was going to be very special. She’d never kissed anyone like that before and remembered how her lips had felt on fire, and how she’d wanted to go on kissing him forever. In fact, she’d been so engrossed in the kiss that without realising it she’d started to slide from the edge of the leather