Read Online Dumping Billy by Olivia Goldsmith - Free Book Online Page A

Brice, repeated the request. “Brice, get her a glass of water. This is better than
One Life to Live.
”
    Brice didn’t budge. “
One Life to Live?
This is better than
The Young and the Restless.
” He turned to Michael, still in the corner behind the table. “Put down the linen,” Brice told him. “You get the water.”
    Michael seemed all too happy to leave the scene, and he disappeared into the kitchen. Bina gave another wail.
    “Bina, you have to calm down,” Kate said. “And you have to tell us what’s wrong.” Bina took some trembling breaths and got the sobbing under control. It occurred to Kate that she might have had an accident; maybe she was ill. “Does something hurt?” she asked.
    Bina nodded.
    “Do you need a doctor?” Kate continued.
    Bina nodded more vigorously. “Yes. Jewish and unmarried. The kind who likes my type and who’s looking for a serious commitment.” She broke out into sobs again.
    Elliot and Brice moved even closer to the circle. “Uh-oh,” Elliot said. “Kate, check out her hand.” He and Brice exchanged meaningful looks.
    Kate, not quite understanding, thought of their manicure that afternoon. “Bina, have you hurt your hands?” She looked down at Bina’s hands but didn’t see anything more alarming than the French manicure.
    “Not her right hand, Kate,” said Brice. “Her
left
hand. Second finger from the pinkie.”
    Kate finally understood. She wrapped her arms around Bina and said, “Oh, my God. Jack . . .”
    “Jack choked,” Bina told her. “He had the ring in his breast pocket. I could see the bulge the box made.” She began to cry again. “Oh, Katie! Instead of asking me to marry him, he asked if we could spend this time apart . . . exploring our singleness.”
    “That son of a bitch!” Kate, who thought that she understood enough about people and their motivations to be surprised at nothing, was shocked. While Jack had finished school and moved into corporate life, Bina had waited, worked, and collected every issue of
Bride.
She’d watched as all her other friends became engaged, she’d relentlessly thrown shower after bridal shower, a virtual preconnubial fountain. And now, when it was her turn at last, Jack had choked? “That goddamn son of a bitch!” Kate was ready to spit.
    She looked up to see that Michael had returned from the kitchen just in time to hear her undeleted expletives and recoil at the outburst. Lucky she hadn’t called Jack a motherfucker, she thought as she watched him approach the sofa and gingerly offer Bina the glass of water. Bina ignored the offer.
    “I can’t believe it!” Bina said, wiping ineffectually at her face and only making the raccoon eyes worse. “He got the ring from Barbie’s father. Mr. Leventhal gave him a break. It was princess cut, Barbie said—just under a carat and a half.” She paused for breath while Michael gaped and Elliot and Brice shook their heads in sympathy—and almost in unison.
    “Everyone will know,” Bina said, and began sobbing again. “I can’t believe he’d do this to me. Just drop me. And shame me in front of everyone.”
    Kate took a napkin from the table, dipped it into the water, and held up her friend’s face to mop up. “Bina, honey,” she said with all the assurance she could muster, “you’ve been going out with Jack for six years. You grew up together! He loves you.” She wiped mascara from under Bina’s eyes. “Blow your nose,” she said, and Bina did. “Look, this is just a temporary thing. Sometimes it happens. Picking a life mate is a serious decision. It isn’t that Jack doesn’t want to marry you. It’s a lot more probable that he just got frightened. I’m sure he’ll call you tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow he’ll be in Hong Kong. With my ring! I’ll be dumped in Bensonhurst and he’ll be the Christopher Columbus of singleness,” cried Bina, who had a penchant for wildly inappropriate metaphor when under pressure.
    “Maybe you should drink the