The Importance of Being Married: A Novel by Townley Gemma

Author:Townley, Gemma [Townley, Gemma]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2008-06-10T04:00:00+00:00

An hour or so later, Helen and I watched from the window as a bashed-up Mini appeared outside our house and Ivana got out of the passenger’s seat. She was wearing a gold lamé dress—the fabric clinging to her ample curves—and her mouth was painted bright red to match her patent-leather stacked heels. Then a lanky man in his thirties got out of the driver’s seat and followed her toward our front door. Immediately Helen’s mobile rang.

“Hello? Yes, I can see you. I’ll press the buzzer.”

I looked up, my heart sinking, as Ivana breezed in, followed by her lanky friend. He had a shock of blond hair that hung down over his face and, when you could see them, watery blue eyes. He smiled gauchely; Ivana stared at me, her eyes narrowing.

“You no look good,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“You’re welcome. You need more advice. Merrege advice?”

“I need to forget all about marriage,” I said, but Helen shushed me.

“Yes, she needs advice,” she said quickly. “We need a new strategy.”

Ivana nodded and pushed the lanky man forward. “So thees is my friend Sean. He arrange merrege. He know about men. Okay?” Sean smiled bashfully and shoved his hands in his pockets. I nodded again, this time a little uncertainly. Did she mean that Sean arranged marriages for a living, or that he was going to arrange my marriage? And what did he know about men? Just that he was one?

“So, who wants tea?” Helen asked, bustling around and taking jackets from Ivana and Sean. “Or coffee? Orange juice?”

“Bleck coffee,” Ivana said.

“Tea, please,” Sean replied. “Milk, two sugar. Cheers love.”

His accent was a strange mix—one part Eastern European, two parts Manchester. He grinned again and I found myself smiling back; I showed them into the sitting room, where Sean sat down on the sofa, his gangling frame filling the frame, while Ivana remained standing, scrutinizing our bookshelf as though looking for clues.

“So,” Ivana said when tea and coffee were duly delivered. “Now, we start.”

I looked at her apprehensively.

“We start?”

“Exectly,” Ivana confirmed. “You tell me exectly vat happen on your date.”

I told her. And then, at her request, I told her about Marcia. I didn’t cast her in a very flattering light.

When I’d finished, she whistled, then turned to Sean. “Vat you think?” she asked him.

He frowned. “It’s tough,” he said.

I sighed. “It’s not tough, it’s easy,” I said. “Anthony must have told Marcia about the date, like it was some joke or something. I’ve never felt so humiliated in my life.”

“Really?” Sean looked at me curiously, then shrugged. “Of course, it’s possible that he was telling the truth and she was texting him about a work thing. Or, it could be that Marcia did know about the date and thought it was a bit of a joke but that Anthony didn’t. She might just be jealous.”

“She might?” I felt a shimmer of hope and tried to ignore it.

“The sex was good?” Sean continued.

I reddened and, despite everyone’s eyes boring into me, I couldn’t stop a little smile from forcing its way onto my face.

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