Read Online Second Opinion by Claire Rayner - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Claire Rayner
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running your mouth off about men and women. I just don’t get it. Are you looking for insults or something?’
‘They’re easy to find,’ she retorted. ‘If you insist on talking about women as though we were all the same, all of us, just — just boobs and bottoms on legs designed for you to trick out in tight skirts so you can gawp at them, then you’ll go on not understanding —’
‘Tell me what I said!’ He almost wailed it.
‘Glad to. You said you respect women as if we’re all the same — like dogs or something. You said that well-brought-up “ladies” don’t talk the way I do, which is a hell of a line. You said that you don’t know what women are on about, which —’
He shook his head at her. ‘I obviously don’t. What should I have said? No, I mean it. Tell me, I want to learn. I’ve got to learn, for pity’s sake. Go on like this and we’ll never get anywhere, you and me.’
That stopped her, and she blinked at him. ‘What did you say?’
‘Eh?’
‘What did —’
‘Oh. I said we’ll never get anywhere, you and me. And I’d like us to.’
‘Like us to get — well, where?’
‘Oh, somewhere cosy.’ He grinned suddenly, a great white glimmering grin of sheer wickedness. ‘Cosy and quiet and comfortable where we’d have plenty of time to have some fun.’ The grin faded as she sat and stared at him. ‘Have I done it again? Is it an insult to make a pass at a la — a woman you fancy? I mean like? Oh, shit!’
She couldn’t help it. The laughter came bubbling out of her, and after a moment of incomprehension he realized what he’d said and laughed too, until the pair of them were sitting with tears trickling down their cheeks, incoherent and breathless. Kitty, coming back to see if the Guv needed anything more and to prove to him what an excellent choice he’d made when he’d appointed her as manageress, looked at them indulgently and went away again, and one or two people at adjoining tables looked too, laughing in sympathy.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said at length. He took out a massive handkerchief mopped his face and blew his nose loudly. ‘I didn’t mean to go off like that. But it is tricky, George, admit it. There was I trying to chat you up so’s you’d knowwhat I was thinkin’ — what’s the way you’d say it? Yeah, so you’d know where it was comin’ from — and all you can do is nag me about the way I talk about women. I can’t help what I am, you know! I’m the same as most blokes I know. A bit rough round the edges but pretty good news otherwise. If I promise never to say shit again, and never to complain if you do, will you go out with me? On a regular basis, like?’
She was startled, and couldn’t speak for a moment. She knew he liked her, of course she did. He’d made that pretty clear right from the start, after they’d first met when she’d come to Old East eleven months ago, but she’d not seen his liking as anything more than a sort of possessive friendship. He’d never made any sort of physical pass at her, unlike Toby Bellamy …
Mind, he’d been very jealous of Bellamy, she remembered now, but that had blown over and they’d got back on to the old easy footing, laughing a lot, sparring most of the time, but in general comfortable with each other. And now here he was asking her … Asking her what?
‘What are you asking me, Gus?’ she said. ‘I’m not sure what you mean by “going out on a regular basis”. If you explain a bit more, maybe I —’
From behind her there was a sudden crash of glass and she almost leapt out of her seat with shock. She whirled to stare at the origin of the noise, which was now continuing as a confused roar of voices as people shouted and milled about in the front part of the shop where customers had been queueing all evening to buy their fish and chips to take away.
Gus was on his feet and plunging across the restaurant, and George followed him, not sure what else to do. There in the
‘They’re easy to find,’ she retorted. ‘If you insist on talking about women as though we were all the same, all of us, just — just boobs and bottoms on legs designed for you to trick out in tight skirts so you can gawp at them, then you’ll go on not understanding —’
‘Tell me what I said!’ He almost wailed it.
‘Glad to. You said you respect women as if we’re all the same — like dogs or something. You said that well-brought-up “ladies” don’t talk the way I do, which is a hell of a line. You said that you don’t know what women are on about, which —’
He shook his head at her. ‘I obviously don’t. What should I have said? No, I mean it. Tell me, I want to learn. I’ve got to learn, for pity’s sake. Go on like this and we’ll never get anywhere, you and me.’
That stopped her, and she blinked at him. ‘What did you say?’
‘Eh?’
‘What did —’
‘Oh. I said we’ll never get anywhere, you and me. And I’d like us to.’
‘Like us to get — well, where?’
‘Oh, somewhere cosy.’ He grinned suddenly, a great white glimmering grin of sheer wickedness. ‘Cosy and quiet and comfortable where we’d have plenty of time to have some fun.’ The grin faded as she sat and stared at him. ‘Have I done it again? Is it an insult to make a pass at a la — a woman you fancy? I mean like? Oh, shit!’
She couldn’t help it. The laughter came bubbling out of her, and after a moment of incomprehension he realized what he’d said and laughed too, until the pair of them were sitting with tears trickling down their cheeks, incoherent and breathless. Kitty, coming back to see if the Guv needed anything more and to prove to him what an excellent choice he’d made when he’d appointed her as manageress, looked at them indulgently and went away again, and one or two people at adjoining tables looked too, laughing in sympathy.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said at length. He took out a massive handkerchief mopped his face and blew his nose loudly. ‘I didn’t mean to go off like that. But it is tricky, George, admit it. There was I trying to chat you up so’s you’d knowwhat I was thinkin’ — what’s the way you’d say it? Yeah, so you’d know where it was comin’ from — and all you can do is nag me about the way I talk about women. I can’t help what I am, you know! I’m the same as most blokes I know. A bit rough round the edges but pretty good news otherwise. If I promise never to say shit again, and never to complain if you do, will you go out with me? On a regular basis, like?’
She was startled, and couldn’t speak for a moment. She knew he liked her, of course she did. He’d made that pretty clear right from the start, after they’d first met when she’d come to Old East eleven months ago, but she’d not seen his liking as anything more than a sort of possessive friendship. He’d never made any sort of physical pass at her, unlike Toby Bellamy …
Mind, he’d been very jealous of Bellamy, she remembered now, but that had blown over and they’d got back on to the old easy footing, laughing a lot, sparring most of the time, but in general comfortable with each other. And now here he was asking her … Asking her what?
‘What are you asking me, Gus?’ she said. ‘I’m not sure what you mean by “going out on a regular basis”. If you explain a bit more, maybe I —’
From behind her there was a sudden crash of glass and she almost leapt out of her seat with shock. She whirled to stare at the origin of the noise, which was now continuing as a confused roar of voices as people shouted and milled about in the front part of the shop where customers had been queueing all evening to buy their fish and chips to take away.
Gus was on his feet and plunging across the restaurant, and George followed him, not sure what else to do. There in the
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