Read Online Unzipped by Nicki Reed - Free Book Online Page B

Davis, tough, but feminine, like she might carry a gun in her purse, a small, pretty one. I half expect a Humphrey Bogart type to lean across to light her cigarette and ask where she’s been all his life.
    It’d be stupid to go on about the hours Mark is working, or the frequency of his overseas trips.
    ‘What have you been reading lately, Carole?’
    I want her to say something less than literary, Jackie Collins crossed with Dan Brown, a vampire thrown in.
    ‘Moby Dick. Again.’
    It’s all I can do not to stamp my foot.
    ‘I get seasick when I’m reading that book,’ she says. ‘Water, wood, sails, men. There’s not a lot of quiet is there?’
    ‘I had quite a Moby Dick phase last year,’ I say. ‘Read the book, saw the movie, almost booked a holiday whalewatching in Perth but went to a conference instead. Research and Remembering and the Death of the Book. I don’t think books are dead.’
    ‘Yes, but you can’t bump into lost friends at the online bookshop.’
    Mark rescues me. ‘When Peta starts buying e-books we’ll get two rooms back and be able to fill them with kids.’
    Some rescue.
    ‘Speaking of children,’ Carole Smart turns away from us. ‘Belinda?’ She reaches out to a woman with her back to us. The woman turns around.
    ‘Peta, this is my daughter Belinda.’
    BJ is Carole Smart’s daughter.
    I’m blushing. Hot face. Dry mouth. My lips are sticking to my teeth. I swig my champagne. Drain it.
    BJ is short for Belinda something.
    Did she know who I was?
    Who Mark is?
    BJ smiles. She’s always smiling at me.
    I shake her familiar hand. Squeak: ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
    How did this happen? I am having an affair with my husband’s boss’s daughter. Inappropriate with a capital HELP. Husband’s boss’s daughter. BJ sounds even youngerwhen you say it like that. As if she’s in pigtails and I’m in a fast car.
    ‘What have you been up to?’ Mark sips his beer, casual, like he’s got all day for this, and I wish I was dead. ‘I’ve never seen you looking so ladylike.’
    ‘Well, I could hardly break out my, if you’ve got the time, I’ve got the face T-shirt at Mum’s fiftieth.’
    ‘There’s no need to speak like that, Belinda.’
    ‘Do I comment on what people are wearing? Did I say to Mark, your missus looks hot in that dress?’
    Now Mark is smiling. ‘I’m sorry, Belinda. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. You look beautiful is what I meant.’
    She does. She’s amazing in her platinum dress. Highnecked and sleeveless. I could never wear it, my breasts are too big. Open-toed strappy shoes. No wonder I didn’t see her. Her hair is messy but toned down, it’s neat-untidy. She will have spent an hour on it. She thinks her hair is her best feature. It isn’t.
    A waiter swings past with a tray of salmon involtini. I snatch one and push the whole thing into my mouth. I’m not saying anything. Somebody’s champagne is on a table next me. It looks untouched, no lipstick, just bubbles, mist. Mine now. I hide in the champagne. When I have a chance I push BJ’s foot with mine, indicate in the direction of the toilets.
    Empty glass back on the table. ‘Mark, I’ll be back in a minute.’

    The disabled toilets are occupied. Voices coming from both of them. What’s wrong with people? The Ladies has six cubicles. I take a middle one and wait. Footsteps.The cubicle next to mine becomes occupied. Red stilettos. Not BJ.
    More footsteps. Rush hour? Something in the stuffed mushrooms? How many of us are in here?
    Women talking.
    ‘Do you think she’s had work done?’
    ‘We’ve all had work done.’
    ‘I haven’t.’
    ‘Matter of time.’
    ‘True.’
    Laughter.
    Toilet seats drop into position.
    Raised voices.
    ‘I was just saying you look good, different.’
    I recognise that voice. Mark’s PA.
    ‘And I was just saying that if looking good means having to pretend I give a fuck what you think, then thank you, I appreciate it.’
    BJ.
    Two doors