A Regimental Affair by Kate Lace

that, for a lot of people, they weren’t making much noise. She began handing around the nibbles, telling her guests not to worry about crumbs on the carpet while Alisdair distributed more wine and beer. She hoped that as the drink flowed the decibels would increase. It was a good mix of people, she thought, so there was no reason why they should be so subdued. Perhaps it was that everyone was tired with all the training the regiment had been doing recently, or perhaps it was the imminent departure of the men that was making them feel less than jolly. Well, whatever it was, all Sarah could do was to fix a smile on her face and try to make the best of things and hope the party livened up in the near future, otherwise it would be a dull bunch moving across to the mess in an hour.
    She did a quick headcount to see if everyone had arrived. Bob and Alice had yet to put in an appearance and Debbie was still over in the mess trying to get Danielle to go to sleep in Ginny’s bed, helped by Ginny herself. The doorbell went.
    ‘I’ll get it,’ she mouthed over the chat to Alisdair as she thrust the tray of eats into Lou’s hand and asked her to make herself useful.
    She pushed through her guests and escaped into the cool calm of the hall. Feeling a little flustered, partly through entertaining so many guests but partly because the entertaining wasn’t going as well as she had hoped, she brushed some flaky pastry crumbs off her dress and opened the door. She was confronted by a tall, slim blonde wearing a leopard-print bodysuit, high heels and a chain belt. The sight was so extreme that Sarah almost didn’t recognise Ginny. Bloody hell , she thought.
    ‘Sarah, I’m so sorry I’m late.’
    ‘Ginny. Wow!’
    ‘God, is it too much? Debbie says like I look like a reject from the cast of Cats .’
    ‘No, no.’ Sarah was faintly nonplussed. She had thought almost exactly what Debbie had, but what a reject! ‘No, not all. I’m just envious. If I wore a bodysuit I’d look like a sack full of snakes – all lumps and bumps and bulges.’
    ‘No, you wouldn’t,’ said Ginny, running her eye up and down Sarah’s size twelve figure.
    Sarah spotted the eye movement. ‘Yeah, but what you don’t see is the whalebone underneath holding it all together. In a bodysuit, you have to rely on skin and muscle to keep it in shape.’
    ‘Sarah, that’s so not true. You want to put your trust in Lycra – I have. Honest.’
    Sarah found herself irresistibly drawn to Ginny. There was something so disingenuous about her – and so outrageous.
    ‘Come on in. You’ll catch your death in that outfit if I keep you standing on the doorstep any longer.’
    ‘No chance of me popping my clogs,’ said Ginny, picking up a large cool box that Sarah hadn’t noticed until that moment, and stepping over the threshold. ‘Only the good die young.’ She plonked the cool box down on the hall carpet as Sarah shut the front door behind her. ‘And Debbie sends apologies. Danielle is refusing to go to sleep, the minx, so she sent me over to explain. I was going to stay with Danny and let Debbie join Richard, but Debbie wouldn’t hear of it. Anyway, I thought that as I couldn’t bring Debbie at least I could bring this.’ She indicated the cool box. ‘I hope you don’t mind or take offence but everyone’s so knackered after Colonel Bob’s training regime I thought we could all do with a bit of rocket fuel.’ She whipped the top off the box and revealed half a dozen bottles of ice-cold champagne. ‘If I’m out of order, please say so, but I think nothing gets an evening off to a flying start like a glass of fizz and I thought I’d like to make a contribution to events.’
    Sarah was momentarily lost for words. Gin … wow … gosh …’
    ‘I’m sorry. It was crass of me. You’ve got everything arranged and I’m going completely over the top, as usual.’
    ‘No. It’s wonderful. It’s too much.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘ Why ?’ Wasn’t it