Last Chance Saloon - Marian Keyes [51]
‘Yes,’ Katherine declared unconvincingly.
Tara looked at her again. Her skin was flushed and peachy-looking and she had that cocooned air of someone with a pleasant secret. ‘You haven’t been… have you… You’ve been having sex with someone, haven’t you?’ Tara demanded.
‘I have not!’
‘Well, there’s something doing you good. Do you fancy someone?’
‘No.’
‘Does someone fancy you?’
‘No,’ Katherine said, but Tara had picked up on the tiniest little hesitation.
‘Aha,’ she sang. ‘Ahaaaaa. Someone is after you, who is he? Tell me.’
‘There’s nothing to tell,’ Katherine said stiffly.
Tara was excited. Glad that something was going right for one of them. ‘I bet he’s magnificent,’ Tara urged. ‘Your fellas always are.’
On the rare occasions that Katherine had a boyfriend, they were usually extraordinarily beautiful. Total hunks. Real stunners. Way out of Tara’s league. Mind you, they never lasted long, but however.
‘It has to be someone at your work,’ Tara surmised. ‘Where else would you get to meet a man?’
‘Behave,’ Katherine said.
‘What’s up with you? What’s wrong with fancying someone?’
‘I don’t.’
‘Well, what’s wrong with someone fancying you?’
Katherine didn’t reply. But all her glow had faded and she now wore a face that would stop a clock.
‘Katherine,’ Tara said gently, ‘I know we’ve had fights about this before, but being in love is nice, it’s a good thing. And I know you don’t like to relinquish your famous control, I know you don’t like being vulnerable, but sometimes you’ve got to take a chance.’
‘Relationships are misery from start to finish,’ Katherine said coldly.
‘Not at all,’ Tara spluttered, and opened her mouth to say, ‘I mean, look at me and Thomas, see how unmiserable we are,’ then found she couldn’t.
‘I’m perfectly happy on my own,’ Katherine said, her face like stone. ‘Being alone doesn’t mean lonely.’
‘You can’t duck and dodge for ever,’ Tara said in exasperation. ‘Falling in love is part of the human condition. Without it you’re only living a half life. Everyone needs a partner, it’s a basic human need.’
‘It’s not a need,’ Katherine said. ‘It’s a want. And what I want, more than a person to argue with over who loves who the most, is absence of pain. Falling in love leaves you open, relationships mean pain.’
‘Relationships aren’t all about pain,’ Tara protested, alarmed at Katherine’s intransigence. She seemed to have become more entrenched since the last time they’d had this row.
‘So relationships aren’t all about pain?’ Katherine interrupted. ‘You’re hardly in a position to say that. Look at how miserable you are with that shithead Thomas.’
‘I’m not miserable,’ Tara said stoutly.
Despite her anger, Katherine couldn’t help noticing that Tara hadn’t denied that Thomas was a shithead. ‘Well, if you’re happy,’ she told Tara, ‘then I’m fine as I am.’
They stared, their faces close together, furious looks hopping from one to the other.
‘I’m going to ask you one more time,’ Tara said menacingly.
‘What?’ Katherine hissed.
‘Is he someone from work?’
Katherine’s eyes popped with rage. She opened her mouth to begin a tirade of abuse, working her mouth silently as she tried to find the right words.
‘Yes,’ she finally said.
19
‘Tell me,’ Tara ordered.
But actually, Katherine decided, there was very little to tell. First thing that morning Joe Roth had ambled over to her desk, as he had done every morning for the previous twelve working days. Maybe it was the icy-green of the shirt that he’d worn in honour of the tampon-account presentation, or the way his cobalt-blue suit followed the lines of his long, rangy body that made Katherine admit that he was particularly easy on the eye that day. Automatically, her expression became harder, more inscrutable.
‘Morning, Katie,’ Joe said, with a huge smile that filled his entire face.
‘Mr Roth,’ Katherine said icily, with