Read Online Her Best Friend by Sarah Mayberry - Free Book Online

her water to break.”
    “Not Naomi Wilkins?” Quinn asked, putting two and two together.
    Naomi and Rick had both gone to Daylesford Secondary with him and Amy and Lisa.
    “Sorry, I assumed you’d have heard. Too used to small-town gossip, I guess. I finally talked her into marrying me a couple of years ago. We’ve got a little girl already.” Rick tugged out his wallet and Quinn found himself looking at a photograph of a little girl with big blue eyes and a very wet mouth.
    “Teething,” Rick explained.
    “She’s lovely.”
    “How about you and Lisa? Any kids yet?”
    Quinn hesitated a moment. “No kids,” he said. Then he shrugged. “Actually, we’re getting a divorce.”
    Rick’s eyes widened and Quinn could see the other man searching for something appropriate to say. It was one of the reasons Quinn hated telling people. That, and the sense of failure he felt.
    “I’m sorry. That’s bad news,” Rick said uncomfortably.
    “Yeah, well. These things happen,” Quinn said.
    He saw with relief that the server was trying to make eye contact with him to let him know his pizza was ready. He offered Rick his hand again.
    “Looks like I’m up. Good to see you, mate.”
    “Likewise.”
    Quinn paid for his pizza and headed back to the Grand. It was well and truly twilight by now and the cars driving past had their headlights on.
    It was dim inside the theatre but Amy was still busy sweeping when he entered.
    “I bring pizza. Put the broom down before I’m forced to hurt you.”
    “I’m done. My arms feel like they’re ready to fall off.”
    She sank onto an upturned mop bucket. Quinn pushed an old milk crate across the floor to join her and placed the pizza box on the floor between them.
    “Dig in. I got your favorite, Dino’s super supreme.”
    She took a second to respond. “Smells great.”
    He flipped the box open and grabbed a slice. He took a bite and gasped.
    “Hot.” He swallowed hastily and noticed Amy had played it smart and was waiting for her pizza to cool, letting her slice rest on her knee before she tackled it.
    “Bumped into Rick Bachelor while I was waiting,” he said.
    “He comes into the hardware store all the time. Did he say if Naomi’s had her baby yet?”
    “Any day now. He said she’s ready to pop.”
    “Did he ask about you and Lisa?”
    He glanced at her, surprised. “You psychic or something?”
    “Don’t have to be. It’s what people do. Single people get asked if they’ve met anyone. Unmarried couples get asked if they’ve set the date yet. And married couples get asked if they’ve got any kids. Right?”
    “Yeah. That’s what he asked.”
    “People are so nosy,” she said, shaking her head.
    “He was just making conversation. Being polite.”
    “If you want to be polite, you talk about the weather. You don’t ask if people are having sex for reproductive purposes or if they’re worried they’re going to miss the boat.”
    Quinn laughed.
    “I’m serious. You should hear some of the things people say to me because I’m single. ‘Don’t worry, someone will come along.’ And my personal favorite, ‘I guess that’s the problem with being choosy.’”
    He started to tell her she wasn’t choosy, simply discerning, but he frowned as he spotted a small pile of black circles on the thigh of her jeans. It took him a moment to work out what he was looking at: olives.
    She’d picked all the olives off her slice of pizza.
    “You don’t like olives?”
    “Nope. Never have, really.”
    He stared at her. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, a memory stirred: a much younger Amy pulling a face and spitting out a half-chewed mouthful of food. These round things are disgusting. They’d both been eight, and they’d stolen a plate of hors d’oeuvres from one of his parents’ dinner parties.
    “So why go for the super supreme?” he asked, puzzled.
    “I usually don’t.” She met his eyes. Which was when the penny dropped.
    Super supreme was Lisa’s