The Christmas Party Read Online Free PDF Page B

start tonight.’
    She felt herself brighten. ‘Do you think we could? At the Christmas party? They’re always so dull.’
    ‘We can liven it up. A few drinks, a bit of dancing. Could be just what we need.’ He pulled her to her feet and held her tightly, swaying in time to non-existent music. ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year,’ he sang tunelessly as they danced.
    She laughed. Kirsten didn’t think Tyler really enjoyed Christmas, any more than she did. It was something to get through rather than to be enjoyed.
    ‘I’ve had your suit cleaned,’ she told him. ‘It’s hanging in the dressing room.’
    ‘That’s why you’re my favourite wife,’ he teased. Putting his hands gently on her bare shoulders, he kissed her neck. ‘Let’s have fun tonight.’
    It seemed like a long time since they’d had fun together. Maybe Tyler was right: she should just let her hundred-and-fifty-pound-plus-tip hair down tonight.
    ‘Let’s,’ she said. Her hand covered his. ‘If we both try, it could be like old times.’
    ‘Yes. It will be. Definitely.’ Another kiss and he moved away from her.
    ‘Just promise me you won’t abandon me the minute you get there and talk about work all night.’
    ‘Of course I won’t.’ But Tyler was already searching in the drawer for his cufflinks. He found them with a cry of ‘Ah-ha!’ and disappeared in search of his dinner suit.
    Kirsten sat down again and put on her necklace. A thin gold strand with a single one-carat diamond hanging from it. Christmas present from two years ago? Quite possibly. Idly, she wondered what Tyler might have bought her this year. The value of his presents always went up in direct proportion to the amount of bad behaviour that he had to apologise for. Most years it meant something sparkly with diamonds. At the very least, this last twelve months should secure her an extravagant bracelet under the tree.
    Tyler came out of the dressing room, in his shirt now and fiddling with his cufflinks. ‘Can you fasten these, darling?’
    She didn’t remember buying him these ones, but had never had the nerve to ask where they’d come from. Some questions you really didn’t want answered. He proffered his wrists and she fastened them for him.
    He slipped on his jacket and tugged the cuffs into place. ‘That’s me ready.’
    ‘You look very handsome,’ she told him truthfully.
    ‘We’d better get a move on.’
    Throughout their marriage, Tyler had very much lived his own life. Half the time, she never knew where he was. There seemed to have been a little less gadding about since he’d been at the office in Milton Keynes, but she wondered how long it would last. Not long, if she was reading the signs right – and she was a past master at that.
    ‘Louise offered to book us a hotel overnight,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘I thought you’d want to come home, but I left it open. I know you rarely drink at these things, anyway.’
    That was true enough. She felt ridiculously superior when everyone else was falling about paralytic, saying the most stupid things, and she was the only one stone-cold sober. Perhaps that was the flaw in her plan. A couple of well-aimed glasses of champagne could cheer her up considerably.
    ‘If we’re going to have fun, party-party and all that, then you might fancy a glass or two. Lance has laid on a free bar for the staff. Madness. That will ensure everyone’s pissed out of their head within an hour.’
    ‘Including Lance?’
    Tyler shrugged. ‘As always.’
    ‘I’ll see how it goes,’ Kirsten said.
    ‘Hotel or cab home, either suits me. Put a few things in a bag. You don’t have to drive. Louise can fix something up if you change your mind.’
    Tyler talked about his new secretary too often. He dropped her name into the conversation too casually and at every opportunity. That was always a warning sign. The last secretary had been Debbie and he’d done the very same with her. Debbie this, Debbie that and,