Page 34 of Strip for Me

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I just found my only friend in the world in bed with my ex-husband,” I tell her, trying to explain.

“What a bitch!” Annie says loudly and a few people look over, unfortunately, they stay glaring at her.

“Sorry about my language!” Annie shouts, and a few people give us dirty looks as we laugh.

“Anyway,” she says pushing the trolley as we walk over to the row of pushchairs and car seats.

“Have you spoken to her?” she asks me, and I shake my head.

“Holy ducks, I wish I could, but no. Whatever friendship we had is lost,” I say sadly as I run my hand over the blue pushchair in front of me.

“Holy ducks?” Annie chuckles out, and I blush. I explain why I say that, and, thankfully, she understands and doesn’t think I’m crazy. We get the rest of the things we need, and the shop offers to deliver it next week to the house.

I exchange numbers with Annie, and I know I’ve found a friend with her. It takes away a little of the sting of losing Liz.

Twenty-Eight

ELLIE

“So, where are you taking me?”I ask Dominic as he drives us into York’s main city. We get stuck in traffic for a while, and the rain is pouring down outside the car. This is my first alone time with Dominic, our first date. I expected it to be awkward when we said goodbye to the guys in the lounge, but it wasn’t. In fact, it was normal.

“Well, we all learnt how to dance first, before removing our clothes, too. I thought you might like to see where we learnt and maybe learn some dance moves,” he says.

“I would like that, but I’m not that good at dancing, nothing on you guys,” I say, blushing when I remember the dance they did last night. I finished my work just in time to watch the last dance. Dominic and Todd were dressed up like sexy policeman, something that I thought would be cheesy, and it turned out it wasn’t. Holy ducks, I couldn’t take my eyes off them as they danced out of every bit of clothing, other than the tight black boxers which I’m glad stayed on. That would not be something I would be okay with. The girls threw cash, underwear, and other questionable things on the stage as the guys danced. I thought itwould make me jealous to see them dance like that, but it didn’t. Well, only a little bit.

“Andre told me the first time he saw you, you were dancing, and it was sexy,” Dominic says and winks at me as I chuckle.

“He had beer goggles on,” I say.

“No, he didn’t. You’re very beautiful, and I bet you can dance,” Dominic says.

“You’ll see,” I chuckle out, ignoring him calling me beautiful because I don’t know how to reply to compliments. After years of never hearing nice things said about me, it’s weird to hear them now.

Dominic drives us slightly out to the other side of the city and stops to park in front of a row of studios. There are three different ones, and a large gym on the other side. The front of the shops are glass, so you can see inside. I haven’t been to this area before, but there are a lot of parked cars and people walking into the building. I wait as Dominic gets a parking ticket for the car, and then we walk into the studio in the middle. The studio is basically one large room. The floors are shiny-white, and the walls are all mirrors. A woman is standing in the middle of the room and smiles when she sees us. She’s dark-skinned, with bouncy, black hair up in a bun, and big, brown eyes. I’m not sure how old she is, but I would guess she is in her late thirties.

“Dominic,” she says and walks over. Dominic holds out a hand, and she shakes it before looking at me.

“Ellie, this is Madam Solaice,” he introduces, and I should have guessed she was the dance instructor by the tabard she is wearing.

“How many times have I told you to call me Amy?” she tuts, her accent sounding foreign, but I’m not sure where from.

“Lovely to meet you, have you come for the beginner dance tonight?” Amy offers me a hand, and I shake it.

“Yes, I’ll be doing it with her,” Dominic answers for me.

“A treat for the ladies then,” Amy chuckles and walks off to the front of the class. For the next hour, she shows us little dance moves and then pairs us up. Everyone in the room stares at Dominic as he leads our dance to the romantic music. I don’t have to be any good at dancing when he’s leading, moving my body, and I can’t look away from his eyes.

“That’s all for today,” Amy says, turning off the music, and we stop moving, still in each other’s arms as we look at each other.

Dominic gently kisses me; a kiss that’s more emotional, than passionate. It surprises me.

“Let’s go home, and I can cook, if you want,” he says, and I nod, a little speechless. My phone rings from my bag when I pick it up, and I pull my phone out to see it’s Liz calling. I miss her and hate her at the same time.

“She’s still calling you?” Dom looks down at my phone as I reject the call.

“Yes, part of me wants to answer because she was my best friend, but most of me knows I can’t forgive her. So, what’s the point?” I tell him.

“I once read a saying in a book, that it’s easier to forgive an enemy than a friend. In many ways, I think that’s true,” he says gently.

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