Chapter 45

I sit gracefully, sipping the red wine I poured myself, and patiently watch the cleaners running around with buckets of solution and cloths as they wipe down every surface in sight. They have been at it all day, and this place stinks of bleach and cleaning products, so much so it’s stinging my eyes, but it’s a whole lot fresher, and I can see. Now the new lights have been installed overhead. Tapping my newly manicured pearlescent grey nails on the bar and throwing back my glossy red vixen hair I missed so much, I feel like the old me again.

The bar is gleaming, and every chrome fitting in sight is mirror sparkling. Somehow, with the switchover of bulbs, the room feels cosier, less stale and musty, and the man who came to inspect for mould has treated a couple of areas ready for the repaint. The air is breathable once more, and I had them burn all the bedding from the boudoirs this morning out in the car lot… along with that filthy vibrator.

There’s a whopping chandelier