slow. “But perhaps I’d better not,” I added and then hurried out of the shop.
Back at the car I suddenly found the tears were slowly sliding down my face as I savoured my lovely mohito-cream-centred chocolate, which was the yummiest so far. I was already down one dress size and David kept telling me how much better I looked already – so why did I feel so unhappy all the time? Even Annie remarked that I wasn’t the fun Katy she used to know and if I turned into a stick-thin bride, then she would look like the biggest bridesmaid in the world in contrast.
“Don’t be daft,” I’d said, “I’m sure David will settle for a generous size twelve, because there’s no way I can get any slimmer than that.”
And if he really loved me, he would settle for that. I stuffed the empty cellophane bag in the glove compartment, dried my tears and set off home, making a mental note to tell Nick next time that his mohito-flavoured chocolates were destined to be a major seller!
*
“If you don’t mind my saying so, you’re looking thinner lately,” Nick said a couple of weeks later. “I hope you’re not ill?”
“No, not at all – in fact I’m glad it’s noticeable,” I said, then found myself pouring out to him the story of David’s Christmas gift, how hard I was finding losing weight and how miserable it was making me feel.
“He thought it was what I wanted – and I do want him to feel proud of me on our wedding day.” I felt my eyes fill with tears. “Sorry, I don’t know what’s got into me lately! I’m usually a happy, bubbly person.”
“Low blood sugar,” he said reassuringly.
“Oh, do you think so?”
“Definitely. Here, try this new dark chocolate mint julep cream.” He handed me a glass dish of butterfly-shaped chocolates. “And you looked the perfect weight to me the very first time I saw you – not all men like the walking skeletons, you know!”
“Thank you, Nick,” I said, surprised and pleased, “I only wish David felt the same way as you and-” I broke off, noticing the empty dish in my hands. “Oh dear, I seem to have eaten all of these!”
“I’ll take that as another winning flavour then, shall I?” he said, grinning.
*
“Annie,” I said, while we were preparing a Silver Wedding buffet, “you know I go to Fatbusters every week?”
She looked up from a tray of perfect mini-meringues and raised one eyebrow. “Yes, and you know what I think about David wanting you lose weight before you set the date for the wedding.”
“He didn’t mean it like that – but let’s not go there,” I said hastily, because I was beginning to get the uneasy feeling that she might be right. “The thing is, I’ve been cheating all the time!”
“What, with another man?” she demanded, looking startled.
“No, of course it’s not another man,” I said, going slightly pink. “It’s just that I’ve been stopping off at Nick’s Chocolate Heaven right after every Fatbusters class, though I only buy one single chocolate each time.”
“You little devil, you!”
“No, seriously Annie: do you think I would lose weight faster if I cut the chocolate out? Only I do look forward to it and I think it keeps me going.”
But my heart was sinking at the very thought and it suddenly occurred to me that I would miss my chat with Nick as much as the chocolate.
“Don’t be daft, how can one chocolate hurt?” she said cheerfully.
“Sometimes it’s more than one,” I confessed. “Nick saves some for me to try when he’s been experimenting with new flavours – the mohito cream one is to die for!”
She stopped piping cream onto the half meringues and stared at me. “Does he, indeed?”
“We’ve become friendly – he’s a really kind, nice person.”
“That’s more than you can say about David, giving you diet class vouchers for a Christmas present!”
“It wasn’t tactful, but his intentions were good,” I said defensively.
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Katy,” she said. “I think you’re much better off in heaven from the sound of it – Nick’s Chocolate Heaven!”
*
It was inevitable that on the day I picked David up in my car while his was at the garage, the lid of the glove box should finally succumb to internal pressure and fly open, decanting an avalanche of little cellophane bags into his lap, each one betrayingly stamped in silver with ‘Nick’s Chocolate Heaven’.
I slowly turned the ignition key off again and in the resulting silence he said quietly, “If you really loved me and wanted us to get married, Katy, you wouldn’t cheat.”
“And if you truly loved me, you’d love me just the way I am!” I snapped back. “I mean, what if I said I only liked men with a full head of hair and I wouldn’t marry you unless you had a hair transplant where it’s started thinning?”
*
“And that was the end of the engagement,” I said ruefully to Nick, having gone straight to his shop after the argument. And then, since he burst out laughing, I finally saw the funny side and began to smile too.
“I’m sorry, Katy,” he said, “but you only told him exactly what I’d been thinking all these weeks.”
“What, that my fiancée should get a hair transplant?”
“No, that if your fiancée truly loved you, he’d love you just the way you were, which was perfect, as far as I was concerned.”
I blushed slightly. “So, you think I’m too thin now?”
“Nothing a chocolate diet wouldn’t cure.” He offered me his latest creation. “Passionfruit and raspberry fondants.”
“Sounds lovely,” I said, taking one. “And even lovelier is that I never have to go to Fatbusters again! I could book onto your chocolate course now, though, couldn’t I, Nick?”
He looked at me with a glint in those lovely, warm, chocolate-brown eyes: “Oh, I think we should have a couple of one-to-one sessions first, don’t you?” he suggested.
I nodded, my mouth full of fruity fondant: I’m obviously not built to resist sweet temptation!
Previously published by My Weekly
