Anybody But Him Read Online Free PDF Page B

you were friends with me. I was so dumb.’
    Nicola shook her head. ‘Don’t say you were dumb, because you weren’t. You aren’t. And you’re the nicest person I know. You always were. I don’t know how I would have got through school without you as a friend.’
    â€˜Well, that aside … why do you feel stupid now?’
    Nicola shrugged. ‘Greg proposed, and I was …’
    She couldn’t really explain how it had felt to finally find someone who believed in marriage after the years of dating commitment-phobes. ‘Anyway, Greg proposed. He was working on a major project that meant he had to keep travelling to London. He said that the project was coming to an end and when it did he’d be able to settle down. No more travelling between Sydney and London.’
    â€˜And you loved him?’
    â€˜Yes, I thought I did. Because of that, I believed everything he said.’
    â€˜But it wasn’t true?’
    She shook her head. ‘One morning he was in the shower and his phone rang. He’d left it in his jacket pocket. Normally, I wouldn’t have considered answering it, but he’d said he was expecting an important call about the project and didn’t want to miss it.’
    â€˜I don’t like where this is going.’
    â€˜You’ve guessed, haven’t you?’
    â€˜It was another woman on the phone?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜His wife?’
    â€˜Fiancée. His London fiancée. It was true that he was going to settle down once the project was finished, only he was going to settle over there. His London fiancée was the one he was planning to marry. I can’t believe I didn’t realise. I mean, I thought it was odd that he had never been to many of the Sydney restaurants that we ate at together, but I put it down to him having different tastes in food.’
    â€˜But really it was because he didn’t live there at all?’
    â€˜Exactly. I should have asked about the project, but I didn’t, and all I knew was that it was in the software industry.’ She sighed. ‘I knew he was English, of course. His accent was one of the things that I first found attractive about him, but I thought he’d moved over here years ago, and he never said anything to make me believe otherwise.’
    â€˜Oh, Nicki, I’m so sorry.’
    â€˜It’s been years since anybody called me Nicki.’ An image of Blair Morrissey’s face flashed into her head, but she wiped it away. He didn’t count. ‘So, there you have it. That’s what happened with Greg, and why I felt like such an idiot.’ She’d become so used to being teased at school about anything she said and everything she did, she’d learned that it was safer not to open up, not to expose herself to ridicule. Shrugging, she said, ‘But you’re right, I should have remembered that you’ve always been on my side.’
    Unlike some people she’d met since she’d returned to Redgum Valley. One in particular.

Chapter 4
    After a hectic week of learning the new job, calling in on her parents, and worrying about Lainey’s state of mind, Nicola finally persuaded Lainey to go to the pub for a meal on Friday night while Rosie was at her grandmother’s. She didn’t like the idea of her friend sitting alone, surrounded by photographs and memories, and sinking even further into a pit of self-blame. Nicola wasn’t naïve enough to think that one night out with her would fix things, but at least it would be a change of scenery, and it might give Lainey a chance to think about something other than Daniel for a few hours.
    She collected Lainey in Una’s car –running again now courtesy of Una’s friendly mechanic – hoping her friend might be persuaded to have a few drinks. Not that alcohol was the answer either, but Lainey was so tense, so … brittle. Nicola couldn’t help thinking that