Splintered Memory - By Natascha Holloway Page 0,73
her feel nervous. She also wasn’t sure that she was ready to replace Matt.
In the past she’d never bothered or thought much about her flirting, she’d known that it wasn’t leading anywhere and this had made her feel very relaxed. Now though she felt tense all of the time, and she was constantly worrying about coming on too strong or not strong enough.
Claire had set her up on a couple of dates, but they’d gone awfully and Charlie had been thankful to Adam when he’d told Claire to stop pushing her.
Charlie had been impressed by Adam. She had been unsure about what to make of this so called high flying investment banker, and she’d felt protective over Claire when they’d first been introduced. She had been expecting a bit of an ego has landed encounter, but Adam didn’t have an ego at all. He was kind, funny, and most importantly to Charlie he looked after Claire. Yet he still kept her on her toes, which Charlie knew that she needed, by teasing her mercilessly.
She’d seen instantly what had drawn Claire to him. Adam was tall, dark haired, obviously handsome, and wealthy. He was certainly a catch, but then Charlie knew that Claire was too. She’d always been stunning, and had always been an obvious blonde haired beauty. So it was no mystery how she’d managed to attract a man of Adam’s stature. Yet Claire had rarely kept the men in her life around for long, and she’d openly admit that she was high maintenance.
Nick had been her longest relationship, but Charlie had always known that it wouldn’t last. She hadn’t said this though as he was one of Matt’s oldest friends, and she’d known that had she said it she’d have been accepting that some of the things that Matt had said about Claire were true.
The problem had always been that whilst Nick was a nice guy, he’d never had that something special about him that Charlie had known that her best friend had needed to keep her interested. He had however been dependable, and this was something that Charlie had known had drawn Claire to him.
Adam on the other hand was not dependable in the slightest, and this was plainly obvious to see, but he did have that something special and Charlie was impressed with how he seemed to have managed to calm Claire. At times when it was just the two of them, and they thought that Charlie wasn’t around, they were also really affectionate with one another.
Charlie was happy for Claire, and she was pleased that she finally seemed content with someone. She was also pleased that she liked Adam, and that the two of them got along. She had after all known the difficulties of best friends and partners not liking each other. Yet just as everything in her new life in London seemed to be on the up, as was always the way there had to be something on the horizon to act as a dampener. It was now less than two weeks until Rich and Bex’s wedding, and she was dreading the moment that she’d have to see Matt again.
The worry of seeing him again had been keeping her up at night, and had been making her feel nauseous all of the time. The one positive side effect of her worrying was that she had all but stopped eating, and as a result she had lost a fair amount of weight.
Charlie knew that she didn’t really need to lose any weight. She’d always had a good figure – she was athletic and well toned, but as with most women she hadn’t minded discovering that her clothes were less snug.
Claire also noticed the weight loss, and when they were shopping for dresses for the wedding she said; “this worrying is worth it, you look great. What size is that dress?”
“A six,” the shop assistant said from behind Claire.
“Nice!” Claire said appreciatively. “Now we can finely share wardrobes.”
Charlie laughed whilst pulling at her hair and looking at her reflection in the mirror, and she said to Claire; “do you think I should get my hair cut?”
“Yes,” Claire said; “and I know just where to go. In fact I may have already booked you an appointment, but Adam forbade me from making you go unless you asked.”
Charlie laughed and said; “thank god for Adam.”
“Hallelujah to that!” Claire said laughing and winking cheekily at Charlie.
“Seriously,” Charlie said laughing again and shaking her head at her best friend.