A Few of the Girls by Maeve Binchy

A Few of the Girls by Maeve Binchy

Author:Maeve Binchy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2016-02-29T16:00:00+00:00


Bella and the Marriage Guidance Counselor

Bella discovered that her husband was unfaithful to her by the purest chance. She wondered often what would have happened if she had never discovered, if she had never gone to the off-license that day for a bottle of sherry. Everything would have been different, or, more accurately, everything would have been the same, and gone on in the same old way, which was what she liked. None of the dramatic happenings would have happened. Life would have been as it always was.

She needed sherry because she was going to make a real, old-fashioned trifle; there was nothing she could use instead. To have put in two glasses of brandy would have been ridiculously wasteful, and gin, she thought, wouldn’t have worked. Beer was out, so she had to go to the off-license, and since it was a nice day she decided to take the dog and have a proper little walk. She had been sitting down too much anyway; it would be good for her to have some exercise.

She knew Mr. Elton in the off-license slightly. She and Jim usually called in there on Saturday mornings after they had been to the supermarket. They were very organized as a couple: she would provide the shopping list in two sections and Jim got the heavier, bulky items each weekend, she got the smaller ones; then, after stocking up on a couple of bottles, they would go to the pub, where Jim had a pint and she had a gin and tonic.

Jim would read the morning paper and she would read a magazine, then they went home to lunch. She could never understand couples who found shopping a chore—all you had to do was be organized.

“Lovely morning, madam,” said Mr. Elton, rubbing his hands happily behind the counter. Mr. Elton was a little too hearty for Bella, but then you can’t go around condemning everyone for their irritating little habits, she told herself firmly. She greeted him pleasantly and let her eyes roam around to find a cheap sherry, one which would be good enough to drink, yet not too good to waste by putting in a trifle.

“Did you enjoy that bottle of bubbly last night, then?” asked Mr. Elton, all cheer and grins and winks.

“Last night? Bubbly? No, we didn’t have any sparkling wine last night,” said Bella.

“Aha, yes you did! Mr. B. was in here around seven looking for something nice, white and dry and sparkling. I asked him was it an anniversary or something; and he said no, just a little treat.”

Bella looked at him in amazement. Jim wasn’t at home last night for dinner. He brought no bottle of anything sparkling when he did come home at midnight. He was exhausted from going over the papers with Martin at Martin’s house. Martin’s wife had fixed them a nice supper he said; nothing special—more a glorified snack. He had mentioned nothing about bubbly. Bella’s brow cleared. He had probably decided to buy something to take along to Martin’s house.



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