Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham

Author:Madeleine Wickham
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Ralph Allsopp lifted his head from the chair he was sitting in and looked towards the window. Outside, the sky was beginning to darken, and the street lights of the square were beginning to come on. He reached for a lamp and switched it on, and immediately the dim room brightened.

“Is there a problem?” said Neil Cooper, glancing up from his papers.

“No,” said Ralph. “I just thought I heard something. Probably nothing.” He smiled. “Carry on.”

“Yes,” said Neil Cooper. He was a young man, with a severe haircut and a rather nervous manner. “Well, as I was explaining, I think your easiest option, in this instance, is to add a short codicil to the will.”

“I see,” said Ralph. He stared at the panes of the window, wet with London rain. Wills, he thought, were like family life itself. They started off small and simple— then expanded over the years with marriage and children; grew even more complex with infidelity; with accumulated wealth; with divided loyalties. His own will was now the size of a small book. A conventional family saga.

But his life had not been a mere conventional family saga.

“A romance,” he said aloud.

“I’m sorry?” said Neil Cooper.

“Nothing,” said Ralph, shaking his head as though to clear it. “A codicil. Yes. And can I draw that up now?”

“Absolutely,” said the lawyer, and clicked his pen expectantly. “If you give me, first of all, the name of the beneficiary?”

There was silence. Ralph closed his eyes, then opened them and exhaled sharply.

“The beneficiary’s name is Roxanne,” he said, and his hand tightened slightly around the arm of his chair. “Miss Roxanne Miller.”

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