Read Online Recipe for a Happy Life: A Novel by Brenda Janowitz - Free Book Online

quite decipher.
    “You two know each other?” the detective asked.
    “Yeah,” Nate said, smoothing back his hair and setting his briefcase on the table, “we went to law school together. I never thought we’d be adversaries in court, though. I didn’t even know that you did criminal law.”
    “I don’t,” I said. “I’m the defendant.” Nate shot a perplexed look in the detective’s direction.
    “You haven’t been charged with anything,” Priya piped in. “You’re just in for questioning on these totally baseless and defamatory allegations.” I was too shocked to see Nate to actually register that Priya was being a very good lawyer for someone who didn’t even litigate for a living.
    “I think there may be some kind of conflict of interest here,” Nate said, motioning for the detective to leave the room with him.
    “If he’s an ex-boyfriend,” Priya said as soon as the door slammed shut, “I’m recusing myself.”
    “You can’t recuse yourself,” I said through gritted teeth. “You’re not really my lawyer, you’re my friend.”
    “You’re not paying me for this?”
    “Anyway, he’s not an ex-boyfriend, I never would have dated him. We hated each other in law school,” I said, putting my head in my hands.
    “Why?” she asked. “He’s cute.”
    “He’s not cute,” I said back through gritted teeth. “He’s the epitome of everything I hate about the kids I grew up with in the city. Rich, entitled brats. The types who think they hit a home run when they were born on third base.”
    “Is that what you think of me ?” she asked.
    “No,” I said, as I caught a glimpse of her diamond pendant, a sixteenth-birthday gift from her father. “We work hard. We don’t rely on trust funds.”
    “He works for a living,” she said. “He’s the DA assigned to your case.”
    “That’s not the point,” I said.
    “Isn’t that exactly the point?” she asked.
    “I can’t believe I’m about to get arrested.”
    “I know,” Priya said. “This is going to be really embarrassing.”
    I picked my head up to shoot her a dirty look just as Nate walked back into the room with Detective Moretti. I folded my hands primly and tried not to look like an attempted murderess.
    “I think there has been a huge misunderstanding here,” Nate said. “You’re free to go, Hannah.” Priya and I sat still for a minute, unsure of what to say or do.
    “Of course there has been,” Priya said as she stood up and adjusted her suit. She grabbed me by the arm and led me out of the interrogation room. “Bye, Detective,” she added with a flirty smile.
    As we walked to Priya’s car, she said, “So, I guess he didn’t hate you all that much.”

 
    Eleven
    “It’s all about figuring out what someone wants and giving it to them,” my grandmother says.
    “You sound like a con man,” I say.
    “I sound like a good conversationalist.”
    “I’m still detecting notes of con man.”
    “When you meet these men today, focus on the one who is most enchanted by you. A relationship works best when the man wants the woman more than she wants the man.”
    “What if they all want me desperately?” I ask.
    “Then you date all of them,” my grandmother says, matter-of-factly. She’s completely missed my joke. Or maybe she’s just pretending she didn’t hear it. “It’s important to have lots of men hanging around. That way, you can never get too caught up in any one of them.”
    I see her point. When you just have one romantic prospect, you tend to put everything into that one. Maybe if you have three or four going at the same time, you take a good hard look at each of them.
    What I normally do is put all of my eggs into one basket, become obsessed with that basket, and then wonder why I end up brokenhearted and alone. Never a contingency plan, never a thought as to what I’ll do if things don’t work out. The last time things didn’t work out, with him, I never fully recovered.
    Maybe my