High Heels and Pink Glitter (18+) COMPLETE, FREE TO READ CHICK LIT

A-Level Educated

WARNING - THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND ADULT THEMES

"For goodness sakes! Is that all?" Mrs A exclaimed. The look she gave him was full of disapproval.

"Herpes is nothing. Nothing!"

As he had promised her months ago, Mrs A remained Nate's number one client. Much as she irritated him from time to time with her clumsy attempts to get him work or inquire about his love life, he was very fond of her. He'd probably train her until she dropped dead – or he did. The chances were that Mrs A would live a long, long life attending her events, taking her holidays and moving among Glasgow's great and good.

At the end of their regular session she had insisted on taking him out to lunch. There was an organic café on Giffnock's High Street run by yet another one of her friends. She treated the two of them to bowls of very good soup and home-made soda bread.

"Dig in," she said. "And then you can tell me why you've been so miserable the last two weeks."

Stalling for time, he took a mouthful of the soup – pea and mint. He was about to deny everything, when suddenly the idea of confiding in someone proved too tempting. He knew a lot about Mrs A's life after all. She'd once told him that Ronnie needed Viagra these days.

"I met this woman," he began.

Mrs A took a mouthful of soup herself and nodded.

"I liked her. Really liked her. She was smart, funny – and gorgeous." He put his soup spoon down. Confiding in someone and eating at the same time was impossible.

"Everything okay, Bet?" The café's owner appeared at their table, a wholesome-looking woman who was a good advertisement for the benefits of organic food.

Mrs A smiled up at her. "Wonderful as always, Mhairi. But don't let us keep you. My young associate here is telling me all his troubles."

Nate glared at her, but the unsubtle hint worked and Mhairi left.

"So, the gorgeous, smart and funny woman?"

"Aye, I really felt for her. I thought she might...well, I havenae had a serious relationship since Jennifer, and I thought she might be it. We had a lot of fun together."

Mrs A raised her eyebrows at that and he found himself blushing like a teenager.

"What went wrong then?"

The café was small. There were only a few other customers, but he lowered his voice and leant forward so that she had to move closer too to hear what he was saying. Thankfully, she had turned her head to the side, so he didn't have to look her straight in the eye.

"She gave me herpes."

Which was when Mrs A exclaimed about herpes being nothing. She hadn't raised her voice, but he raised a finger to his lips, shushing furiously.

"Well, it is nothing!" she hissed back. "I thought you were going to tell me she hit your kids or she was a junkie.

"Nate, how do you think I met Ronnie?" Mrs A sat back in her chair. She looked about her quickly. They were on their own now – the other table had finished up and paid, and the waiter had disappeared through the back.

"Er... at a dance? A dinner party? You were the prize at one of those charity balls?" Ronnie and Mrs A seemed to have been together for ever judging by the photographs that were dotted about the walls of her house. It had never crossed his mind to wonder how they might have met.

Mrs A examined her latest manicure. She loved having long nails and the acrylics she currently sported were painted deep red. She gave a small frown. Perhaps one of those nails wasn't applied as perfectly as it should be.