Christine slammed the front door behind her and stalked into the lounge, hot, angry tears prickling her eyes. Sue looked up from the sofa, where she had stretched out with a book and noticed the tears blurring her flatmate's emerald-green eyes. Lithely, she swivelled on the cushions, bringing her feet down to the floor and stood, then crossed quickly to her friend.
They made an unlikely looking pair, Sue generously curved with olive skin and deep brown eyes and Christine, willowy and slender with a tumbling mane of fiery curls and clear green eyes. Sue had advertised for a 'reliable, quiet, working woman to share a house after her divorce. At thirty-five, she had been reluctant to live on her own and felt too old for the usual partying and antics of younger housemates. Christine, although she was ten years younger than Sue, had instantly 'clicked' with her and Sue had found herself offering Christine the place straight away.
Sue had discovered that Christine could be hot-tempered at times but she had never even raised her voice when they were in the house together. She also found out that Christine was happily seeing an older man, Robert. She never brought him to the house and she saw him less often than she would have liked, because he was a director of a small software company based almost a hundred and fifty miles away from the office where she worked.
Sue guessed from the stricken look on Christine's face that she was both angry and upset. Crossing the room, Sue guided Christine to the overstuffed armchair she liked to curl up in and went into the kitchen to make a pot of English tea. Sue had taken Christine to her heart and the sight of her in such pain and distress was almost more than she could stand. Automatically, she rinsed the teapot and added the right number of spoons of tealeaves, splashed the milk into the bone china mugs and at the precise moment the kettle boiled, poured the water on top of the tealeaves.
The tea made and steaming in their china mugs, Sue went back into Christine. She handed Christine her mug and watched, with serious eyes, as she wrapped her hands round the mug and sipped. Sue perched on the arm of the chair and rested her hand on Christine's shoulder. Her hand rested lightly on the thin material of Christine's dress and she could feel the heat of her skin and the trembling of her shoulders, as she fought back her tears.
Christine sniffed loudly and leaned forward to set her mug safely on the coffee table. Sue looked at her and wondered what had gone wrong for her. Tonight was supposed to have been special. Robert had called and told Christine that he must see her, he had something important to tell her. Christine had been excited and bubbled over with laughter and energy. She had taken extra special care with her appearance, choosing a dress, rather than her usual jeans and t-shirt and had worn her sexiest silk teddy underneath, with hold up stockings.
She turned towards Sue, her eyes shining wetly and leaned into her friends arms, her own arms sliding around Sue's waist and squeezing tightly.
"I'm s-s-sorry, Sue, " Christine sobbed, "I've been such an idiot and now I'm crying on your shoulder and ruining your evening."
"Hey, Chris, " Sue whispered into her hair, her mouth dry with the tension, "The book will keep. But more important than my evening what happened to yours?"
"Well, you know how Robert had something to tell me?" Christine asked.
"I couldn't miss it love!" Sue replied, "You were singing and dancing ever since his phone call."
"He certainly had news for me, " Christine added, "He's married and his wife is having his baby."
"The bastard!" hissed Sue, "I hope you caused a hellish scene."
