Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,37

on much better form today and she had started to see the man that she had fallen in love with coming back to her. Although the abstinence from alcohol was forced, it was much needed and Elise now hoped that he had the strength to continue with the treatment and give them a proper chance when he got out of hospital.

She hadn’t mentioned her plans for the evening to him as that would have only caused a scene. She hated lying to him but she reassured herself that she was doing it with the best of intentions. He was mentally fragile enough without the added stress of knowing that she was going out without him. She also knew that if she had told him, then he would have forbidden her from going and she hated that he had that much of the balance of power in their relationship.

Arriving home, Elise was still trying to summon up the energy to get herself ready to go out. Although she had managed to square the evening out in her head, she still had to contend with her lack of enthusiasm. She was fairly certain that one of more of her counterparts would be completely wasted by the end of the night and she really wasn’t sure if she was up to witnessing that. Christ, why did everything in her life always seem to come back to alcohol?

Plodding up the stairs to her bedroom, she was immediately met by the sight of her new ‘killer’ dress hanging on her wardrobe and suddenly some of her earlier enthusiasm returned. The dress was simple, a deep navy coloured sheath which set off her eyes. The front had a light cowl neck, which scooped just above her breasts with the back dropping to halfway down her back before flaring out over her backside to rest just above her knees. The skirt was fitted and Elise had fallen in love with the dress on sight. Whilst she was relatively slender, she did had curves and sometimes found it hard to buy clothes that flattered, particularly when most of them these days seemed to be manufactured for stick insects. This dress however, fitted her perfectly and she knew that she looked good. The plan was to wear it with sheer tights and her favourite pair of navy heeled sandals.

Lightly fingering the material, she made her decision – she would go out tonight and she would have a good time. Celeste was always a good laugh and, as long as she knew some of the music, she would be able to dance the night and maybe some of her worries away.

Glancing at the clock, she opted for a quick shower and shave before dressing and applying her make-up. She very rarely used make-up but, now and again, she treated herself to a bit of pampering. She had decided to tie her hair up in a loose bun in deference to the openness of the back of her dress and added some fairly heavy eyeliner to complement the look.

After slipping on her heels, she took a final look in the mirror, pleased with what she saw. She didn’t scrub up too bad for someone in their thirties and she was surprised to find herself looking forward to the evening ahead.

Before heading out the door, she grabbed her jacket and keys and made a quick call to the hospital to make sure that Dale was still alright and that they had her mobile number in case. All was well and they promised to call her should there be any changes so she locked up and walked to her car, a state of almost nervous excitement encompassing her. It felt a bit like playing hooky and she had to train herself to stop keep looking over her shoulder for someone to pop out, just ready to burst her new found bubble of independence.

Elise had offered to drive as she knew that she would be picking Dale up in the morning and given what alcohol did to her husband, it wasn’t high on her list of priorities anyway. Celeste had arranged to meet the others there so she only had one stop to collect Celeste before getting on the main coast road and heading out to Indigo.

Celeste looked amazing. Never one to be a wallflower she had finally settled on a tight-fitting gold sequined dress, which finished a good few inches above her knees. She too had tied her brunette hair up and gone