The Perfect Widow by A.M. Castle

Author:A.M. Castle
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-10-17T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

Then

Passing the bar that night, you’d have looked in and seen me glittering atop my stool and you’d have thought, pretty girl, looks happy. Those four words summed up everything I’d been striving so long – and so hard – to achieve. The love of my life was about to drop into my lap. Plus money, status and respectability, of course, but they were secondary to my adoration. The days spent like the Little Mermaid, walking on knives, the nights like Cinderella at five to twelve, were all now worthwhile. It was perfect. I felt as though I was holding the world in the palm of my hand, instead of just Patrick. And like a delicate glass bauble on the top of a teetering Christmas tree, everything was poised to shatter.

He was captivated. Of course. I always brought my A-game. And tonight had to be A-star times A-plus. I was in a bar with the man of my dreams! I had to be more careful than ever. I put everything into seeming not to make any effort at all.

Yes, I was paranoid, but I had good reason. An unguarded remark, at any time, could expose me for the snivelling parvenue I knew I was inside. I couldn’t help remembering how I’d mispronounced the name of a wine only a few weeks before. I’d pointed at a high bottle, asked a shop assistant to reach it down for me. The triumph in that pimply git’s voice as he’d trumpeted, to the whole shop, ‘what, you want the bewjollies, do you, love?’ At that instant, he was transformed from a lowly shelf-stacker to the victor, standing over me in the gutter, and pissing on me for good measure. Every little helps, indeed.

But I tried to banish such morbid thoughts on this, the crowning night of my life so far. The ached-for date with Patrick. I was flying high; I would not look down.

Everything I said, every gesture I made, was exactly on point. My jokes sparkled, my little aperçus were clever but not so brilliant that he was outshone. In truth, it’s not hard to get a man’s attention. All you need to do is have breasts and nod. But I suppose I was still young then and wanted him to love me for myself, not just for the way I looked, or the way I reflected him. As I say, I had a lot to learn.

And what did I find out about him? That night, nothing. I was just blinded by the joy of being with him at last, having his attention, or more realistically, sitting there giving him mine. It was clear he liked what he saw. All the little signs I’d read about were being deployed; the eye-meets that were just too long, the casual brushing of my hand when he refilled my glass. It was a wonder I didn’t fall off that stool with the sheer delight of it all. I was seriously out of my depth

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.