Hope had to park miles back down the church lane as there were so many cars parked on verges. She had been making last minute preparations to make sure that her house was perfect for when everyone arrived back there for the wake. Jack-the-Lad had stayed behind so that there was somebody there when the first mourners arrived.
She kicked off her black stilettos, put them in her hand, and ran as fast as she could, laughing to herself that she would probably be even late for her own funeral. As she breathlessly reached the church gates, she noticed a lone figure standing there, crying.
She recognized the mini-skirted blonde from Jess’s fiftieth. ‘What the fuck do you think you are doing here?’ Hope spat.
‘I had to say goodbye, I loved him so much,’ Cherry sobbed.
‘Well I suggest you turn right around and say your goodbyes somewhere else.’
Hope was furious and continued venomously. ‘How dare you even think of coming here, when my beautiful friend is about to bury her husband.’
Cherry saw red. ‘Well maybe you want to tell your beautiful friend that I wasn’t the only one. It’s common knowledge at work that he’d been shagging half of Berkshire before he ever set eyes on me.’
Hope was incensed. ‘You are one sick slag, now piss off and go and crawl back under the rock you came from.’
‘You’ll see,’ Cherry shouted after Hope as she ran into the church. ‘You’ll see.’