Deranged Marriage by Faith Bleasdale Read Free Book Online

you? How can you refer to what just happened as a physical encounter?’ I had never been able to get angry with George, ever. Our friendship, which I cherished, had always been tranquil. I had never refused him anything, been angry with him or had his anger vented on me. But now, now I was looking at a stranger, and one whom I had experienced ‘a physical encounter’ with.
    ‘I’m sorry, Hol, but that was what it was. I know it was hardly romantic.’ I snorted my agreement, no it certainly wasn’t. He continued. ‘What I mean is that I haven’t been entirely honest with you. I think perhaps I should explain.’
    I stared at him while he told me his story.
    He was in love. He’d been dating a woman called Julia for three years. She was a fellow lawyer: American, tall, slim, gorgeous, athletic, oh, and she had a lot going for her. The thing was that their relationship was at a junction. (Believe me, along with physical encounters, George also talked about junctions). They both had their own apartments, but they split their time between the two. They were known among their ‘circle’ as a power couple. Successful, rich, good-looking, made for each other. George agreed with them. Nevertheless, and of course in the life of someone who talks ‘a corporate match made in heaven,’ there would be a but, I was an unresolved issue.
    I became more incredulous by the second.
    He had always expected us to cross the boundaries of friendship at some point in our lives. He knew, from the age of twelve that our hormones would get the better of us, but they never had. That didn’t matter to him until he thought about marrying Julia. He was ninety-nine per cent sure that she was the right woman for him, and he was planning on proposing, but there was a worrying one per cent chance that she wasn’t. I was the one per cent. It wasn’t terribly flattering.
    I was the tiny little doubt in the back of his mind; a speck of uncertainty. What if he and I were made for each other after all? He couldn’t take the chance of not knowing. He sat there and told me this as if it made perfect sense. I blinked a few times in the hope that I would find myself dreaming.
    George had said he was here on business but he wasn’t. He was here for the sole purpose of checking that I wasn’t the girl for him. So, he took me out to dinner, then he pounced on me, and having done what he came here to do, he was delighted because he realised that our ‘physical encounter’ wasn’t right. It didn’t—or rather I didn’t—do for him what Julia did for him. His exact words were: ‘Holly, there is no use pretending that that worked. No point in thinking that it was right. I don’t mean to be blunt and I’d never hurt you intentionally but you didn’t rock my world.’ He smiled as if it was all some sort of joke. I wasn’t laughing.
    I was filled with fury. I was also incredibly drunk having managed to consume most of the minibar while George was relaying his tale.
    ‘George, I have a boyfriend. I love him, I really do. Then you swan back into my life, you get me drunk, you do this when I’m not prepared and then you tell me that you only did it because you wanted to propose to your superwoman girlfriend and you had to check that I was crap.’ I think I managed to sum it up succinctly. Even if I was doubting my status as a girlfriend at the time.
    ‘Hol, don’t be like that, you make it sound so crass. You must have thought about us in that way too, women and men can’t be platonic without it crossing their minds. Now, the good news is that you can carry on with your guy and I can marry Julia and we will know, for sure, that we weren’t meant to be together.’ He smiled. He actually smiled, as if he was pleased with the situation.
    ‘You’re a fucking nutter, George, I can’t believe you’d do this. For your information I wasn’t curious about us. I have never wanted to kiss you, and I don’t know why I did, but I suspect it has