Shop 5 - Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella

Author:Sophie Kinsella
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2008-01-15T15:39:10+00:00

I arrive home that evening to find a dark, empty flat and no Luke. He’s with her immediately shoots through my mind.

No. He’s not. Stop it. I make myself a sandwich, kick off my shoes, and curl up on the sofa with the remote. As I’m flicking down the channels looking for Birth Stories, which I’m addicted to (only I have to watch the crucial bit through my fingers), the phone rings.

“Hi.” It’s Luke, sounding hurried. “Becky, I forgot to remind you—I’m out at the Finance Awards. I’ll be back late.”

“Oh, right.” Now I remember—I did know about the Finance Awards. In fact, Luke invited me, but I couldn’t face an evening of boring old fund managers. “OK. I’ll see you then. Luke…”

I break off, my heart thumping. I don’t know what I want to say, let alone how to say it.

“I have to go.” Luke hasn’t even noticed my troubled silence. “See you later.”

“Luke…” I try again, but the line’s already dead.

I stare into space for a while, imagining the perfect conversation in which Luke asked me what was wrong and I said, Oh nothing, and he said, Yes there is, and it ended with him saying he totally loved me and Venetia was really ugly and how about we fly to Paris tomorrow?

A blaring theme song from the TV drags me from my daze and I look up at the screen. Somehow I’ve gone too far down the cable list, and I’m on some obscure business and finance channel. I’m just trying to remember the number for the Living Channel, when my attention is drawn to the screen by a portly guy in a dinner jacket. I recognize him. It’s Alan Proctor from Foreland Investments. And there’s that girl Jill from Portfolio Management, sitting next to him. What on earth…

I don’t believe it. The Finance Awards are actually being televised! On some cable channel which nobody ever watches—but still! I sit up and focus on the screen. Maybe I’ll see Luke!

“And we’re live from Grosvenor House at this year’s Finance Awards….” an announcer is saying. “The venue has been changed this year due to increased numbers….”

Just for fun, I reach for the phone and speed-dial Luke. The camera pans around the ballroom and I scan the screen intently, looking at all the black-tied people sitting at tables. There’s Philip, my old editor at Successful Saving, swigging back the wine. And that girl from Lloyds who always used to wear the same green suit to press conferences…

“Hi, Becky,” Luke answers abruptly. “Is everything OK?”

“Hi!” I say. “I just wondered how it’s going at the Finance Awards?”

I’m waiting for the camera to pan to Luke. Then I can say, “Guess what, I’m watching you!”

“Oh…the same old, same old,” Luke says after a pause. “Packed room at the Dorchester…gruesome crowds…”

The Dorchester?

I stare at the phone for a moment. Then, feeling hot and cold, I press my ear hard to the receiver. I can’t hear any background babble. He’s not in a crowded ballroom, is he?

He’s lying.

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