Free Least Said by Pamela Fudge Page A

extravagant, is that it?’
    I nodded, and wrapped my hands more tightly around my drink, trying to warm hands that were suddenly as cold as the rest of me as I took a reality check. Just exactly how much had we spent? A horrible vision abruptly came to me of the credit card being passed back and forth, willy-nilly and with a frequency that was suddenly frightening to recall.
    ‘Jon said,’ Tina’s was the voice of authority as she parroted his words back to me, ‘“Wendy is to have whatever she wants, Tina, no expense spared.” That’s what he said and I was simply making sure his orders were carried out. He’ll be fine ,’ she said airily.
    I was sure he would be, but we had been discussing taking a proper holiday, and also recently had been busy trying to create a second child. How would we afford either if I’d spent all of our nest egg filling my wardrobe with designer clothes?
    Just then the Paninis arrived and, at the same time, I recalled the receipts carefully stored away in my purse and reminded myself that I could simply take everything back. A quick day return trip on the train would see the money back in the bank and Tina none the wiser.
    It was as if she’d read my mind again and I almost choked on a mouthful of piping hot Panini when she said sternly, ‘Don’t even think about taking anything back. Not a single thing – do you hear me? Jon isn’t the only one who works hard, Wendy, you do too, and you hardly ever treat yourself.’
    Tina glared at me and I couldn’t even look her in the eye.
    ‘When we get home,’ she ordered, ‘I want to see you try everything on – and I do mean everything – and let Jon see what you’ve bought. Let’s see what he has to say. OK?’
    Tina made sure that I did exactly that and I felt like such an idiot trailing back and forth in my newly acquired finery, which meant that not just Jon, but Calum, too, could voice an opinion on every garment and insist in unison that there wasn’t a single one that didn’t suit me. This dress brought out the colour of my eyes, those trousers gave me a bottom that even Beyoncé would envy, and those shoes made my legs seem endless. The compliments got more and more outrageous but, though I was laughing along with everyone else, every time I even stabbed a guess at how much I might have spent in total I felt sick to my stomach.
    Even William staring at me, clearly awestruck by the glamorously garbed mummy, and piping up, ‘You look just like a princess,’ didn’t totally dispel the unease I felt at my extravagance.
    ‘Come on, now,’ Jon coaxed, as we made our way upstairs to get ready for our evening out. ‘What’s bothering you, because something is, isn’t it?’
    ‘Everything was very expensive, Jon,’ I said, knowing guilt was written clearly across my face. ‘I never go in those kinds of shops, had never even heard of most of them. You couldn’t find a price tag for love nor money, so I have no idea how much I’ve spent – except that it will have been way too much.’
    Jon closed the bedroom door behind us and pulling me to him, he held me close and rested his chin on the top of my head. His laughter rumbled against my ear and I could hear it in his voice as he said, ‘If you bothered to keep an eye on our finances, my lovely, and didn’t just leave it all to me, you would know that a few clothes and pairs of shoes aren’t going to break the bank – however expensive they are.’
    ‘But there’s the holiday, and we’re trying for another baby...’
    ‘Mmmm, so we are,’ his arms tightened and he grinned wolfishly as he wondered out loud, ‘I wonder if we have time to be work on that before the taxi gets here.’
    ‘Be serious,’ I pushed him away, ‘we won’t be able to afford either if I waste all our money on – on fripperies.’
    Jon roared with laughter. ‘You talk as if we’re practically penniless – or will be if you buy a designer label or two. Will you trust me when I tell