Read Online Dumping Billy by Olivia Goldsmith - Free Book Online

Potter magic. Not superstitious nonsense. I’m talking about magic between two people.”
    “Need any help?” Brice called. “We’re waiting out here.”
    “No, dear,” Elliot responded. He handed Kate her purse. Kate, kneeling beside him, picked up the rest of her items and threw them in. “Hey, what’s this?” Elliot asked. Kate looked up. He was waving an envelope in the air.
    “It’s an invite to Bunny’s wedding.” Kate sighed.
    “Bunny of the Bitches of Bushwick is getting married?” Elliot asked. “When did this happen? You never tell me anything.”
    “Hey, I got it today. And you’re on a need-to-know basis.” Kate stood up. “Can you believe it? She was just dumped by a guy a month ago. I don’t know where this came from.”
    “Brooklyn. And on the rebound,” Elliot said. “Can I go? Please, can I go?”
    “No,” Kate replied. “See, this is another valid reason why I shouldn’t break up with Michael. With Bina getting engaged and now this, I have to go with someone viable.”
    “But Michael is so—”
    Elliot didn’t get a chance to finish his critique. Suddenly there was a loud and frantic pounding at the front door of the apartment. “What in the world . . . ?”
    The two of them hurried into the living room just as Brice was striding to the door. He turned back to look at Elliot, who shrugged. Brice opened the door. A woman, her hair wild, her face covered by her hands, threw herself into the room, sobbing uncontrollably. Everyone stood in silent amazement, and Brice actually took two steps back. It was only after a moment or two that Kate saw the woman’s fingernails and realized, with a horrible shudder, that she had a French manicure.
    “Bina!” she gasped. “Oh, Bina! What’s happened to you?”

 
    Chapter Seven
    B ina looked around her wildly. “Katie! Omigod. Oh, Katie!” Then she threw herself onto the sofa and heaved with sobs. Kate stepped forward and put her hand gently on Bina’s shoulder. Could she have been raped? Had someone mugged her? Her clothes were such a mess and her hair was so disheveled that for a moment, Kate thought only of physical calamities.
    Elliot stood looking down at the weeping woman on his couch. “It’s Bina?” he whispered. “This is the famous Bina?”
    Kate ignored him. “Bina? Bina dear, what’s happened?”
    Bina shook her head violently. Kate sat and put her arms around her sobbing friend. “Shhh,” she crooned, stroking Bina’s hair. All the times Kate had witnessed Bina’s hysterical outbursts over the years, at sleepovers and parties, flashed through her mind. It was a familiar sensation, kneeling with her arms around Bina. Then she looked up and remembered that they had an audience—and that this drama was playing out in Manhattan on a borrowed sofa. She hoped the whole thing wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Then a new thought occurred to her. “Bina, how did you find me here?”
    “Max,” Bina said, struggling with her tears. “He heard me crying in the hall and told me where you were.” She took a gulping breath and burst into tears again. Elliot and Brice drew closer to the couch, like rubberneckers, while Michael had withdrawn to a spot behind the dining table. Kate couldn’t help but think that she was watching them all react in predictably typical fashion for men: Michael, the straight male, retreated in the face of emotional turmoil, while Elliot and Brice jumped right in.
    She looked back at her friend. “Bina, what’s happened?” she asked again.
    “Choked,” Bina wailed as fresh tears streamed from her eyes.
    “Are you choking?” Kate asked, confused.
    “I can do the Heimlich. Does she need the Heimlich?” Brice asked a bit too hopefully.
    Bina, still sobbing, violently shook her head no.
    Kate took Bina’s hands in her own and spoke to her firmly but gently. “Who choked? Who’s choking, Bina?” She turned to Elliot. “Would you please get her a glass of water?”
    Elliot, turning to