Yours Unfaithfully

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Book: Read Yours Unfaithfully for Free Online
Authors: Geraldine C. Deer
she shut up and waited for Mr. Ratty to mutter his excuses before sliding away to seek more rational company.
    “Mel, I would love you to call me Ratty, Rats or even Rat, it’s what most of my friends call me... and I’d like us to be friends. You know, I’ve heard a lot about you already, from Nina? I’m sure you have lots of intelligent things to say. If not, you wouldn’t have done so well in the bank. I’m just like you, believe me – although I stand up in Court and talk for hours, I’m often stuck for the right words when I meet someone I want to impress. Nina’s told me so much about you I almost feel I know you, except until now I had no idea what you looked like. Nina forgot to tell me that you’re beautiful.”
    Melanie was melting right in front of Ratty. Had she heard him right? Had he really just said he wanted to be friends? Could he seriously want to impress
her
? She felt her cheeks flush; the strength was disappearing from her legs. She was pretty sure she hadn’t had that much to drink but her hands were shaking. The voice inside her head was screaming at her, ‘Pull yourself together ...this guy handles the contract Nina is desperate to work on, she got rid of Ben so she wouldn’t be embarrassed and now you’re making a complete fool of yourself in his place.’ She hammered at her brain, desperate for something sensible to say.
    “Do you enjoy being a lawyer?”
    She winced at her choice of words even as she uttered them. She cringed at her crass stupidity. How could she seriously ask Ratty if he enjoyed being successful in his profession? She looked into his face and begged for pity.
    “Well, it’s funny you should ask me that,’ he said, intently studying her expression. ‘Everyone assumes that because I’m doing well I must love my work. You’re the only person I’ve admitted this to, and I’d prefer it remained our secret, but sometimes I hate the job. I’d love to do something different, an action job, fly a jet fighter, drive an express train at a hundred and fifty miles an hour or maybe dive for pearls in the tropics. Some days I hang around the Court room, waiting my turn, while outside the sun is baking and I watch some wizened old Judge who hasn’t seen the light of day for years, and I think... is this what the future holds for me?”
    “But Ratty, you’re so good at what you do, Nina’s told me that clients pay extra to have you sort their problems. She’s so impressed to have you in the firm; she’s a great fan of yours! And anyway, you make lots of money so you can go abroad with your wife to anywhere you want, hire a boat, fly a plane… do what you want. I know you’ve got an Aston Martin, guess who told me that as well?”
    “Nina’s super to work with, she doesn’t know it yet but she’s going to be my assistant on the Stellar Haufman account. It’s a promotion for her, one she deserves because she’s very good at her job, but I will have to tell her, I don’t need a fan club, especially as it only has one member. Mel, I’ve confessed two secrets to you in the last five minutes, please don’t mention anything of what I just told you, will you? I want Nina to hear about this from me, not from her next door neighbour.”
    “Of course not, working for the bank I have to keep plenty of secrets, like whose going broke and whose got pots of money. Just imagine, if you banked with us I’d have three secrets of yours.”
    “Do you know, when Nina asked me to come here this evening I nearly refused? I was sure it would be another of those boring round of supper parties where you make small talk with people you’ll never meet again while wishing you were back home with your shoes off and listening to your favourite opera. But tonight hasn’t been a bit like that thanks to you, I envy Nina, having you as her best friend.”
    “You... you envy Nina, the woman you’re about promote to be your assistant? I don’t get it. Ratty I think I’m missing

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