Still Thinking of You by Adele Parks Read Free Book Online Page B

possibly the worst culprit of all for last-minute blowouts.
    Sophie used to grumble about that all the time. She used to say that he ruined her social life. He never understood that. Why, if he had to work late, couldn’t she go along to Kate and Ted’s without him? When he used to ask her that she would reply that she’d rather spend an evening with her own friends, and then he’d ask, ‘Well, why don’t you?’ She’d always argued that she never planned to see her own friends because they always had plans to see his, plans that he always cancelled at the last minute.
    He could replay these rows word for word. She must have plenty of time to spend with her own friends now. She never understood just how demanding his work was. Bitch. At least Greta got that about him. She knew that he, and what he did, was important.
    Lloyd thought it was peculiarly poignant that the gang used to call him ‘Checkers’ because everything in his life was black and white, and he was always a step ahead of the crowd. Since he and Sophie split up, everything was a blurred, indistinguishable mass of greys. He felt he was way off-track. If life was a race, he was falling behind.
    Sophie had kicked Lloyd out of his home one year, one month, two weeks ago. She’d shouted that he was useless, neglectful and hurtful. She’d yelled that she was sick of trying to win his attention, let alone his approval. She’d cried she was exhausted, sick of doing everything for the baby on her own, while still trying to keep her own career afloat. He’d pointed out that things were easier for her in her career than they were for him in his because she worked at home and for herself. She argued that this just made things scarier; there was no such thing as a coasting day. She’d also argued that she was the biggest breadwinner and therefore what she did was important. She never actually said more important, but she thought it. He knew she thought it.
    For fuck’s sake, she organized parties.
    It was supposed to be a little part-time something-to-do job that would fit around their future family. Who would have thought that the vol-au-vent eating population was so greedy? There seemed to be a party every night, which left Sophie little time to support Lloyd in his career. She knew that was what he expected of her. They’d talked about it at the beginning of their relationship, way back when. A civil servant needed a wife that supported him, not one with her own career. When he’d argued this, Sophie had said, ‘I have two words for you, Lloyd: “Cherie Blair”.’ Very funny. The last two words she’d flung at him were not as considered.
    Soon, it wasn’t just the staff and catering that Sophie organized, but the flowers and photographers. In some cases she helped the hostess to find the perfect outfit. The company grew so fast and efficiently that she was able to franchise the name and take a cut of four more companies doing the same thing in different areas of London. In her third year, Sophie made a profit of over £ 170,000. Just for throwing parties. It didn’t seem right.
    There was no way that Lloyd would ever earn that much in his field. Civil servants earned next to nothing. While he missed the money that Sophie had earned, he didn’t miss the fact that Sophie earned it. Greta didn’t earn much, but she worked as a research assistant in his department, so she saw that what Lloyd did was important. He was involved in real issues – management of funding in retirement homes for the elderly, the overhaul in the nursery voucher system, for example. Sometimes, he paper-shuffled and argued about a change in the days that the bin men collected the rubbish, but everyone had to start somewhere. Greta saw he was powerful, authoritative and significant. Greta knew that she didn’t buy a big share of voice in their relationship, and it suited them both.
    Lloyd didn’t regret his affair with Greta. He didn’t even regret Sophie finding out. Most