Artistic Licence Read Online Free PDF

shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and hairspray were lined up on the shelf in the bathroom. Bags of cotton balls and cotton pads and tissues were hung on all the available hooks, and her special linen cloth for her face was draped over the towel rail.
    ‘Darling, where will you put all your stuff? Is that all you’ve got? Love, I know you are a lot younger than me, but you need a bit more than just a pot of Astral, surely? What about cleanser and toner?’
    Thea, who was amazed at how much it took to make Molly look like Molly, felt she might as well come clean. ‘I don’t do much in the way of cleansing and toning. I just smear on some cream, wipe it off with loo paper and put a bit more on.’
    Molly was horrified. ‘I can’t believe
anyone
, in this day and age, doesn’t cleanse and tone.’ She peered at Thea. ‘Well, you seem to have got away with it so far, but it could rebound on you horribly. You have to take care of yourself, Thea …’
    Before Molly could finish her thought, which Thea knew from experience was something on the lines of ‘or you’ll never find yourself a man’, Thea broke in, ‘I do have deodorant with moisturiser in it. It makes my armpits wonderfully soft and manageable.’
    Molly pursed her lips. She was a natural matchmaker and, sensing this, when they first met, Thea had given her a very graphic and well-dramatised account of her break-up with Conrad. Otherwise, Thea had felt at the time, and had no reason to change her mind since, Molly would be dragging single men out of the woodwork until, maddened by boredom, Thea put herself into a convent.
    Now, Thea looked at her watch. ‘We’ve got three-quarters of an hour before we have to meet downstairs for dinner.’
    ‘Really? Oh, my God! Do you mind if I have the bath first? What are you going to wear?’
    Thea didn’t have a lot of choice. ‘Something navy-blue, I expect.’
    Gerald was impatiently striding up and down the hotel foyer, waiting for the last of his flock to arrivewhen they got down the stairs. He wanted to march them briskly off to dinner. ‘Late again, Molly! I thought I’d taught you a bit of punctuality when you were with me before.’
    ‘It was my fault,’ Thea began, sacrificing truth for her friend. But then she saw Molly bridling happily under Gerald’s stern admonishment and realised she liked it. In any case, no one would believe that she had spent more than ten minutes doing herself up, when her hair was still slightly wet and her navy-blue skirt distinctly crumpled.
    ‘Oh, Gerald, you’re such a bully,’ said Molly. ‘I don’t know why I come with you.’
    As the party processed down the narrow street to the restaurant, Thea wondered if Molly would like it if Derek were as masterful as Gerald and decided not. It was one thing to enjoy being bossed about by Gerald for five days on holiday, but quite another actually to live with someone you couldn’t control.
    ‘Well, I thought the bath was awfully small, for one,’ said a woman who’d brought her husband with her and so had a natural advantage over those who hadn’t.
    ‘What was it like for two?’ asked Thea under her breath.
    Another Home Counties accent drifted across the clink of glasses. ‘I looked and looked, but although they had everything else, they didn’t have cards with “to my cleaning lady” on, so I had to just get her one with flowers.’
    Thea was hypnotised and didn’t at first hear her neighbour’s kindly enquiry. ‘Is this your first Tiger Tour?’ She was certainly the wrong side of seventy-five but had a definite twinkle.
    ‘Yes,’ Molly answered for her. ‘She’s come with me.’
    ‘I see,’ said the old lady, sizing up Molly immediately. ‘It’s nice to have a younger companion when you’re getting on.’
    Molly opened her mouth to protest when the old woman went on, ‘Just teasing, dear.’ She gave Thea a roguish wink.
    ‘Right, everyone,’ Gerald called, from the head of the table. ‘You old