Landfall by Helen Gordon

Author:Helen Gordon [Gordon, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141969664
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2010-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

Alice read the message again: Peter was engaged. It was inconceivable, she realized, for Peter to be engaged. Only in some alternative universe where she and he and everyone they knew had been replaced by alien life forms could Peter be engaged. She lay down on her bed, staring at the pink and lavender wallpaper, and heard the front door open and close and Emily’s footsteps in the hallway.

I can’t believe you’re going on a date with my ex, said Janey, interrupting her musings. That’s totally messed up. Janey was sitting on the desk next to the laptop and cleaning the dirt from underneath her nails with a pair of scissors. Alice shrugged with more nonchalance than she felt. ‘You always argued. It wouldn’t have lasted. I’m bored. Also, not to piss you off or anything, but you’re not really here, are you? You’re not about to date him again.’ That, said Janey, is so not the point. She narrowed her eyes. You can’t just forget about me. You can’t just pretend I never happened.

She could, perhaps, pretend that the email had never happened. She could wrap it up in black cloth and put it in a box of things never to be talked about again, things never to be picked up and dusted off and displayed on a mantelpiece for visitors to see. Maybe it would all work out fine.

There was a knock at the door and Emily came in and then stopped and looked confused. ‘Sorry, I thought you were on the phone.’ She perched on the edge of the bed, picked up Alice’s hairbrush and began smoothing down her hair. She looked so much younger without any make-up and in the neatly pleated grey skirt, pale blue blouse and royal blue blazer, and it was always rather miraculous to see her emerge each morning from the chaotic house looking so serious and well scrubbed.

‘Good day?’

Emily shook her head. ‘The day pretty much sucked. Kara – you know that girl I was telling you about – we had to partner in double science and she just goes on and on about her brother, Luke, like he’s the coolest thing ever or something. It’s so amazingly dull. Luke, Luke, Luke.’

‘I thought Kara was your new best friend?’

‘Ha! Yeah right. She is so totally self-involved. And she always has to be in charge of everything we do. She bosses Laura and Anita around the whole time and they don’t even say anything.’

Emily reached over to Alice and touched her hair. ‘You need a trim.’ She began working with the brush. ‘In fact, when did you last wash this at all?’

Alice shrugged, wincing as Emily snagged a tangle.

‘So don’t take this the wrong way, but when you went out earlier? You didn’t look like this? I mean you’d gotten dressed, right?’

‘I am dressed.’ Alice looked down at herself. It was true that she was wearing a pair of pyjama bottoms, but they were thick, towelling ones. Sweatpants almost. She also had

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.