The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes Read Free Book Online

this wedding wrong, they'd take me into the RWNW (the Room With No Windows, their version of room 101) and say that I'd disappointed them. And then, almost as an afterthought, sack me. Because they're a married couple they often boast that their company is more like a family. Certainly they know how to make me feel like a guilty schoolgirl and they encourage account managers (I'm one) to compete with their colleagues in an echo of— I'm told by those who know -sibling rivalry. Anyway.
    'So will I ask Mrs Kelly to come in?'
    Mam had relapsed into silence.
    She opened her mouth. For a while nothing emerged, but I knew something was on its way. Then from somewhere far inside her came a long, thin keen of pain. Almost like white noise but with a slight, ragged human undertone. It was chilling. Give me plate-breaking over it any day of the week.
    She stopped, gathered breath and began again. I shook her arm and said, 'Ma-am. Please, Mam!'
    'Noel's gone. Noel's gone.' At that, the white noise stopped and she was yelping uncontrollably, the way she had that morning, when I'd had to calm her down with Dr Bailey's emergency tablets. But we were out of pills; I should have gone to the chemist when I'd had a chance. Perhaps there was a late-night one somewhere?
    'Mam, I'm just going to get someone to stay with you while I go out and get the tablets.'
    She paid me no attention and I pelted up the road to Mrs Kelly and when she saw the state of me at the door, it was clear she thought it was time to start making pastry and peeling cooking apples.
    I explained my plight and she knew of a chemist. 'They close at ten.'
    It was now ten to ten. Time to break the law.
    I drove like the clappers and got to the chemist at a minute past. But there was still someone inside. I pounded on the glass door and a man calmly walked over and opened it for me.
    'Thank you. Oh, thank God.' I fell in.
    'It's nice to be wanted,' he said.
    I thrust the crumpled prescription at him. 'Please tell me you have them. It's an emergency.'
    He smoothed it out and said, 'Don't worry, we have them. Take a seat there.'
    He disappeared behind the white partition bit to where they keep the drugs and I sank onto the chair, trying to catch my breath.
    'That's right,' his disembodied voice came from behind the melamine divider. 'Nice deep breaths. In, hold, out.'
    He reappeared with the tranks and said kindly, 'Mind yourself now. And remember, no driving or operating machinery when you've taken them.'
    'Fine. Thanks. Thanks very much.' It wasn't until I was back behind the wheel that I realized he thought they were for me.

5

    Normally, I never read book reviews so it took me a while to find them in Saturday's paper. As I skimmed critiques of biographies of obscure English generals and a book about the Boer war, I began to suspect that Cody might have been wrong for once. But then, my heart gave one big bang that hurt my chest. Bloody Cody was right. There was a review. He knows everything.
    CHARMING DEBUT
    Mimi's Remedies by Lily Wright Dalkin Emery. £6 .99
    This debut from Lily Wright is less of a novel and more of an extended fable - and none the worse for that. A white witch, the eponymous Mimi, mysteriously arrives in a small village - location unspecified -and sets about working her own particular brand of sorcery. Rocky marriages are cemented and sundered lovers are reunited. Sounds too sweet to be wholesome? Suspend your cynicism and go with the flow. Shot through with magic, Mimi's Remedies manages to be a charming comedy of manners and a wry social commentary. As comforting as hot buttered toast on a cold evening, and just as addictive.
    Shaking, I put the paper down. I think they liked it. Deep breath in, hold, deep breath out, deep breath in, hold, deep breath out. Oh God, I was jealous. I was so jealous, it was hot and green in my veins.
    I could see it all now: Lily Wright was going to turn into a major celebrity. She'd be in all the papers and everyone would