Read Online Odd One Out by Monica McInerney - Free Book Online

spread them out over the next week or get the whole lot over and done with in a day. It was up to her. He wanted full reports, preferably typed or in PowerPoint form, but he would also settle for quick calls or messages left on his mobile phone. He would prefer it if she did them in the order listed but he gave her permission to be flexible.
    The list was titled
Sylvie’s Three-Step Search for Certainty
.
    One: Ask someone out on a date.
    Two: Host a dinner party. Dishes must contain the following ingredients: coriander, fish sauce, sesame oil, chili, rice wine, galangal, lemongrass and Kaffir lime leaves.
    Three: To be divulged when dares one and two are successfully completed.
    The phone rang before she had a chance to start thinking about them. She snatched it up before it went to the answering machine. It was Mill.
    “Oh, what a shame to get you, Sylvie,” she said immediately. “I’ve really started to prefer answering machines. So much more efficient. No need to ask how are you, what have you been doing, how’s the weather etcetera, don’t you find? You can get straight to the point.”
    “I can hang up if you like.”
    Mill gave a roar of laughter. “That would teach me. I must say I do like that cheeky little spirit of yours. I was just talking about you, in fact. Telling George here that you’re coming to live with me when you get back from Melbourne.”
    “George?”
    “My new gardener. Marvelous man. Strong and hardy, like a plant himself. He said you sounded nice too. He’s surprisingly knowledgeable about all sorts of things, not only plants. Quite the antiques expert. Says I’m sitting on some valuable objects here. I’m not surprised. Vincent had a wonderful eye.”
    An alarm bell rang. “Mill, who is this George?”
    “George. Of George’s Gorgeous Gardens. He’s perfectly legitimate. Large ad in the Yellow Pages. A website even, he tells me. Not that I’m too sure what that is.”
    Sylvie decided she’d check it out as soon as possible. But in the meantime . . .
    “Mill, please don’t tell people I’m coming to live with you.”
    “You want to keep it a secret? No problem at all. I was saying to George that the blue room is definitely the best one for you, but he said we might get bats in the Moreton Bay out the front, or even the occasional funnel web spider. You wouldn’t mind them, would you? You don’t look the squeamish, timid type to me.”
    “Mill, I don’t know how to make this any clearer, but I’m not planning on coming back to Sydney for a while. Possibly ever. I’m looking for work here.”
    “I understand completely. Just let me know when you’re due back and I’ll get someone to meet you at the airport. Now, I’d better give you today’s tip. When you’re frying eggs, sprinkle a little bit of flour in the hot oil. It stops any spatters. Bye for now, Sylvie.”
    That hadn’t gone right, Sylvie thought, looking down at the phone. The call had warmed her up, though. Before there was time to think, she took out the piece of paper with Max’s number on it and dialed.
    It rang six times before a man answered. Was it him? She didn’t know his voice well enough. “Max?”
    “Sylvie, I was just thinking about you.”
    “You were?”
    “I was going to ring and ask if you wanted to meet me for a drink at the end of the week.”
    Drat, he’d got in first. She needed to ask him out on a date. Did it count that she was the one who had rung him?
    “Sylvie, are you there? I’ve asked you for a drink, not a round-the-world cruise. Just say yes.”
    The laughter in his voice gave her nerve. “Max, I’m sorry, but can you hang up and then answer it again when I ring?”
    “I could, if you truly think that makes any sense.”
    “I’ll explain why later.”
    “I’ll look forward to that.” He hung up.
    She dialed the number again. “Max?”
    “Sylvie, hello. Who’d have thought? How are you today?” He sounded like a detective trying to talk a mad person