Never Mind The Botox: Rachel by Penny Avis

he’s so touchy, thought Rachel.
    ‘Would you mind trying it on, just to check I got the measurements right?’
    ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ said Harry.
    ‘I think you should try it anyway, just to be sure.’
    ‘For God’s sake, Rachel, it’ll be fine! Just stop going on about it.’
    ‘Fine,’ said Rachel and she marched into her bedroom and put the suit away in her wardrobe. ‘Will you come here to get ready on Saturday?’
    ‘Guess so.’ Harry changed the subject. ‘Anything good on TV tonight or shall we go out for a drink?’
    Rachel thought they should go out, break the atmosphere a bit. ‘Oh let’s go out. A pub supper and a few beers sounds like a plan.’
    As they ate in the pub, Rachel chatted breezily about nothing in particular. She was careful not to mention work or the summer party again. Harry didn’t reply much to begin with but once they’d both had a couple of drinks, the conversation started to flow again, and after several more they were back to laughing and joking as normal. And also as normal, Rachel woke up the next morning late and hungover.

    It was just after six a.m. on the morning of the summer party and Rachel hadn’t slept well. She looked at the clock for what felt like the hundredth time and tried to go back to sleep. After a few minutes she gave up and got up to make a cup of coffee. She sat at the kitchen table in a pair of oversized pyjamas staring blearily out of the window. There wasn’t much to see really, just back walls and a few small patches of grass, but the familiarity of it was quite comforting.
    She ran through the day ahead in her mind. Harry was coming over around six thirty to get ready and she was going to spend an easy day doing a bit of shopping and generally pottering about. She had a bit of work to do on the Beau Street report, but that could wait until Sunday evening.
    She’d decided to wear a pretty safe black dress and heels, not too short or showing too much flesh. She’d booked a pedicure and blow dry, though, as well groomed was definitely the order of the day. That would take up most of the afternoon. But she was tired, so maybe she could squeeze in a quick nap before lunch to make up for the tossing and turning of the night before. God, men were lucky. Harry would have a five minute shower, run some gel through his hair and that would be it.
    She’d really wanted to talk to Harry about how important it was to her that the summer party went smoothly, but she hadn’t dare mention it again. They were bound to just end up rowing. Plus she didn’t want to make the evening bigger than it was. It was just a party after all. She’d managed to talk to Rowan briefly when she rang to check his ticket had arrived. He’d promised to keep an eye on Harry and that had made her feel slightly better.
    Rachel did go back to bed and slept so heavily that she was almost late for her beauty appointments. Her vision of spending a relaxing afternoon being pampered was ruined by the fact that she had to run for ten minutes once she got off the bus and arrived at the salon out of breath and sweating. But after a couple of hours of massage and magazines, she began to feel quite mellow. She had a long bath when she got home, and by the time Harry arrived she was feeling calm and actually starting to look forward to the party.
    She opened the door to Harry in her dressing gown, as she was saving putting her dress on until the last minute.
    ‘Just got up?’ Harry asked.
    ‘Ha, ha,’ said Rachel, mildly irritated by the remark considering how long she’d spent doing her hair and make-up. As Harry walked past her into the living room, a strong smell of alcohol wafted in his wake.
    ‘Where have you been?’ Rachel asked.
    ‘Football, great match.’
    Harry wandered unsteadily into the kitchen, took two slices of bread out of the bread bin and put them in the toaster. ‘God, I’m starving. I only had a pasty for lunch,’ he said.
    Rachel followed him into