French Kissing by Catherine Sanderson

Author:Catherine Sanderson
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780141031248
Publisher: Penguin Adult
Published: 2009-07-16T04:00:00+00:00

15

‘Have you heard Kate’s party’s off?’ I couldn’t see Ryan’s face, but he sounded disconcerted at having the plug pulled on his New Year plans only hours before he reached for the bottle of champagne which was, no doubt, chilling in his fridge. He’d lost no time in phoning me: I’d received Kate’s cancellation text only a matter of seconds earlier.

‘Yes,’ I confirmed. ‘I just read her message…’ I was put out myself, but for a different reason. Kate’s text had been apologetic but impersonal and I suspected she’d sent the same three sentences to everyone in her phone’s address book. Didn’t I – her best friend – deserve a more detailed explanation, given the conversation we’d had before Christmas? ‘So terribly sorry,’ the message had read, ‘but Yves and I won’t be able to host our New Year’s get-together this evening. Please accept our sincere apologies for the short notice. We hope you all have a great evening! – KY.’ When Kate and Yves referred to themselves as KY, it usually made me smile – the running gag being that you couldn’t fail to get ‘well lubricated’ at one of Kate’s parties. Today, however, it had given me pause for thought. How bad had things got? Was it the very last time Kate would sign off in this way?

Over Christmas, when I wasn’t tiptoeing around Mum and Dad, struggling to preserve the uneasy truce we’d reached after I’d returned, shivering, from my trip to the park, I’d spent a good deal of time fretting about Kate and Yves. I knew they’d spent Christmas with Yves’ family in Versailles, keeping up appearances, but I’d had no word from Kate since the day I left Paris. Even the text message I’d sent her on Christmas day – including a photo of Lila posing in a ridiculous reindeer costume Mum had picked up in her local supermarket – hadn’t prompted any reply, and her silence was troubling, to say the least. Kate was my best friend, but she was my employer too, and my livelihood depended on the health of her business. I wondered what implications it would have for my job – or Ryan’s, or Anna’s – if Yves decided to leave and take his capital with him.

‘Did you have a plan B for tonight?’ I asked Ryan, wishing I was as blissfully unaware of Kate’s problems as he appeared to be.

‘I do have a couple of invitations I’d held in reserve,’ Ryan admitted, ‘although I suspect neither will be able to hold a torch to Kate’s…’ He sighed. ‘Kate always lays on the most fantastic nibbles,’ he added mournfully, ‘and seeing in the New Year at her place is such a tradition…’

‘Well, how about I chaperone you to whichever party you rate as the runner-up?’ I suggested, thankful Ryan hadn’t tried to draw me into any speculation about the likely cause of the last-minute cancellation. ‘Lila’s with Nico’s family, and I don’t fancy seeing in the New Year on my

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