Isabella
Girl Gang WhatsApp group
Rosie: Anyone fancy Story Stars tonight?
Wren: Fox is reading so the yummy mummies will be here.
Amber: Can’t. Am training the squad on card machines.
Isabella: Can’t. Am doing my food hygiene certificate online with Nonna.
Rosie: Jesse gone?
Isabella: Jesse flew to Paris for a meeting.
Rosie: Gabi gone too?
Isabella: Gabi went to America to free dive through a cave for a celebrity advert where the celebrity can’t actually swim.
Rosie: Shame. Etienne and Walker might pop in too. . . Sure you can’t make it?
Wren: We all know what too much work and no play makes. . .
Isabella: Yes. A successful restaurant.
Amber: Well said, sister.
Isabella put the phone down with a sigh and a twinge of regret that she couldn’t join them. She hadn’t seen anything of Etienne since he saw a lot of her in the cloakroom. And that was fine, because she’d been more focused and more driven and had slept better than she had in weeks, maybe months, since their mind-blowing non-sex.
He was the first person to touch her since Daniel. She had never thought of her married sex life as boring. They’d had a regular sex life, maybe twice or three times a week. Of course, she knew now that while she might have been having sex twice or three times a week, he was having it a lot more. But she’d been content. The sex was good. Maybe a bit routine, but good. But now, having been touched and turned and tweaked by Etienne, she thought maybe it had been a bit. . . pedestrian. Run-of-the-mill. A bit, dare she say. . . missionary. Daniel had never, and would never, think about pressing her to the wall in a cloakroom. He would wait until they got home and had locked the door and gone upstairs to bed. ‘More comfortable,’ she could hear him saying.
She’d not texted Etienne since that night, almost a week ago. She wanted to ration herself. Only give in when her sexual appetite really needed satisfying. That way, the rest of the time she could focus on what mattered. The restaurant.
It had been a productive week. She’d applied for her premises licence and personal licence so that she could sell alcohol. She’d scheduled a date for the Environmental Health Department inspection. She’d registered her food business and smiled at the sight of it in black and white.Tutto Mio Restaurant. Proprietor Ms Isabella Tucci.
But the paperwork that went with it seemed never-ending and Isabella had to steel herself to stay focused and plough through endless sections on hygiene, allergens and food storage. Before she reached the end, Nonna nudged her hard in the ribs and she realised she was asleep.
When they’d started the course after lunch, she could hear Amber whooping downstairs every now and then, when another member of the team managed a successful transaction on the card machine. She wished she had something as exciting to do up in the flat now that might keep her awake. She knewonething that would keep her awake, but she was trying not to think about him.
She refocused her eyes and her efforts; half an hour later she punched the air as she closed her laptop.
‘Done!’ she said.
‘Wondered what was taking you so long,’ said Nonna and Isabella realised she’d already finished and was now playing online poker.
Isabella stood and stretched, feeling like she used to at uni after pulling an all-nighter. She wanted to go and let off steam.
‘Want to go out for dinner, Nonna? Check out the competition?’ she asked. Nonna patted her arm as she too closed her laptop.
‘Sorry. I’m booked in to tai chi at eight.’ She struck a pose, looking at something in the middle distance while lifting one leg in front of her. Isabella wondered where she got the energy.
She checked her watch and remembered Wren’s earlier invitation but it was approaching seven; Story Stars would be over. They’d be closing up and taking Riley home to bed. And Amber would be home with Jayden.
She drummed her fingers on the bar and considered her options. She could go downstairs and find a windowsill that still needed painting. She could luxuriate in a hot bath with a face pack and a hair mask. She could ring Gabi and Jesse and have a long gossipy catch-up. Or she could do what she truly wanted to do, and text Etienne to see if he wanted ‘part two’.
Maybe it was the fact she’d been sitting still all day that she felt the need to go and do something wild. Maybe it was because it had been a week without feeling his skin on hers and that was long enough. It wasn’t technically sex after all. It was fun. And she deserved it after all the work she’d done that week.
Nonna came back downstairs wearing purple sparkly leggings and a sweatband round her head. She dashed a slick of fuchsia lipstick on as she picked up her house keys and then threw a wave over her shoulder. Isabella listened to the front door close and then lifted her phone.
