Busy Woman Seeks Wife by Annie Sanders Read Free Book Online Page A

stuffed.”
    Camilla came over to the desk and put her hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Now calm down.” She pulled out the sheet of scrawled notes
     from under Alex’s laptop. “Is this what you’re looking for? Leave them for me—I’ll put them on the laptop for you while you
     go and get your mum.” Alex looked into her calm blue eyes. “It will all be done by tomorrow. In fact”—she turned the laptop
     towards her and moved the mouse to close it down—“I’ll do it at home because, as luck would have it, Garth has blown me out
     this evening—he’s got a softball game—so I’ll be at home on my ownio. A perfect evening—your notes to type up, a glass of
     wine and
EastEnders
!”
    “Oh, come on, you don’t want to—”
    Camilla held her hand up to stall her boss. “No really, I mean it. It’ll be bliss not to have to listen to his constant whining
     about his job. Give your mum my love and I hope she’s okay.”
    Alex cast about for her stuff, a bit bereft suddenly without her computer and, stuffing a file of notes into her oversize
     bag, made for the door. “Camilla, if you aren’t a saint already, you soon will be.” She blew her a kiss. “See you in the morning,
     that is, if Mum and I haven’t murdered each other by then.”
    Three hours later, as she poured yet another glass of chilled French mineral water into her mother’s glass (only Evian would
     do apparently), she wasn’t sure she was that far off the mark. The Bean, resplendent in a bright turquoise silk kimono and
     turban to hide what she called her “hospital hair,” was lying, like Joan Crawford, on Alex’s sofa and complaining. Nothing
     appeared to be right, nor had it been since the moment Alex had collected her from hospital, late, as it happened, thanks
     to failed traffic lights on the journey over. The Bean had been waiting for her impatiently, her bag of things packed neatly
     by her chair in the waiting area.
    “Goodbye, my dears, you have been marvelous! God bless you all.” She’d waved a heavily ringed hand imperiously at the staff
     on the nurses’ station as she was wheeled off, playing it for all she was worth. “Now, come on, Alex dear, I’ve been sitting
     there for ages and you know how I
hate
sitting doing nothing.”
    Well, she seems quite happy to do so now, thought Alex, as she put the cold glass of water down on the table close to her
     mother’s side so she wouldn’t have to “reach too far.” The TV remote was there too so she wouldn’t miss her favorite shows—so
     that’s what she spent her time doing. Feasting on an afternoon menu of
Countdown
, adverts and property programs. This was quite an eye-opener to her mother’s normal home routine, and it explained why she
     considered herself an authority on everything.
    “All all right now, Mother? Only I need to make some calls…”
    “Oh dear.” The Bean turned her head weakly from the telly and looked at her daughter as if she’d only just noticed she was
     there. “Must you? I was just enjoying your company. Alexandra, dear, that top does nothing for you, you know.” Alex looked
     down at her chest and the company-branded gray T-shirt she’d found at the bottom of the ironing pile and slung on hastily
     when she’d come to collect her car on the way to the hospital. “You really should try and be more feminine, dear. Gray never
     suited your skin. Very few women can carry it off—you should know that, I’ve told you often enough. Vivien Leigh could of
     course, but then she looked elegant in anything.”
    “Oh, Mum, it’s only a T-shirt. Now, if you don’t mind…”
    “Oh, I don’t suppose you have a little biscuit, do you?” She took her eyes off the TV again. “Just a little shortbread or
     something? That hospital food is frankly a disgrace—not a trace of luxury and the way they hand it out off the food trolley!
     No manners.”
    Alex sighed and grabbed her keys. “I’ll go and see what Rajesh can offer,”