Free A Time for Friends by Patricia Scanlan Page B

go?’ Colette looked at her, astonished.
    ‘Because I’ve two children in school and a business to run,’ Hilary said drily.
    ‘What a pain having to stay behind. I love going abroad with Des. He gets to do all the hard work and I get to swan around shopping and enjoying myself!’ Colette said smugly.
    ‘You have a housekeeper and a nanny and you don’t work full days outside the home,’ Hilary pointed out.
You don’t work in the home either
, she thought nastily
and then felt like a heel. She was being mean to her friend for no reason at all.
    ‘True! My part time consultancy hours mean I can suit myself. Can’t you get someone else to run your dad’s shop?’ Colette always called it the shop, never the showrooms
or the business.
    ‘Aah, I wouldn’t do that to him and besides we’re very, very busy – business is starting to boom with all this Celtic Tiger stuff. We’re supplying a lot of hotels
now. There are so many opening, I don’t know where they’re going to get the people to stay in them.’
    ‘I know! London’s buzzing! Des is making a mint in bonuses even if he is working practically 24/7. When you think of that terrible recession we grew up in in the eighties it’s
hard to believe. Dickon and Austen’s have had to take on four new staff to cope with the demand for fine art.’
    Hilary raised her glass. ‘Here’s to progress and good times!’ she toasted, just as Jonathan emerged onto the patio with Colette’s meal.
    ‘I’ll drink to that,’ he declared, placing the steak in front of her. ‘Here’s a herb butter sauce as an accompaniment. I raided your herb garden, Hilary,’ he
said, pointing to the large fragrant herb-filled planter on the patio. ‘I’ll be back in a sec with the salad and more champers.’
    ‘It smells divine.’ Hilary inhaled the aromas wafting across the table.
    ‘It tastes delicious,’ Colette admitted grudgingly, chewing on a piece of the succulent tender steak, which was cooked just the way she liked it.
    ‘I’ll just raise my glass to good times and then I’ll leave you in peace. I’m sure you have lots to catch up on,’ Jonathan said diplomatically, placing
Colette’s artistically arranged side salad beside her plate and refilling their glasses.
    ‘Aw, just sit down for another little while. Colette’s interest is in fine arts. She’s a consultant in a prestigious gallery in London, and she’s always seeing famous
people,’ Hilary said, knowing that her friend loved name-dropping all the famous people who had been clients or who she’d met at viewings and launches.
    Colette rose to the bait, as Hilary knew she would. ‘Oh well last week, would you believe, I saw Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter having dinner in San Lorenzo. I was dining with a
client. Des and I eat there regularly—’
    ‘Do you ever see Princess Di there?’ Jonathan asked eagerly. He loved Princess Diana and followed her progress in
Hello!
which he always bought when she was on the
cover.
    ‘Often,’ Colette shrugged. ‘And I’ve seen her shopping on the High Street. Always immaculate and so stylish, even in her casual clothes.’
    ‘Wow!’ Jonathan sat down and sipped his champagne.
    ‘And I was at a gallery exhibition recently and Helen Mirren was there. And I’ve seen Elton John too.’ Colette speared a piece of cucumber and lettuce. Whatever Jonathan had
drizzled over it, it was a crisp and very tasty salad.
    ‘Helen Mirren, she is DIVINE!’ Jonathan enthused and Hilary smiled to herself as Colette relaxed and continued to regale Jonathan with anecdotes about her well-to-do life in
London.
    Just as well Niall isn’t here
.
He would have been bored out of his tree
, she thought, having watched her husband’s eyes glaze over often enough when Colette and Des
set out to impress.
    ‘I really must go,’ Jonathan said a couple of hours later. Dusk had changed to darkness and the candles and lanterns that Hilary had lit illuminated the