Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,32

for clubbing tonight and she seems to think that I’m the perfect person to help her.”

“Are you going?” Cole asked.

“Going where? To the precinct? I just said I was.”

“No. Are you going clubbing?”

“No, not that I know of. Hadn’t thought about it to be honest. Dale would never let me go so it’s not really worth thinking about.”

“I thought Dale was in the hospital ‘til tomorrow,” Cole said, “If you didn’t tell him, how would he know that you’d been out? You should go, you deserve a bit of a break and a chance to let your hair down. I would offer to come with you but, what with the state of my face and my recent personal revelation, I’m feeling just a tiny bit fragile.” He looked saddened for a moment and Elise reached over to brush her hand against his cheek.

“That’s OK, baby. I appreciate the thought but I won’t be going anyway. I’m thirty-one now Cole. A bit too old for nightclubs!”

“Hardly.” he said but he dropped the subject anyway and finished his coffee.

Ten minutes later she had managed to shoo him out of the house, promising to call him when she got back. She needed to have a shower but first she needed to phone the hospital to check on Dale.

The nurse that answered the call assured Elise that he’d had a good night and that they were hoping to complete all their tests today so that he could come home in the morning. She said that they had been concerned about the level of alcohol in his bloodstream but that he didn’t seem to be fighting too many withdrawal symptoms today so they were hopeful that he would have a calm and quiet day. Couldn’t be any worse than yesterday, Elise reflected as she thanked the nurse and hung up. She had promised to go and see him later as soon as visitors were permitted and so she found herself in the strange position of having a day completely to herself. No Dale to worry about, moaning and groaning and telling her what she could and couldn’t do. She felt her heart lift and almost skipped around, as she got ready to go and meet Celeste.

Celeste was waiting at the monument at 9.30am as promised and they fell into an easy banter as they ambled around the precinct. Accustomed to spending as little time as possible shopping so as to keep Dale happy, Elise found the whole experience odd but really rather enjoyable and it wasn’t long before she was getting into the spirit of the day.

After leaving yet another dress shop, still without a killer dress, they decided to stop for a coffee and take a well earned break. As they sat watching other customers bustling about, Elise’s eyes fell on a mother and young baby, which reminded her about Bobby and Helen’s news.

“Hey ‘Leste” she said “We should see if we can find something for Bobby and Helen. Cole said they had a girl, isn’t that great?”

“Yeah, I know.” said Celeste “It was buzzing round the office yesterday but I think that with all your dramas, you kind of missed it.”

Elise rolled her eyes, “Don’t remind me!”

Celeste laughed and they continued with their drinks and muffins in silent contemplation.

After a while, Elise spoke again. “So, you definitely going clubbing tonight then, ‘Leste?”

“Abso – freaking – lutely” she said. “Now that I know that none of the hotties in the office are interested in me then I need to tout my wares elsewhere.”

“Ha ha, very funny. You know that you only have to say the word and Stephen will come running!”

“Hotties, Elise – I said HOTTIES!” Celeste snorted indignantly, causing Elise to burst into fits of laughter and almost choke on the rest of her coffee.

“Which club are you going to anyway?” she asked when she could finally breathe again. “Cole reckoned that I should go with you but I told him that I am waaaaaay too old for that! Honestly, I wonder about that boy sometimes.”

“Maybe he’s got a point.” Celeste said and Elise found herself rolling her eyes again. This was getting to be a seriously bad habit. She needed to have words with the eye-rolling part of her brain.

“We’re going to Indigo,” Celeste continued, “just outside Eastwood on the coast road. It’s new; not long opened and they are doing free entry for ladies tonight. You should come, it’ll be a laugh! And don’t worry about the age thing; it’s an