by Jane Fallon
Further down the line? That implied that they were going to see each other again. That there might be a future for their friendship. And who knew what else. "Of course."
"Truthfully, I don't want to hear anything more about you and Matthew, but I do need to know who's Helen and who's Eleanor, if you know what I mean. I don't even know if I know who you are. All I know is that I miss whoever I thought was my friend, and I'd like to see if I can get that back."
"Me, too." Helen was near to tears.
"So I thought maybe we could go for a drink, start again, and see how we get on."
"Really? Yes. Please." Don't beg, she thought. "That'd be great."
"But you have to promise me you won't get in touch with Leo till I say it's OK. Not a thing—not even to say thanks for the cake, because I know what he's like…I don't want you anywhere near him till I know I can really trust you. OK?"
To Helen, this felt like the most reasonable request she'd ever heard.
"OK," she said, starting to smile. "I promise."
They stood in the living room, slightly awkwardly, for a moment, neither quite knowing what the next step should be. Did they make a date to go out for a drink? Did they leave it, with Helen left waiting anxiously for Sophie to call her, like a lovesick teenager? There was a blast of cool evening air as the cat-flap swung open and Norman breezed in from the small backyard, shaking the length of his body huffily to dry himself. It had started to rain outside.
"Oh, is this Cushion?" Sophie asked, and then looked like she was about to sneeze. Helen grabbed him up and bundled him into the kitchen, shutting the door behind him.
Helen sighed. "Actually, his name is Norman."
"Right. Of course it is." Sophie's tone betrayed a tiny streak of irritation. "Claudia's cat."
Helen grabbed a pile of photographs from a small table in the corner. "I've been keeping these for her, as a record of how he's doing. Look," she said, brandishing one of the pictures in front of Sophie, "he caught his first mouse. I was going to send them to her…one day…but I didn't know…well, you know…" She ran out of steam. She knew that Norman coming in had just reminded Sophie that everything about her was a lie, that she couldn't even assume the tiny, insignificant details she thought she knew were true. "Well, anyway…"
Sophie took the photographs from her and put them in her bag. "She'll love them, thanks."
Helen inhaled deeply. "And obviously, I'm not a successful PR person, either. Not yet, anyway."
"I gathered that," Sophie said. But she smiled when she said it.
"I'll tell you what," she continued, starting to take off her coat again. Helen held her breath. "I will have another glass of wine. And you can start to tell me who you really are."
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to everyone at Hyperion, especially Ellen Archer, Pam Dorman, Sarah Landis, and whoever's job it was to spend their days changing "favour" to "favor" and "got" to "gotten."
About the Author
Jane Fallon is multi-award winning TV producer in England with hit shows including This Life and Teachers which have also been shown on BBC America. The US version of Teachers is currently airing on NBC. She lives in Central London.
Copyright
GETTING RID OF MATTHEW. Copyright © 2007 Jane Fallon. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Hyperion e-books.
Palm Reader September 2007 ISBN: 978-1-4013-8883-6
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Table of Contents
Cover
Contents
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Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
