Elizabeth Young A Promising Man

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.Then an unoccupied cab appeared, the first we'd seen.We hailed it both together."You grab it," I said."If you stand here any longer in those trousers, you might get arrested.""I'll take a chance."Just as I was about to get in, John caught my wrist."Take care," he said."And thanks for coming.""I enjoyed it." I enjoyed the next bit even more.As if he did it every day, he put a finger very lightlyunder my chin in a manner they should teach at evening classes in How to Make Women Go All Fluttery,tilted my face up, and kissed me very lightly.On the cheek, damn him.He stood on the pavement as the cab pulled out, and waved, and I waved back.Once he was out ofsight, I sat back, put my finger to my cheek where he'd kissed me, and thought, What the hell am Igetting myself into?Not that I was exactly into anything yet.Half a mile down the road, the buzz was already fading.In fact, I felt a bit like a seven-year-old who'sjust opened a present and been cruelly disappointed.You're dying for Barbie's Wonder Horse with hissaddle and things for brushing his mane; you've been dropping colossal hints about Wonder Horse, andyour target grown-up's made tutting noises and said it was terribly expensive for a bit of plastic, you'd getbored with a plastic horse in five minutes.But you think target grown-up might have got it anyway,especially when you see a present just the right size for Wonder Horse.So your heart goesboing, yippee! And you open it to find a sensible, educational kiton Discovering Nature.Ten percent of me, of course, had still been hoping he'd say, "Oh,Nina !" with a little laugh."Oh, she'sjust an old friend/a pain in the arse second cousin I felt obliged to catch up with."Still, it served me right for hoping for Wonder Horse, when I'd known all along it was going to beDiscovering Nature.Who wanted to brush his mane anyway, if Nina was going to be playing with himtomorrow, stroking his fetlocks and everything? These metaphors were unfortunate, as they led to imagesI could have done without, e.g., Nina stroking his tail, never mind sitting astride and practicing her risingtrot&It would be just typical of Jacko to be right.And if he'd seen the way I was carrying on in that bar, Iknew exactly what he'd have said: "Harry, you were giving off more signals than Clapham Junction in therush hour."So much for the Tantalizingly Elusive bit.On the other hand, if he'd given a "correct" reply, would I have believed him? After all, "pain in the arsesecond cousin" was exactly the sort of thing an on-the-ball smootharse would say, especially if he was inthe habit of smootharsing and had seventeen assorted excuses at his disposal.Maybe it really wasn't going anywhere.Maybe he'd wanted to say, "Actually, she's a bit of a pain andI'm going to dump her," but had thought it would sound callously ungallant and put me off.This gratifyingGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlnotion perked me up all the way home, where my mind was soon taken off Wonder Horse.The instant I was inside, Sally came from the kitchen, shutting the door behind her."Thank God you'reback," she whispered."Helen's here you'll never believe what she's done."Helen was sitting at the kitchen table with a nearly empty bottle of wine.She looked up at me."I did what you said."I gaped at her, uncomprehending."What you said," she repeated."I told Lawrence he could have custody of the twins.""What?""Well, I didn't tell him to hisface." She spoke with the careful enunciation of someone who's had a fewand is trying to sound as if they haven't."When he came to pick the boys up I said I wouldn't be here onthe Monday night, so he'd have to have them after school.He was having them till Monday morninganyway.""So you haven't actually said it?""I have." She took another mouthful of supersave Lambrusco."I wrote him a letter.I was going to askwhat you thought of the wording, but you were on your way out, so I just went and posted it before Ichanged my mind [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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