The Chocolate Lovers' Diet Read Online Free PDF Page B

just tidy the boxes away.’ She noticed that Nadia’s eyes had filled with tears. ‘Then I think you and I should put our feet up, open some festive champagne and some of Clive’s finest chocolates, and drink a toast to our future.’
    ‘I’m frightened to think what mine might hold,’ Nadia admitted quietly.
    ‘We’ll both work something out, I’m sure,’ Chantal said, as she took her friend’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. But her voice didn’t sound convincing, even to herself.

Chapter Seven
    B ack at The Chocolate Lovers’ Club, as it’s Christmas Eve, we exchange presents. Autumn gives us all a selection of Fairtrade chocolates. I love the idea of Doing Good while eating chocolate. Frankly, there are cocoa-bean farmers living in tin shacks all around the Equator who rely solely on my emotional crises for their livelihood. I’m already doing my bit for the world economy. If I had a quiet life, they’d all be bankrupt.
    Nadia gives me a book of chocolate recipes. Chantal has found us all trendy T-shirts dyed with cocoa beans on one of her trips to America. They smell divine and are a delicious shade of chocolate, and I’d definitely be tempted to eat mine if I was desperate – which I frequently am. I take a moment to wonder what Crush would have bought me if we’d still been a couple this Christmas – something wonderful, I think – and I feel my heart squeeze painfully once more. I try to push the vision of his bare bottom and his comely companion to the back of my mind. I will not waste time fretting over yet another man.
    We coo over our respective gifts, much kissing and hugging ensues and then we return to the job in hand.Clive has brought us all a slice of chocolate cheesecake with a sublimely smooth topping of his salted caramel that’s just waiting to be devoured. He’s already closed Chocolate Heaven for the evening, so now we’re his favoured guests. Chantal has paid for a babysitter for Lewis so that Nadia is able to join us. We wouldn’t want her missing out on this, our last choc-fest before Christmas. Our host hands round the chocolate vodka and we top up our shot glasses.
    ‘Where’s Tristan tonight?’ I ask.
    Clive looks discomfited. ‘He’s already left,’ he tells us. ‘He’s spending Christmas with his family.’
    We’re all taken aback. I stop pouring my vodka mid-flow. ‘You’re not going to be together?’
    ‘Well,’ Clive says with an uncomfortable cough, ‘things are a little difficult between us at the moment.’
    This is the first we’ve heard about this. Clive and Tristan seemed to be the only ones around here who’d got their shit together. How depressing to think that relationship difficulties aren’t purely down to the battle of the sexes.
    ‘You’re not going to be alone?’ Although I’m sorry that Clive won’t be spending Christmas with his loved one, there is a little glimmer of hope that I might have found another sad sack single to spend my holidays with. It won’t just be me and
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
after all. Hurrah. I could save my Cadbury’s Selection Box for a rainy day, as Clive is bound to bring great truffles!
    ‘I’ve already made alternative arrangements,’ Clive tells us mysteriously.
    My heart sinks. And then Clive looks all embarrassed, so he disappears off into the back of the shop.
    ‘Lucy?’ Chantal is fixing me with a quizzical stare. ‘You
have
got plans for tomorrow?’
    ‘Oh, yes,’ I say. ‘Most definitely. I have plans.’
    ‘Plans that don’t involve Marcus?’
    I feel myself flush. ‘Why on earth would I be seeing Marcus?’
    ‘Because he’s always your fall-back guy, Lucy.’
    ‘You haven’t called him, have you?’ Nadia says, eyeing me suspiciously. ‘Tell me you haven’t.’
    ‘No,’ I say, but even I can spot the hesitancy there. ‘
I
haven’t called
him
.’
    They all lean forward, frowns in place. ‘But?’
    I shift uncomfortably in my seat. ‘He called me.’
    The girls