She thought she had everything sorted with her advertising job in Central London, her flat and her tall handsome boyfriend. But something was missing in her life and she knew what it was. A celebration party for one married couple, ended up with the break-up of another; a catalyst that would change everything for Sara and the people who were there.
The subsequent interweaving of lives, loves, deaths and babies that ensues, guarantees a fast moving and amusing tale of the power of women and the folly of men. True love, however, is the real winner.
Excerpt
“So what are you going to wear to meet Nick then?” Harriet had asked the evening before. Despite Sara’s protestations, Harriet knew that Sara was attracted to Nick. She was also aware, though, that there had been a discernible change in her stance since they’d been away to Barbados.
“I’ve told you, it’s just a meeting – I’ll just wear my blue suit.”
“Not the same one you wore last time you saw him - you can’t possibly do that!! Wear the brown one – the one with the longer skirt.” Sara knew she was right but didn’t want to wear the brown suit because it was even thicker than the blue one and would mean that she would have to take the jacket off if it got warm. “So it’s agreed then – it’s the brown one – unless of course you want to wear the Barbados dress?” Harriet flicked Sara a mischievous look which was returned with Sara’s silent stare. The ‘Barbados’ dress was one which Harriet had bought for Sara one drunken afternoon in a small downtown boutique in Barbados they’d ended up in after a long rum-laced lunch. Sara would certainly never have bought it for herself but Harriet insisted she try it on in the shop – the two of them had squeezed into the changing cubicle – Harriet said she wanted to try a top on – and amid giggles and laughter the scanty summer dress was peeled on. Bright orange with black edging it consisted of no more than a ruched bib at the front and criss-crossed black strings at the back. The hem was as short as anything Sara had ever seen – she’d certainly never worn anything like it - and in her attempts to see whether her knickers could be seen she proceeded to repeatedly bend over in front of the mirror to try to see them – much to the giggling amusement of Harriet. Once Sara had convinced herself that they couldn’t be seen, Harriet smartly exited the changing room with shorts and tee-shirt that Sara had gone in wearing and paid for the dress.
“Harriet?” came the plaintive plea from within the cubicle, “bring my stuff back, please?”
“Darling, come on out – the dress is paid for – come on.”
“I can’t wear this out there!”
“Of course you can.” Harriet pushed the door open and dragged the deeply reluctant Sara out into the shop – much to the amusement of the staff.
“Doesn’t she look a cutey?” said one of them at the moment Sara saw herself again in a large mirror.
“Look at me Harriet – I look a complete tart in this!”
“No you don’t, darling – you’re in Barbados – everyone wears stuff like this in Barbados.”
“But everyone can see everything!” said Sara with growing incredulity in her voice whilst desperately trying to pull the hem down lower and the sides of the ‘bib’ further around to cover the sides of her breasts .
“And it all looks fantastic – now come on, we’re leaving.” Once again Harriet grasped Sara’s hand and this time pulled her from the store and out into the street whilst thanking the staff for their patience with her younger friend.
Once they were back at the hotel, Sara had tried to go back to their room to change but Harriet refused to let her until they’d been to the bar for a couple of drinks first.
“No, not the Barbados dress! I’ll wear the brown suit.” The two of them laughed.
When Sophie Bayles inadvertently ruins a young man’s chance for employment, she sets out to find him a new position. Even though he doesn’t want her to.
Shirine McVey discovers that twenty years of her life have elapsed since she went to sleep in a hotel room in El Paso, Texas. And worse, she is married to a man she doesn't know.
