Christmas Shopaholic(47)

Ooh. That was quite strong. The air’s gone a bit blurry.

“You want another one?” says Dave, watching me curiously.

“Er…maybe in a minute,” I say, getting out a tissue to mop my eyes.

“So, are you into wine?” Craig is saying to Luke.

“A little,” says Luke. “You?”

“Got into it recently,” says Craig in his raspy, laid-back way. “My mate Mark—lead singer in Blink Rage—just bought a case of 1916 Chateau Lafite at Sotheby’s.”

“I read about that,” says Luke, his face lighting up. “The bidding got quite frantic, apparently?”

“It was intense,” says Craig. “I was with Mark. He was bidding by phone, freaking out….Hey, you want to sit by the fire?” he adds, as a group of people get up from their seats.

“Sure.” Luke nods. “Good idea.”

As the two of them head over to the fire, I watch them, feeling affronted. When I said I wanted Luke and Craig to hit it off, I didn’t mean I wanted them to start talking about wine and ignore me.

“Becky, are you coming?” asks Luke, looking round. “And do you want another tequila shot?” he adds quizzically.

Is he making fun of me?

“I’ll get myself a glass of wine,” I say with dignity.

I wait for Dave to pour me my wine, and order some packets of crisps too. I’m about to join Luke and Craig by the fire, when the door opens and a girl comes in. She’s about my age, wearing a coat and a very tight gray business suit, revealing quite an incredible cleavage. She has long straight hair, a biscuity fake tan, and very manicured eyebrows. And she’s definitely had her lips done with filler. (Probably twice. The first time I’m guessing she said, “Keep it natural,” and the second time, “I love it! Go for it! More!”)

She eyes my skull tights with surprise, looks at my skull earrings, and bites her cushiony lip in amusement—then scans the pub.

“Craig!” she exclaims in a nasal voice.

“Love!” Craig’s whole face lights up and he gets to his feet. “Love, over here! Luke, Becky, let me introduce you to Nadine, my girlfriend.”

His—

What?



* * *



—

Why shouldn’t Craig have a girlfriend? Of course he has a girlfriend. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before that he would have a girlfriend. It isn’t a surprise, really.

Although what is a surprise is…

Well. Her.

If you’d said “Craig’s girlfriend” to me, I’d have pictured someone cool. Rock chick. With electric-blue eye shadow and grungy tights, like the girls in his Instagram posts. But Nadine is nothing like that.

She’s got herself a drink and come to join us, and I can’t stop staring at her in disbelief. She can’t be with Craig, surely? But somehow she is. She’s very polished, and apparently she drives a Fiat and hates Craig’s music. He keeps telling us that as though it’s a good thing.

“She won’t come to hear me,” he says, laughing. “She won’t come on tour. Will you, babe? Just refuses.”

“Blink Rage!” says Nadine in return, and takes a swig of prosecco. “What kind of name is that? And have you heard the noise they make?” She runs her eyes disparagingly over my skull tights again. “But maybe you’re into all that, Becky?”

“I’m eclectic,” I say with a casual shrug. “I used to hang out with Craig’s band at Bristol. That’s how we got together, back in the day. Good times,” I add reminiscently.

I’m expecting Nadine to ask more, but she says, “Mmm,” with a supreme lack of interest, then turns to Luke.

“Now, I know all about your company,” she says. “Brandon Communications. It’s famous. Where you are, that’s where I want to be one day. Believe you me, you’re my inspiration.”

She’s leaning forward and gazing at Luke with clear blue eyes. And boosting her cleavage with one arm, I suddenly notice.

“Nadine’s doing really well with her marketing company,” says Craig. “She’s got a new client. Sportswear.” He gulps his wine and pats her arm proudly.

“I’d love to learn from you, Luke,” says Nadine breathily. “Anything you can teach me. How did you start out? What was it like at the beginning? You’re such a role model.”

Every time she speaks, she juts out her cleavage a bit more. Is she for real? I glance at Luke, wanting to catch his eye—but he seems captivated by Nadine.

“You don’t want to hear my long and tedious journey into business,” he says with a laugh.

“Oh, I do!” Nadine bats her eyelashes at him. “Believe you me, I want to know every detail. I can learn so much.”

“She does,” agrees Craig. “She’s been on at me! ‘Introduce me to Luke Brandon.’ You know, forget meeting Blink Rage. Not interested. She wants to meet you.”

“Well,” says Luke, looking amused. “I’m flattered. Do you want another glass of wine, Craig?”

“I’ll get them,” says Craig easily, getting to his feet. “You two have your chat. Becky, you OK?” He shoots me a fleeting glance.