The Chocolate Lovers' Diet Read Online Free PDF

managed without you, Chantal.’
    ‘Now,’ Chantal said with a wave of her hand, ‘don’t start up with all that again. I’ve loved having you and Lewis stay.’
    Nadia and her son had moved in with her when they’d left their home to escape Toby’s gambling debts – something else that Chantal had been able to help out with.By giving Nadia an indefinite loan of £30,000, it had got her out of immediate trouble. If she hadn’t stepped in, then maybe Nadia would have been looking at Toby facing bankruptcy or having their home repossessed. For her own sanity, Nadia had decided to split from her husband until he could straighten himself out –
if
he could.
    The shock of losing his wife and son had, by all accounts, helped Toby to stay away from the glittering lights of the casino websites. Chantal and Nadia’s current co-habitation was a temporary arrangement to tide them both over until they could, hopefully, start to repair their marriages – but it was one that Chantal hadn’t imagined would suit them both quite so well. Lewis came over and leaned against Chantal, wrapping his small, sturdy arms around her. Chantal squeezed him fiercely. ‘I love you so much,’ she said.
    Lewis giggled. ‘I love you too,’ he lisped in return and an unexpected surge of joy ran through her.
    ‘Who would have thought that you’d have got on so well with children,’ Nadia noted.
    ‘
One
child,’ Chantal corrected. It seemed ironic that when her marriage had broken down due to her lack of desire to have children, that she should become so attached to the first kid that she’d really had anything to do with. Maybe she had been missing out here. She ruffled Lewis’s hair. ‘Let’s not get so carried away.’
    ‘Still not inclined to hear the patter of tiny Hamilton feet?’
    ‘It’s something that Ted and I are still working on.’ Her husband was so keen to have children, yet it was never something that had figured in Chantal’s life plans.
    When she had asked Nadia to move in here with her after they’d both split with their respective husbands, she had to admit that she’d completely forgotten about Lewis’s existence. Even though she’d tried to factor him into her lifestyle, it was still a shock when he’d turned up carrying his appropriately named teddy, Mr Smelly, under his arm. It had taken even longer to get used to the regular addition of chocolate fingerprints on the pristine Kelly Hoppen paintwork. Now she couldn’t imagine life without him, for who else would race to the front door and throw himself into her arms the minute she arrived home? But if Nadia was hoping to effect a reconciliation with her husband over the holidays, it was something that Chantal would have to get used to pretty soon. And what of her and Ted? Was her husband ever going to be able to forgive her infidelity and begin to trust her again?
    ‘More toys.’ Lewis clapped his hands together. Now
Chicken Little
was the tedious one.
    ‘Okay. Go for it,’ Chantal suggested. The boy searched through the reams of tissue paper and, finally, handed her a red and gold trumpet with glee. ‘Fabulous. I would have made just that choice. Where should we hang it?’ Lewis pointed to a suitable spot. ‘Then there it is.’ Chantal slipped the bauble onto the selected branch. ‘You wanna do the next one?’
    Lewis jumped up and down excitedly, his face the picture of ecstasy as he pulled a toy train out of its wrapping. It was a moving sight. Maybe Ted was right when he’d said that their materialistic lifestyle was all pointless without the addition of a family to share it with. It wouldbe nice to see her husband doing this kind of thing with their own son. Chantal smiled to herself. Perhaps, after all, she was going soft in her old age.
    She guided Lewis as he hooked the perfectly formed miniature train over a branch, then gave him a squeeze. ‘Good work, champ.’
    Chantal then turned to her friend. ‘We’re nearly done here. I’ll