at Lisa. “Well, they’re from my denim section to go with my skirt,” she pouted playfully. “And my three pairs of flip-flops weren’t the right colour to match. I’ll take them off when we get on the sand.”
Laughing, they continued on their way and Katie revelled in the peace and quiet while the sun shone and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The gleaming white chalk cliffs of Seven Sisters overlooked the small shingly-sand beach and they carried on walking for another 400 metres and then dropped the folding chairs, towels, cool box, and hamper onto their chosen spot.
Even though the sun wasn’t intense Katie still smothered herself in sunscreen to protect her fair skin, while Lisa stretched out on her towel and removed her T-shirt revealing a black bikini top. Birling Gap wasn’t an official nudist’s beach but it had been used by naturists for years and they loved the freedom and quiet surroundings in comparison to the noisy, overcrowded beach in Brighton. Sarah pulled her big, white sun hat further down over her eyes, kicked the sandals from her feet, and adjusted her denim skirt over her knees, while Katie poured the cool smoothie into glasses and told them about Tim’s visit. She had a huge lump in her throat and had to stop twice to take a drink because her throat was dry with choking back tears as she explained how she felt.
Lisa had sat up listening intently to her and Sarah looked watery eyed again as she nodded her head with sympathy and understanding. Katie finished and looked at both her friends almost in a gesture of defeat as if she'd failed in some way.
"Well, I'm not totally surprised, Katie, in fact I've been waiting for something like this to happen," Sarah murmured.
"You have?" Katie looked puzzled.
Lisa leaned over grabbing the bottle of champagne and gasped, "Jeez, get this opened, Katie, I need a proper drink."
Katie opened the champagne and pulled glass flutes out of the hamper while Sarah explained how her cousin had been seeing a psychologist after her divorce and how she'd been told she has to take the right amount of time to grieve and find closure to the relationship.
"And that’s the one thing you haven't done, Katie," Sarah uttered quietly but respectfully. "You’ve been so busy fighting with yourself to get over him you haven't grieved properly. You guy’s never saw or talked to each other afterwards and the only communication you had was via email, which I think is so impersonal."
Lisa hadn't spoken until now and looked at Katie with her face full of concern. "And you’ve been going through all this since Wednesday on your own?" she asked. "You should have called one of us to come over, sweetheart?"
Katie felt ashamed and didn't want them to know she'd ignored their calls. She croaked, "Well, mum called round and then I was just so upset..." She wiped her nose with a napkin. "And I know I should have called you guys but I just wanted to think it through and get it sorted in my head."
Sarah empathised. "Of course you did. And we've let you down because I was at the new cocktail bar and Lisa was with her guy at the party. We should have been there for you..."
"Now, just a minute," Lisa said pursing her lips. "I might have been shagging Adam all night, Sarah, but one text or call and I would have left him like a shot and been in a cab before he'd had time to whip his condom off!"
Unable to stop herself, Katie sniggered at the image of Lisa running from
Adam’s bed. "No really, it was fine. And neither of you have let me down."
Lisa bristled. "I mean, men are just men aren't they? I would have dropped him red-hot for either of you two. Like Cameron Diaz said in the film, The Holiday, we’re The Three Musketeers,” she said looking at them both directly. “You do know that, don’t you?"
Katie squeezed her arm affectionately. "We do," she said. "Don't we, Sarah?"
Sarah traced her finger along the bottom of Lisa’s chin and with a smarmy voice, she oozed. "Of course we do, sweetie."
"All right, all right," Lisa grumped but her mouth twitched in amusement. "That’s quite enough."
"Food?" Katie asked and got up onto her knees to open the cool box. She felt so much better after talking to them and suddenly her stomach groaned with hunger – she was ravenous. Lisa wet her lips