Bookworm by Robin Yeatman

Author:Robin Yeatman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-One

THEY MET AT THE SUSHI BAR IN THE FOOD COURT AT EATON CENTRE. Holly was there first, always on time. She smiled brightly, though her eyes looked smaller, more careworn than usual, puffy too. Always good about observing Remembrance Day, Holly wore her poppy perfectly placed on the lapel of her black winter coat, with her rose-colored mouth to match.

It had been a while since Victoria had heard from her, which was unusual. Holly’s texting habits were fairly easy to predict: Victoria had learned to expect at least an emoji most days when Holly was about to begin her commute home from work. Often, the exasperated face, followed by a wine bottle, or an LOL. Most weekends there was a paragraph about the man in Holly’s current dating life. Then there were the checking in texts—How r u honey?—which Victoria hadn’t thought she would miss until they stopped coming. Same with the Friday lunches. They hadn’t happened the last few weeks, so Victoria suggested they meet today, a Wednesday. Victoria happened to have the day off and she knew Holly had ways of explaining hours away from her desk.

She had asked Holly if she wanted to go shopping—something she knew Holly wouldn’t be able to resist. And Victoria wanted a new outfit, for when she saw Luke next. Nothing she had was right.

“Should we get sushi before we shop?” Victoria asked, stopping in front of a little Japanese restaurant that sold pretty plastic boxes of premade rolls. She scanned the options. “Do you want to share a combo with me? I’m not that hungry.”

Holly looked doubtful. “Okay, but I don’t like anything with roe. No eggs.”

Victoria knew that already. She picked the safest thing she could see, not that there was much the mall could offer that wouldn’t offend Holly’s narrow palate. “California rolls are always a good bet,” she said.

“I don’t know how you can even care about food right now. I just can’t get over it. I can’t believe someone tried to kill Eric.”

“Oh, I don’t know if I’d say that.” Victoria’s face was now creased in irritation. She moved to the counter to pay for the food. She lowered her voice. “Let’s not be melodramatic.”

Holly waited for the transaction to be over and indicated an empty table, where they sat and separated their wooden chopsticks. “I’m hardly melodramatic!” she hissed. “I know you’re really good at keeping calm all the time, but this time you’re allowed to freak out. I’m freaking out! I know Eric is!”

Victoria remembered Eric texting on his phone in his robe the night his car malfunctioned. She stirred a healthy chunk of wasabi into her soy sauce.

“I guess he told you about it. Yes, of course he’s upset.”

Holly flushed a little. “Oh, he texted me. I’d sent him a Seinfeld joke that I thought he might find funny—you know, we were talking about Seinfeld at lunch the other week? Anyway, I guess I sent it soon after he’d had his accident. So he told me about it.

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